I've got a lodge Dutch oven, a Wagner skillet, a couple Griswald waffle makers, one I use and one that needs to be cleaned up, and a couple of antique donut makers.

Found an edge crack in one of the #5's I picked up, but it was a post-60's USA marked version. It may be "acceptable" for home use with enough seasoning. I'll use it as a guinea pig for seasoning experiments.

I used the Easy-Off BBQ grill stuff for two of the severely gunked #5's I picked up yesterday. It puts regular Easy-Off to shame. I coated one with each, put in a trash bag, and 2 hours later, one was barely touched (E-O), and the other looked like the bag contained a blowout from "There Will Be Blood" (E-O BBQ). One is definitely a BSR, and it knocked enough of the 1/4"-1/2" thick gunk (I'm surprised the original owners were still even able to cook with them, which may have been why they were donated to Goodwill) off to determine that the other is a 3-notch #5 SK marked Lodge.

Taiwan #5 just got it's first scrub out of the electrolysis tank and just went in for round two. It'll be a good one to experiment on smoothing and seasoning processes. End result will have it relegated to the Rubbermaid bin with all my cooking gear used for camping. It's definitely flat, with no warping, so it may turn into a decent little piece.

What's the best way to get minor rust off after the gunk? Anyone try the salt and potato method?

We are a cast iron family. My wife is hooked.

Our most used is the tortilla flat cast iron. Used every day for bread, Quesadilla, sandwiches.

I have a cast iron roaster I found in Blanco. Can put two large chickens in.

I have one of these for scrubbing off the gunk, best think I've found to clean up cast iron. Scrubbing with kosher salt is fine for light cleaning but I highly recommend having one of these around.

https://www.amazon.com/Ringer-Original-Stainless-Cleaner-Patented/dp/B00FKBR1ZG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1489755566&sr=8-1&keywords=chain+maille+scrubber

+1 for the chain mail. Just be sure to get a larger piece.

Chipotlemonger said:

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What's the best way to get minor rust off after the gunk? Anyone try the salt and potato method?

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I have. Felt it was better at cleaning the gunk. Warm water and an sos pad can handle minor rust.

Does anyone stack ovens? It's a great way to save fuel and is fun to do. When horseback we carry laminated aluminum Dutch ovens. Talk about dropping the weight! Harder to brown meat but never burn the biscuits.

I just bought one of those and have it on hand now.

Work better on a warm pan? With salt?

I've got a 10.25" Lodge (grinded smooth) that I pretty much cook everything in. The only thing I use a teflon skillet for is fried eggs, just because it's easier.

I use lard to season mine.

I've got a couple of pieces I'd like to restore. The electrolysis method seems easy and straightforward with little risk of damaging the cast iron. Any advice on equipment to set up an electrolysis tank? Mainly the battery charger.

Get an old school one that puts out constant voltage/current, unlike some of the newer ones that require a battery to be hooked up to them in order to have output.

The super rusted Taiwan skillet went in the tank yesterday afternoon, I pulled it out about 6 hours later and almost every bit of rut came off. Did another ~4 soak just because, and it is currently on round two of seasoning in the oven.

Anyone tried milling the bottoms flat, so it can be used on a glass top range?

The front one is a Griswold. The back one is unmarked. We've got seven pieces or so, including a taller saucepan. The wife stripped all of them and seasoned with flaxseed oil.

Was just given a Griswold #20 "Hotel pan" from my wife's parents. Belonged to her uncle and her grandfather before that. MFer is huge and needs some TLC, but cant wait to get it seasoned.

Bradley.Kohr.II said:

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Anyone tried milling the bottoms flat, so it can be used on a glass top range?

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The bottoms warp with the heat ove ruse - milling them will be a temporary fix. When you mill, you thin the base metal out and it will be subject to additional and upredictable warping after the fact.

I used mine on a glasstop stove. Just had to be careful when setting it down more than anything. I hated that stove with a passion too.

schmellba99 said:

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Bradley.Kohr.II said:

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Anyone tried milling the bottoms flat, so it can be used on a glass top range?

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The bottoms warp with the heat ove ruse - milling them will be a temporary fix. When you mill, you thin the base metal out and it will be subject to additional and upredictable warping after the fact.

I used mine on a glasstop stove. Just had to be careful when setting it down more than anything. I hated that stove with a passion too.

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I use ours on our glass top stove, too. I was really hesitant at first. I didn't want to scatch the brand new surface. I quickly realized that, like schmellba, apparently I hate glass top stoves and really DGAF about it anymore. Actually I'd be pretty upset if I really damaged it, but I do hate it, and so far it hasn't been scratched at all. A couple of the pieces are quite large, too.

At last count, we had around 50 pieces of cast iron. We use it for indoor and outdoor cooking and have picked up some cool pieces along the way.

BrazosDog02 said:

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I wonder if this "procedure" for cleaning and seasoning cast iron is like everything else we do that is overworked and overthought? I have a ton of cast iron stuff and use a handful of it regularly and it's like glass and hasn't been seasoned since my great grandparents had it. I can gaurantee you there was no seasoning involved outside of just using the damn thing. Is all that stuff really necessary? I kinda feel like if I could go back in time and explain how to season their cookware they would use it as a bludgeon on my head.

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old school cast iron needed to be 'cured' before use, we just call it seasoning now. It was only recently that cast iron started coming pre-seasoned.

The difference in what you have and what lots of people are doing is that yours was obviously well cared for and not just stuck in a box in the attic for 25 years.

BrazosDog02 said:

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I wonder if this "procedure" for cleaning and seasoning cast iron is like everything else we do that is overworked and overthought? I have a ton of cast iron stuff and use a handful of it regularly and it's like glass and hasn't been seasoned since my great grandparents had it. I can gaurantee you there was no seasoning involved outside of just using the damn thing. Is all that stuff really necessary? I kinda feel like if I could go back in time and explain how to season their cookware they would use it as a bludgeon on my head.

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Yes, and no.

Up until pretty recently, cast iron did not come pre-seasoned and basically ready to cook anything on. When you bought CI back in the day - odds are you had to either clean a protective coating off it prior to cooking, or you had to clean surface rust off of it prior to cooking. As you cooked, you seasoned it.

The procedures we use now simply skip over a few years worth of slow and methodical seasoning so that you get a good piece of equipment now versus 5 years from now. I'd be willing to bet that if great grandma could have taken a few hours and gotten her cast iron seasoned like we can now, she'd have done it in a heartbeat, because it cooks better and is easier to clean.

Love cast iron. Like previously mentioned, the only advantage the old stuff has on the new stuff is the smooth milled surface. That is easy to fix if you don't wan to hunt for old stuff.

One of my favorite pieces is a 14" Pizza Pan. Makes awesome pizza at 500degf out on my Memphis grill. The metal heats up fast without pre-heating and gives a good crispy crust on the bottom. You can use it for lots of other things too.

Got a piece of lodge cast iron that had a really bad seasoning job. I used a wire brush to get it all off and it turned silver in color. I then used flaxseed oil to season rather than the usual crisco. The seasoning turned out much redder than my other stuff. I guess that's the flax seed oil? I have never completely stripped cast iron before, so I have no clue if this is normal

BCO07 said:

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Got a piece of lodge cast iron that had a really bad seasoning job. I used a wire brush to get it all off and it turned silver in color. I then used flaxseed oil to season rather than the usual crisco. The seasoning turned out much redder than my other stuff. I guess that's the flax seed oil? I have never completely stripped cast iron before, so I have no clue if this is normal

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I have the same thing with flax seed. Not sure if its from not baking hot enough (oven only goes to 500*) or if its a normal thing with that type of oil.

the bottom of my pans are turning black after use though.

Duncan Idaho said:

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I only use flax seed oil and all my stuff is as black as my soul

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hotter oven? better oven? more layers? what is your secret?

I also got that non stick you're all done semi gloss sheen after just one coat. I've gone ahead and done 3. How's yours performing?

BCO07 said:

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I also got that non stick you're all done semi gloss sheen after just one coat. I've gone ahead and done 3. How's yours performing?

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works great.

only thing that has stuck has been ground beef because I was stupid and didnt put oil in the pan before starting to brown, but that cleaned up quick and easy.

Good, then I'll finish up a 4th coat and celebrate all the good diversity of color brings

Since you went down to bare metal and didn't have the grey patina that most lye or electrolysis stripped cast iron has, you are getting the reddish color. Over time and through use it will darken up. It also helps to do a few more seasoning rounds at 500+ F, which will help darken it up as well.

If it turned red/brownish instead of black, odds are you either had too much oil and it didn't fully polymerize or you had a really thin coat and simply need to do a few more seasonings. Flaxseed oil should be black like any other fat that you would use for seasoning.

I know a while back I was reading something about the Lodge ones and how you have to take the coating off to make them smooth like the old school cast iron. Is there a running list of the older ones that are best to pick up if you ever happen to find them...like brands and such?

I think there are 3 sought after classic brands. Wagner and Griswold are the two I know.

p-wonk01 said:

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I know a while back I was reading something about the Lodge ones and how you have to take the coating off to make them smooth like the old school cast iron. Is there a running list of the older ones that are best to pick up if you ever happen to find them...like brands and such?

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Brands are largely irrelevant. It is all the same material.