Cast Iron Seasoning Help

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Using ammonia will remove the seasoning from the entire pan! If the cooking surface is good, and you only want to clean the exterior, an abrasive such as steel wool or similar may be the way to go. There is no sense in disturbing a perfectly good decades old cooking surface.

True 'nuf. guess I didn't think that one through. It still works for barbecue and oven grates though.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[Cheryl J]

Thank you, Chief and Andy! A wire brush it is, then. I'll report back once it's done and let y'all know the results.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

Lordy ! It's simple

Hot soapy water ( dish soap/detergent ) scrubby/scrungie

Done

I'm a bit skeptical about hot soapy water harming a cast iron skillet other than temporarily, despite what some have said. When mine has too much crud I get out a plastic scrubber and a bunch of dish washing soap and scrub away best I can, then run it through the dish washer.

The next few times I use it I oil it to keep the food from sticking, then clean it with a scrubber and plain water. After a few oil, cook, wash with water cycles it's as good as new. Good as old. Whatever.

The problem the OP has is rust. I'd tackle that with a wire brush and steel wool, then run it through my suggested method above.


And yes, whoever said it, of course if you heat it until it's red hot then throw it in ice water it will probably warp or shatter. You could drive a caterpillar over it and destroy it. I meant you wouldn't destroy it doing reasonable things.


It's amazing to consider that cast iron was the original non-stick cooking surface. The Iron Age began about 1,000 BC (possibly much earlier) and lasted trough about 700 AD, and cast iron cookware might have been in use around the time of Jesus.

And it's still such a good cooking utensil it is worth having in our modern day kitchens!


(No comment on the ammonia method since I've never tried that.)

 

[Andy M.]

...It's been somewhat neglected, the cooking area is in fairly good shape but the outside of the skillet is bumpy from crud buildup.

I would love to clean it up and use it again. I think I'll buy one of those steel scrubbers to use on the outside and once that's done, I hope to re-season it and use it....

As the poster was concerned with the exterior of the pan only, a localized cleaning is in order rather than re-seasoning the entire pan. Crud, not rust is the issue here.

I'd start with scraping then sanding then grinding if needed.

 

[GB]

And yes, whoever said it, of course if you heat it until it's red hot then throw it in ice water it will probably warp or shatter. You could drive a caterpillar over it and destroy it. I meant you wouldn't destroy it doing reasonable things.

It does not take red hot heat and ice water to cause a CI pan to shatter from thermal shock. Taking it out of a 500 degree oven and plunging it into a sink full of water could just as easily do it and that would be a reasonable thing for someone who did not know better to do. I have also heard of them shattering when being dropped on hard surfaces from a height (dropping on a stone floor from a counter), but I do not recall the specific details so I can't comment further on that.

As far as cookware goes though, there is little doubt CI is the most indestructible of what is available.

 

[Andy M.]

Tonight I dropped my 2-quart All-Clad Stainless saucepan onto the ceramic tile floor and as it was falling the thought that flashed through my head was, "Which one will I have to replace?" The answer is neither. Lucky.

 

[Cheryl J]

As the poster was concerned with the exterior of the pan only, a localized cleaning is in order rather than re-seasoning the entire pan. Crud, not rust is the issue here.

I'd start with scraping then sanding then grinding if needed.

Yes, it's a crud issue and not rust, thank goodness. I just ran a butter knife over a couple of blobs of crud and they pretty much just popped off, so it appears as though it won't be too much of a biggie to clean off the outside with a wire brush. Thanks to all again for your suggestions and help.

 

[Cheryl J]

Tonight I dropped my 2-quart All-Clad Stainless saucepan onto the ceramic tile floor and as it was falling the thought that flashed through my head was, "Which one will I have to replace?" The answer is neither. Lucky.

Whew! Yes, you were lucky that both survived! Bet your heart skipped a beat or two as it was falling.

 

[Andy M.]

Yes, it's a crud issue and not rust, thank goodness. I just ran a butter knife over a couple of blobs of crud and they pretty much just popped off, so it appears as though it won't be too much of a biggie to clean off the outside with a wire brush. Thanks to all again for your suggestions and help.

That's good news. If you don't have to clean down to bare metal, you won't have to re-season.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

Tonight I dropped my 2-quart All-Clad Stainless saucepan onto the ceramic tile floor and as it was falling the thought that flashed through my head was, "Which one will I have to replace?" The answer is neither. Lucky.

Lucky your toes weren't between those two either! BTW, make sure the saucepan is still true round. I dropped one "just so" and managed to bend the rim ever so slightly and the lid wouldn't fit tight. Himself did his manly thing and saved the pan...and me.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Steel is more ductile than is cast iron, that is, it will bend, stretch, and has a certain amount of elasticity. The reason cast iron will crack/shatter, is that it doesn't have that same property. It is more like stone, or glass. Thermal shock can crack cast iron in the same way it shatters glass. As materials are heated and cooled, they expand or contract. With a material like aluminum or copper, this isn't a problem, as they are great conductors of heat, and tend to change size at an even amount, all over. But ferrous substances, i.e. cast iron/steel, area poor conductors of heat. Therefore, the outside starts expanding/contacting before the middle can do the same. The change size at a different rate. The outside surface is changing very quickly, while the middle is resisting that change. And as cast iron has almost no ability to stretch, the forces become strong enough to shatter the metal, similar to pressure cracks on large, frozen bodies of water.

Steel, on the other hand, responds to the same treatment by warping. The metal doesn't fail catastrophically.

Also, that lack of ductile strength is the reason you can shatter cast iron with blunt force. People who work metal with chisels know that striking metal against metal can cause bits to break and fly away from the tools at high speed. This is why eye protection is a must for metal workers.

So, don't immerse very hot cast iron, or steel pots and pans in ice cold water. Don't hit them with a hammer, and if you have a very hard headed partner, don't whack him/her with a pan. You might crack the metal.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

It does not take red hot heat and ice water to cause a CI pan to shatter from thermal shock. Taking it out of a 500 degree oven and plunging it into a sink full of water could just as easily do it and that would be a reasonable thing for someone who did not know better to do. I have also heard of them shattering when being dropped on hard surfaces from a height (dropping on a stone floor from a counter), but I do not recall the specific details so I can't comment further on that.

All those things describe to me somebody too stupid to be allowed to own cookware.

 

[GB]

So only stupid people drop heavy things?

You had better be careful. All those things describe things people here have done as I have read all of them on this site over the years.

 

[Caslon]

so...forgetting to turn off the burner that you turn on for a minute to dry your CI or whatever metal pan and forget it was on high heat for quite a while and you dunk it in cold water and accidentally drop it on a tile floor. Cracks in the pan might possibly appear, depending on the metal alloy properties of said pan? That's getting too deep into the properties of metals and heat if you ask me.

 

[GB]

so...forgetting to turn off the burner that you turn on for a minute to dry your CI or whatever metal pan and forget it was on high heat for quite a while and you dunk it in cold water and accidentally drop it on a tile floor.

Something tells me you would not be able to forget you had those on the burner then dunk them in water. The 3rd degree burns on your hand would be a pretty good reminder.

 

[Caslon]

cracks in cast iron pans? someone did something wrong. CI pans are cheap. Scrap metal cheap.

 

[Cheryl J]

I've been working on my old neglected Griswold CI skillet, and think that I'm now beginning to see some progress.

I scrubbed it with a wire brush, and that didn't seem to help too much, so yesterday I sprayed it with oven cleaner (wearing goggles and gloves), and put it in a trash bag overnight.

This morning I got it out, rinsed it off, and started scrubbing again. That seemed to help loosen some of the crud. Here is a pic of the outside, and all that nasty buildup. Ugh. On the right side of the pan, there's a barely visible path of pre-gunk that has started to release, compared to the left side which wasn't scrubbed as much.

 

[Cheryl J]

Here's another pic of part of the inside, and the handle. The '9' on the handle was not even visible before. There seems to be hope for this.

I was inspired by salt and pepper's yard sale finds, unfortunately they are in a different thread and I keep going back and forth. I'm thinking I should try s & p's method of soaking it in hot water, vinegar, and dawn dishwashing liquid, and that may help loosen stuff up even more...? For a short time, of course....don't want to add rust to it.