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Iron skillet....is it ruined???


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My CHILDREN!!!! Wheeewwww!!

 

My son was told to dump something out of my iron skillet a while back. I never checked up behind him, and recently found it outside. It has been used for mud pies, playing in the fire pit and heavens only knows what else. It is rusted and a mess!!

 

DH says to throw it away because we have tried to wash and clean and the rust remains. I'm having a hard time parting with it so I hid it under the porch ;)

 

Is there anyway to salvage it or should I chunk it and anty-up for another one?

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I had one that looked like it had been used for everything but a skillet. I use a sander on it to clean off the crud that was caked on. It took me several hours of sanding but I got it clean and use it now. It can be rather messy to clean but worth it to me.

 

 

 

:wormie2:

John

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Dittos to the rest here... save it! If you know somebody who would clean parts, like at a motor shop, ask if they can blast it with cobs or sand.

 

If it's one of the older ones, it's even better. The ones coming from China are cheaply made.

 

 

 

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When my bf's cast iron gets crusty her dh lays them out in a trash fire and they come out looking like new. He usually calls to see if I want to bring mine over so he can 'burn' mine too. I do have to season them afterwards though. Mine are about ready for another burning, so maybe I will make a call.......(I have bought rusted ones from yard sales-- just cleaned them with brillo pads and reseasoned!) Never discard cast iron! I keep my 3 favorite skillets sitting onthe back of my stove because I use them almost every day. The rest I keep hanging within easy reach- I guess you can tell that I'm not a fancy decorator!LOL

 

 

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I finally gave up on mine and threw them all away--I had a complete set--about 30 pieces in all and they were always rusty and everything stuck to them--I absolutely hated them :motz_6: I know that as a good survivalist, I have failed :Blushing: but I had just had it--I am swearing I will not try it again--give me some good nonstick skillets from now on. I had tried seasoning them myself and buying preseasoned ones--nothing worked. I finally had to admit I am a complete failure as a cast iron user :sad-smiley-012:

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You are the type of person I like to find at yard sales.....I can get a lifetime of cast iron for pennies, making both of us happy.

 

I'm the same way with Silver. People toss out their oxidized silver pieces, not wanting or not knowing how to properly clean them, and I clean them up (and in some cases replate them) and sell them for a major profit.

 

Each has their purpose in the world. :)

 

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While the guy that wrote the book on cast iron collecting says to never sandblast - I've sandblasted and then beadblasted all kinds of old cookware, cast iron and steel, as a quick way of removing 50 years of crud. I don't see any problem with it. When quality pieces are made, they are finished by grinding flat, and that is far more aggressive than blasting with something like #80 aluminum oxide followed up by fine glass bead, thorough rinse, then season as you would a new one.

 

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I BOASTED to DH today about how I WAS RIGHT and HE WAS WRONG!!!! :P

 

I was just about to go and start a fire in the fire pit to burn my dear friend back into good working order when he told me there was a burn ban. I guess I will have to wait just a little bit before fixing the darling up.

 

 

 

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Not to long ago I bought a rusty cast iron dutch oven at a yard sale. They were asking $25 for it, and I asked them if they would accept $15 because I was not sure if I could get the rust off. They gladly accepted my offer. Yay me! I took it home and just used plain ol' sand paper to remove the rust. Worked like a charm. Greased it real good with shortening and stuck it in a warm oven. Looks great now.

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I have several yard sale rescues. Years ago, I accidently left one in the oven when I used the self-cleaning oven feature on my stove. It smoked like crazy and set off the smoke alarm so I opened the doors, turned on the fans and went outside and played in the garden. When everything cooled down, I washed and dried the skillet and and put it on the stove with a big glob of lard in it. When the lard heated up, I dumped it out and rubbed all inside with paper towels. Then I put a couple spoons of coarse salt in and heated it up again, til it started smoking. Rubbed it real well with the salt then dumped out the salt. Then repeated the lard then salt again.That is now one of my favorite skillets.

 

I did the same to all my rescues and they are great. I have been told this is not the best way to treat cast iron, but it works for me.

I have old Griswald, Wagner, some unmarked very old stuff I use all the time. I use my Grandpas little (about a #5) pan for eggs. He always put a bit of butter in then fried his morning egg. That pan only cooks eggs and is so smooth. It's at least 80 years old. We also have and use my MIL's #8-size that has never gotten the oven treatment, but sure could use it! The outside has a serious build-up of carbon-crud. That pan is very old. MIL would be 100 now and it was her Mothers and she thought her Grandmothers before that. It always surprises me that that skillet cooks evenly. You would think the crud would affect the heating, but it doesn't.

 

As to your pan, try the sanding or sand blasting, then grease it up and season. If that doesn't do the trick, and you cannot build a fire, try the oven. If all else fails, then toss it..............pigz

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yesterday, i was poking around in a shed and found a skillet that went thru a house fire in 98. When i pulled it from the ashes i just knocked it around to get the ash off and thre it in the shed and forgot about it. I brought it back to the house, put a wire brush on a hand drill, and in about 20 minutes or less it looks like it just came out of the mold.

 

Baked on crud that needs to be removed, I just gather those up and put em in the oven now and then, set the oven on clean, after they cool down, i rinse well, wash with soap and water, rinse several more times with hot water, dry it on the stove burner and it is like new and ready to season again.

 

I only had one so far that was too far gone to salvage, heavily pitted on cooking surface, but the dog doesn't care when her food is placed in it. use a smaller one made in taiwan for the cat food.

Ed

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Put a light coat of lard on that found skillet, put in oven for 1 hour at 200, up to 300 for another hour , then 400 for an hour. No smoke from the oven, next day I did it again due to missing a spot or two, it, and the others I put additional seasoning on are black as night and ready to go. I do believe lard beats shortening hands down for seasoning cast iron.

Ed

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Put a light coat of lard on that found skillet, put in oven for 1 hour at 200, up to 300 for another hour , then 400 for an hour. No smoke from the oven, next day I did it again due to missing a spot or two, it, and the others I put additional seasoning on are black as night and ready to go. I do believe lard beats shortening hands down for seasoning cast iron.

Ed

 

 

I have a couple of Wagners, [found in an old burned down cabin] that were badly pitted. I used hubby's air grinder to smooth the pan's bottom surface. You do have to be careful with the angle that you hold the grinder, don't want to make the problem worse. But, this is a last ditch effort to restore a pan that should should be in service for another 100 years.

Just don't wear nylon/polyester as it throws sparks. Can use an electric grinder, but an air tool will go higher rpm's.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have a couple Chinese and Lodge odds and ends, but am ready to buy new (used, new to me) cast iron. Griswold and Wagner are now both owned by the same company. So does it really matter? I just want to stick with one brand so that a #6 skillet and a #6 lid will fit together. Are there any real differences in quality or value (quality/price) between the two. I've seen some nice deals on ebay - like 5 skillets for $60.

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