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Post by brittonfaith on Jan 17, 2006 6:28:16 GMT 12.75
Need some good advice on cleaning cast iron.
I've got a #8 Griswold that was given to me as a wedding gift in '90. It's got probably 60 years of burnt on crud on the outside. Would like to get it "like-new" again. Someone told me not to use oven cleaner or a steel scratcher on it. But, that's the only thing I can think of that might work.
A friend gave it to us. He said to just stay put and he would go out to the dog kennel to get our present. He came back in with what looked like a big ball of mud. He threw it in a bag and said it "needed to dry out a little" but should turn out fine.
I was so upset that I ran home to mom crying about the gag gift. Mom opened the bag and evidently knew what was in the mud. She told me to go throw it in the wood burner. Next day, it was my job to clean out the wood burner. I was surprised to find the pan. Mom said to smear it with lard and toss it back in when I relit the fire. It came out fine but with all this cooked-on crud.
Also, what's everyone's opinion on outdoor cooking with cast aluminum? Seems like my kitchen it teaming with old Household Institute stuff.
Faith
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Post by OLKoot on Jan 17, 2006 7:37:56 GMT 12.75
From my experience which is of late, I would place about an inche or two of water and some soap in the pan and get her up to a slow simmer for a bit......after awhile you can empty the pan and put some salt and just a bit of hot water in the pan and scrubb it around.....THe crude will come off....then all you have to do is re-season it again, and it should be fine.....
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Post by Paws on Jan 17, 2006 7:52:30 GMT 12.75
Re: Cast Iron University! « Reply #7 on Nov 17, 2004, 11:51pm »
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Couple of approaches to stripping the iron down to bare metal. Mechanical and electrolytic approaches work best with the electrolytic being the easiest on the metal and the operator. I'll describe the mechanical approach and Griz if you will tell them about electrolysis. When mechanically stripping the iron you have three things that you are trying to remove; (1) burned on grease, (2) Mechanically bonded carbon, and (3) rust.
Remove burned on foods Start with a lye bath to remove the grease and loosen the carbon and rust. The most available product is Easy Off oven cleaner. Follow the instructions for cleaning the oven and apply them to your iron pieces. Make sure that you wear rubber gloves, eye protection and completely cover your work surfaces with newspaper before you begin. You can speed the process along by using brass or copper bristle brushes. I use a hemp sissel brush which can be obtained through Civil War Suppliers (Sutlers). It works like a champ and is very easy on the iron. Rinse the piece completely when the process has been completed and re-season immediately or move on to rust removal.
Remove rust Prepare a solution of 1 gallon water and 1 cup vinegar. Immerse the iron completely in the solution for one to two hours depending on the quantity of rust to be removed. Check the piece every half hour and remove it from the solution as soon as the rust is clear. Here again the process may be sped up with a brush. Rinse with clear water to remove all traces of vinegar. Prepare a bath of baking soda, 1 box per gallon of water, and immerse and rinse the iron thoroughly. This will neutralize the action of the acidic vinegar. Clear water rinse again. Immediately season the iron.
Either of these steps may be repeated as required until the results are satisfactory.
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Post by Two Tales on Jan 17, 2006 10:01:41 GMT 12.75
I have been rather fortunate in acquiring cast iron over the years...and also of having a good friend who's Dad worked at Wa..er.... a very large maker of cast iron cookware in mid-west Ohio...some of the used stuff was taken from barns, sheds, junk piles and what have you...upon recommendation of my friend's Dad we used glass beading (like mild sand blasting) to clean them up...then used a mild hydrochloric acid bath to remove all loose material, a neutralizer bath (suspension of Baking Soda in distilled water) and then a boiling fresh water rinse....and dried it out in a 300 degree furnace...of course if you don't have access to this method..what Paws said will work just fine....don't forget to re season it after you done...
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Post by brittonfaith on Jan 18, 2006 14:06:33 GMT 12.75
Hey guys, thanks for the tips. I went ahead and used my first intuition and Paws suggestion. Oven cleaner. Worked like a charm.
Never thought of using acid. Being on a dairy farm, we've got tons of it. Hydrochloric and sulphuric. If it cuts milk-stone, a heavy calcium and protein deposit, it ought to cut anything! I'll try it next time. Might even buy a couple of crusty iron pans at next weeks auction to see what happens.
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Post by gsoflittledove on Mar 30, 2006 16:35:46 GMT 12.75
We clean our cast iron by turning it upside down on a propane burner and letting it get red hot. All the carbon rust and built up food dissapers. and the pot is iron gray. must be resealed. But they are best if left alone. Bill
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Post by Paws on Mar 31, 2006 5:33:51 GMT 12.75
Raising the cast iron to a "red hot" risks drawing the temper and turning the metal soft. This in turn could make it much more vulnerable to rusting; especially from ambient moisture. I wouldn't recommend it . If your luck should turn sour and a rain shower break out the piece could easily warp or break. 350 degrees is sufficient to burn off anything that will carbonize and will open pores sufficiently to allow seasoning to penetrate well. In camp I "warm up" the dirty pot then scrub it with hot water and a sissel brush. Burned on foods will remove easily when allowed to soak in hot water a couple of hours. Then it gets warmed again to dry and is brushed with vegetable oil (Crisco) in a lard can. That keeps them well protected while out of doors.
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Post by Two Tales on Mar 31, 2006 6:03:37 GMT 12.75
After cooking some of the deserts that I do..I some times end up with a fairly sticky slightly charred (sometimes) mess on my hands I found one of them old melinite {sp} spatchulas..this works for scraping out the big stuff (not that's there is ever much of that) then i place it on the heat and let it start to warm up..get it above at least 250..then I pour a small amount of warm water in..this basically does the same thing as when de-glasing a pan..scrape some more then add a couple of cups of water and bring it to a full boil..scrape or brush the remainder of the food stuff away...the bubbles from the boiling water act as a scrubber...takes very li'l effort...then rinse and dry over heat paint the inside and out with a light coating of oil/shortening etc..lid included...lids just normally have to be rinsed off...to remove the ash and any food that might have splashed up on the inside...but it's just as important to clean, dry and treat it the same as you would the DOs...
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Post by Paws on Feb 27, 2007 2:20:50 GMT 12.75
Since DaGriz decided to leave us without posting the electrolysis process I'll give you a brief description here. There are pictures of the tank and contact construction on IDOS which can be accessed via our links section. I believe those pictures are of the tank that DaGriz manufactured and uses. Anyway, the idea here is to electrify the iron that is in need of cleaning and "somehow" or the other, nobody is certain how, the crud simply releases from the iron and drops to the bottom of the tank. The tank is constructed of non-metallic materials that will not conduct electricity and filled with a conductive media such as a slightly water and acid solution. A stainless steel contact point is made that will act as a cathodic receiver for an electric current to be passed through the iron and the acidic medium. This is done so that it is completely insulated from contacting the cast iron material to be cleaned. An anode contact point is constructed that can be connected to the iron piece usually via a clamping action of some sort. The anode and cathode are then connected to a low voltage DC circuit, such as a 12 volt battery charger, and a current is passed through the circuit. After some time, usually several hours the iron begins to lose all of the debris including rust that has accumulated. Intermittent and finish brushing hasten the process. When finished the iron appears store bought brand new! Some cautions are advised since the process produces explosive and poisonous gasses it must be done in an extremely well ventilated area, preferably out of doors. The bath is caustic and protective clothing needs to be worn when working around the bath or handling the iron. Passing the current in the wrong direction will cause the iron piece to become plated with whatever metallic molecules are present in the solution. You might say that this process is "reverse electro-plating!" I have threatened over the past few years to construct my own tank and I think this will be the year. I have in the neighborhood of twenty pieces that need to be re-worked and think I can justify the expense! If I do get the contraption built I will post photographs and instructions here.
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Post by Toby Benoit on Feb 27, 2007 6:33:08 GMT 12.75
;)Good, then we can all send our iron-ware to you for cleaning! ;D
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Post by Paws on Feb 27, 2007 7:41:49 GMT 12.75
As long as you pay for the shipping! Or who knows?? Add on a bicycle pedal generator and sharpening stone I might just travel around sharpening and cleaning and cooking! I'll need a real job when the wife kicks me out anyway!
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Post by Mars on Feb 28, 2007 1:55:39 GMT 12.75
There's people here that do just that sort of thing Paws. They aren't rich but they are happy doing it.
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Post by Paws on Feb 28, 2007 2:57:40 GMT 12.75
Yep, kind of what I wa thinking. That would keep me happy; at least until I got hungry, thirsty, horney, cold, too hot, sleepy...
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Post by Toby Benoit on Feb 28, 2007 4:19:45 GMT 12.75
Yep, there's a guy at the Flea Market over in Bushnell, Fl. that does that sort of thing.
He's got a portable shop, a converted UPS truck he got at some auction long ago, and he'll back up into the booth booth space, put out a table and a sign.
He's sharpened my knives and things many times. He gets a buck a knife and it's worth every penny. He also sels old restaurant knives and such. Old fart's always busy when I'm there. I figure he's probly knocking down ten to twenty knives an hour out there on the weekends and all of it tax free.
Okay, question about this electro-hydro-gitterdone-cleaning process thing. Would you have to season the skillet right away afterwards? Wouldn't it be much more prone to rust afterwards without seasoning it?
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Post by Paws on Feb 28, 2007 4:32:59 GMT 12.75
Not if you keep it dry! ;D You can either get it bone dry and oil it up with preferably mineral oil to work it later , or go head on and season it rawt now an I mean rawt now! Ideally it would go from the tank to final brushing to drying to seasoning.
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Post by Two Tales on Feb 28, 2007 5:18:08 GMT 12.75
Paws,
Silly ol' guy..you seems to have left off one really important step...when using caustics such as hydrochloric or charged distilled water....you must nutralize...cold water with baking soda will do the trick..then boiling water to remove any left over particals that might be lodged in the iron's pours and to remove the baking soda...an yes even when dry your iron will almost immediatly get a rust patinan if not coated while hot with an oil of some type...on really old crusty pots don't expect overnight results...safety is paramont....keep it out of doors....also don't make up to high of an acid consentraion...left to long will actually eat away at the metal before it removes the crud and scale...(please don't ask how this procrastinator know this)
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Post by Paws on Feb 28, 2007 10:21:14 GMT 12.75
Oh man! I did didn't I!!
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Post by Paws on Aug 6, 2007 1:07:59 GMT 12.75
A comment on the new stuff being store bought: Lodge and Camp chef are selling pre-seasoned ware that is good to go right out of the box. Their seasoning techniques are the same as we use but of course done on a much larger scale. If it is Lodge or Camp Chef and comes out of the box and says "pre-seasoned" on it it is safe to use as is and no seasoning is required prior to use. On the other hand there is a lot of ware made in China, Africa, and South America that "appears" to be seasoned however it is not. These need a good hot soapy bath to remove their "wax" coatings or sometimes petroleum based oil (most often mineral oil) coatings and then seasoned as normal. Trying to burn off these coatings is a real mess. Use the old "elbow grease" on them first and get them cleaned up fresh and sanitary before seasoning them to perfection.
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Post by shaman on Oct 21, 2008 6:10:46 GMT 12.75
Has anyone ever put a really dirt piece of cast iron in a self-cleaning oven and set it on self-clean for a half hour? Works for me. All you have left in place of the crud is a little ash.
I've used HCL, but you must neutralize the acid with a sodium bicarb bath afterwards otherwise the acid keeps right on going.
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frodo
Fire Builder
Squeerel Season
Posts: 46
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Post by frodo on Dec 3, 2008 11:38:10 GMT 12.75
yes..i put a do in the oven. for 4 hours, then let it cool,then i put my wire wheel on my 4 1/2" grinder. cleaned all the rust off, being very careful not to damage it. it looked brand new then i greased it with crisco lard..lightly..top,bottom,inside,outside da ho thang...then back in the oven on broil for 2 hours it is beautiful...its all black...now...i took pictures.and i will get them put to disc, so i can show ya'll at the same time..we have a old 8" skillet, that had crud, on the out side..knocked off all the crud with a wire wheel if'in you try this method--wear goggles..preferably full face shield and leather gloves..never..never ever..never ever ever pick up a grinder, without leather gloves. that dude will eat you up....then burp
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