Cast Iron Restoration

[QuackHunter]

There was some interest in my ISO post about restoring these crusty old pieces. I use a lye tank to strip the old seasoning and oil out of them, 1lb of lye per 5 gallons of water is the recipe I’ve found online. More lye can make it work a little faster. Here’s a couple pieces that will be in the lye bath that I just cleaned out and re filled. One thing to note is Lye will not remove the rust. It will just strip the seasoning and oil. To remove the rust I will use a mix of 50/50 water and vinegar with a scrubbing brush. I’ll post some progress as they come along. Hopefully to I’ll have some time to pull them and check out the progress.








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[Yak blue]

Tagged and following along….

[bobc]

Tagging to see your process. Looking forward to it!


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[Boss Buck]

I saw where someone used Kolsar salt to remove rust. I will follow along as I play around with black irons as well.

[SabineHunter]

What type of vinegar do you use? And, thanks for the advice.

[r_u_sharp_2]

I have some old hand me downs from my grandmother... they are in horrible shape.

Maybe after this thread, I'll give it a shot.

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[QuackHunter]

What type of vinegar do you use? And, thanks for the advice.

Just white vinegar


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[bboswell]

Following.

I restored a crusted up flea market find with just a cup brush on an angle grinder. Too about 10 minutes and then it was ready to re-season

[QuackHunter]

Following.

I restored a crusted up flea market find with just a cup brush on an angle grinder. Too about 10 minutes and then it was ready to re-season

From what I’ve read, using abrasives on Cast Iron isn’t the best. Like you said, works really well


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[Grndchecker]

I picked up three rusted and crusted CI pans from a guy for $20. One is a 10" BSR. Went through the same vinegar process you use and discovered hairline cracks in two of the three. Very discouraging.

[Bradical BH]

Following.

I restored a crusted up flea market find with just a cup brush on an angle grinder. Too about 10 minutes and then it was ready to re-season

Any issues with this ? Found a pile of cast iron pans in dads barn and was planning to strip and season

[Katch66]

I have used heavy duty oven cleaner to clean old cast iron. Spray the skillet thoroughly with the oven cleaner, place it in a black garbage bag and pplace it in the sun for a day or two. Remove from the bag and rinse off. Scrub stubborn spots with a brush. Sometimes a second treatment is needed for real caked on grease.

[QuackHunter]

I picked up three rusted and crusted CI pans from a guy for $20. One is a 10" BSR. Went through the same vinegar process you use and discovered hairline cracks in two of the three. Very discouraging.

That sucks, definitely something to look for when buying. You can knock on them and hear if they ring or rattle, it’s not 100% but works. I’ve been fortunate and haven’t bought any cracked pieces so far.


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[QuackHunter]

Any issues with this ? Found a pile of cast iron pans in dads barn and was planning to strip and season

Cracked stuff really isn’t usable, There’s a lot of people who take cracked skillets and cut them into spatulas


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[QuackHunter]

I have used heavy duty oven cleaner to clean old cast iron. Spray the skillet thoroughly with the oven cleaner, place it in a black garbage bag and pplace it in the sun for a day or two. Remove from the bag and rinse off. Scrub stubborn spots with a brush. Sometimes a second treatment is needed for real caked on grease.

I started with this and would definitely say a lye tank works better however the oven cleaner is less stuff to buy and easier to clean up


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