Rescuing cast iron skillets

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gayler

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Hi all! I have a few cast iron skillets that belonged to my Grandme. These have not been used for many years. Do I just wash them and use them or do I have to "reseason them" some way? I wanted to try making a cobbler of some kind on the pellet grill. Thanks!
 
I never wash mine. Take coarse salt and rub them down to remove any bits of rust or remnants and rinse under cold water NO soap. Wipe with some lard or crisco and heat those babies up. Wipe down again with paper towles, and get to cookin!
 
Then like they said, I would knock any rust off with steel wool...wash in hot water with no soap....then I'd coat it with oil and heat it up to 450 or 500, then let cool.....
 
don't forget about the cornbread....nothing makes cornbread better than a cast iron skillet....I have one dedicated to just that..nothing else gets cooked in it...
 
smokeisgood said:
don't forget about the cornbread....nothing makes cornbread better than a cast iron skillet....I have one dedicated to just that..nothing else gets cooked in it...
Click to expand...

I have a dedicated skillet, too. Nothing but cornbread. Comes out fantastic! :thumb:

bradslunchdone.jpg
 
smokeisgood said:
don't forget about the cornbread....nothing makes cornbread better than a cast iron skillet....I have one dedicated to just that..nothing else gets cooked in it...
Click to expand...

Yep, I have a dedicated cornbread CI pan, too.

If you have a gas grill, that's the ideal thing to re-season them on. If they haven't been used in a long time, it's probably a good idea.
 
What Hometruckin said! They are begging to be used, once you figure out a cast iron skillet you'll never use that nasty non stick stuff again :wink:
 
smokeisgood said:
Then like they said, I would knock any rust off with steel wool...wash in hot water with no soap....then I'd coat it with oil and heat it up to 450 or 500, then let cool.....
Click to expand...

That is basically cleaning and re-seasoning.

If you have any rust at all, you need to get rid of it. If it is minimal, smokeisgood's method could do the trick. You may even be able to do a hot water and ScotchBright cleaning, and cook up half a pound bacon. For heavier rust, you'll need a more aggressive cleaning, and a proper re-seasoning.

Pr0n would help us evaluate your situation.

CD
 
Last edited:
I had my wife's grandmothers cast. They had caked on layers of carbon and it was flaking off.

I got a 5 gallon bucket filled 4/5's with water and put in a can of Lye I got from Ace Hardware. I put in the skillets one at a time. It ate off all the crap. Wearing gloves and eye protection through all my encounters with the Lye water. The Lye will eat up most of the carbon and get you back to the metal. Then you can reseason and use like they were new.

You can use the Lye solution several times. Just make sure you add the Lye to water and not water to Lye.

You can pm me if you want. I have a stubborn skillet in lye water for over a month now....
 
I've done a few, steel wool them, sand blast them, sandpaper them, whichever you prefer, wash them in hot water, soap if you like, then rinse them in hot water, dry them throughly, rub them down with crisco, put them on your preheated gasser, about 300-350, for about 3-4 hours or longer, and presto, you will never cook with another store bought "coated" pan again. cast iron is the bomb. We have about a dozen- pans, griddles, dutch ovens, that we regularly use, and we love them.:grin: trust me, do them on your gasser and not in your house oven.:doh:
 
I have rescued some in the past that were pretty rusty i sandblasted those and reseasoned using flaxseed oil if theres only a small amount of rust i have used vinagar and salt mix which works pretty good or u could do what others have mentioned sounds like they would all work pretty well. As for reseasoning theres a lot of things that work but i highly recommend flaxseed oil it gives a very hard durable nonstick coating
 
Budman1 said:
I've done a few, steel wool them, sand blast them, sandpaper them, whichever you prefer, wash them in hot water, soap if you like, then rinse them in hot water, dry them throughly, rub them down with crisco, put them on your preheated gasser, about 300-350, for about 3-4 hours or longer, and presto, you will never cook with another store bought "coated" pan again. cast iron is the bomb. We have about a dozen- pans, griddles, dutch ovens, that we regularly use, and we love them.:grin: trust me, do them on your gasser and not in your house oven.:doh:
Click to expand...

+1 on doing them outside on ur gasser and not in the oven.. Ask me how i know:doh:
 
chicagokp said:
I had my wife's grandmothers cast. They had caked on layers of carbon and it was flaking off.

I got a 5 gallon bucket filled 4/5's with water and put in a can of Lye I got from Ace Hardware. I put in the skillets one at a time. It ate off all the crap. Wearing gloves and eye protection through all my encounters with the Lye water. The Lye will eat up most of the carbon and get you back to the metal. Then you can reseason and use like they were new.

You can use the Lye solution several times. Just make sure you add the Lye to water and not water to Lye.

You can pm me if you want. I have a stubborn skillet in lye water for over a month now....
Click to expand...

+1 on the order of addition there...nice basic chemistry lab safety to keep to.

have you tried electrolysis on the stubborn skillet? you can look here for some info:
http://blackirondude.blogspot.com/2008/07/electrolysis.html
 
chicagokp said:
I had my wife's grandmothers cast. They had caked on layers of carbon and it was flaking off.

I got a 5 gallon bucket filled 4/5's with water and put in a can of Lye I got from Ace Hardware. I put in the skillets one at a time. It ate off all the crap. Wearing gloves and eye protection through all my encounters with the Lye water. The Lye will eat up most of the carbon and get you back to the metal. Then you can reseason and use like they were new.

You can use the Lye solution several times. Just make sure you add the Lye to water and not water to Lye.

You can pm me if you want. I have a stubborn skillet in lye water for over a month now....
Click to expand...

You sure did that the hard way. You could have just put it in the oven on the self-cleaning cycle and reseasoned it. The self-cleaning cycle works well on pizza stones too.
 
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