Seasoning cast iron question

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xray

Master of the Pit
Original poster
OTBS Member
Mar 11, 2015
4,747
3,268
Northeast PA
Hey guys,

First time seasoning a cast iron pan that I got from my moms house. Anyway, I scrubbed the pan out real good with hot soap and water.

After that, I dried the pan and seasoned with vegetable oil. Any idea why the pan looks like this? Is this normal? I was expecting a black shiny finish on my second attempt.

Any idea what happened if anyone could tell from the photos?

169B52C5-9B53-4465-9BA0-8640287C5DF6.jpeg
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Thanks guys, i’ll give the flaxseed oil a try.

I was curious as to why my pan looked like that after seasoning. It actually looks worse than when I brought it home.

The first time I seasoned it in a 375F oven, once it cooled enough to handle, I reseasoned it and put it on my gas grill for about an hour. Grill temp was 450-500.
 
I would say your temp was way to hot by the look of the pan, I do mine at 350 in the oven and get great results with vegetable oil.
 
Just looked at the linked article, I have never had to season a pan, dutch oven or my old stuffer by putting it in the oven at max temp for an hour but then again I don't see the need to put cast iron in the dishwasher. 350 to 400 degrees for 30 minutes to an hour and the pan is as seasoned as its going to get. Never had a problem with the seasoning coming off or stuff sticking.
 
I agree that it looks like the oil overheated and scorched. I would go back in with steel wool or something similar, and grind/polish all that off back to bare metal. Then start over with one of the methods listed above.
 
After the seasoning, it wouldn't hurt to fry up a big batch of bacon or other pork fat, to make the iron happy happy with that black shine we love.
 
Thanks for the replies, guys.

I didn’t realize you could get cast iron too hot when seasoning. My first attempt in the oven was 375 and the second attempt on the grill was about 450.

I’m going to stick to using the grill outside, it stinks up the house pretty badly.

If that’s scorched oil, I’m going to scrub with steel wool and clean/spray with oven cleaner. I’ll probably go the veg oil route again with a lower temperature just because I have it on hand but I buy flaxseed oil when I get a chance.
 
Will do! I just started hitting it with steel wool. It’s working pretty good.
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Follow up with a finer grade to polish out the scratches. The smoother, the better.

I’m using a Scotch 3M metal finishing pad to scrub it now, no regular steel wool on hand.

Would a fine grade of sandpaper work? I have some and emory paper used in scale modeling.
 
Not really sure, it’s left over from my modeling days. Its definitely fine grit, almost smooth
 
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