So I was rooting around in the basement and found two cast iron Dutch ovens. One is a well known brand Wagner that is going through its second round of seasoning. Can't wait to use it, the other is a turn of the 19th century, was going to call "turn of the century" but hey we are in the 2000's now :o. Anyways this is a N. Brighton with a heat ring and "gate marks". Thinking of trying the electrolysis method, there's a lot of crusty stuff to remove. Bill
Bill, you can wire brush it, wipe it out, then scrub with a half potato coated with salt. I will send you a tube of seasoner oil I swear by, rub it down then fry a full batch of taters in canola oil and discard. you will be good to go after that; just wipe down after use with the stuff I send or veg oil, not bacon grease. Animal fatty acids taint good for it. clean only with hot water and a scotch brite pad MAYBE, or rag, no soap. Shoot me yo address, I have to send some stuff to Alan, Tom and Dominick and will get it out asap.
John
Hey Bill, we soak 'em in lye water...it eats everything off back to bare iron...then you can season it. 8)
My techniques when reviving abused cast iron: take it camping and throw it in the fire for the evening (literally build the fire on top of it), then hit it with the wire brush the next morning. Take it back to "from the foundry" condition to begin the seasoning process...
I suppose you could also bead blast it clean with the proper media.
Thanks guys for the advice. It's pretty crusty inside and what looks like cement, the rust looks like a piece of cake with a wire brush and some scrubbing. John, pm sent, I just finished a Wagner Dutch oven using oil and the result was so so. Bill
I have had great luck with putting them in a self cleaning oven for a cycle. They come out like brand new.
Those are great, after you have cleaned out all the rust and gunk fill it halfway with cooking oil and heat eat up till the oil catches fire, wait for all the oil to burn out, pot good to go and you won't have any metal tastes
The best seasoning oil for cast iron is flax seed oil or food grade linseed oil. Dominick
Nice Dutchy Bill.
My old Japanese remedy for rusty cast iron from my grand aunty is to boil the cast iron pot in a mash of Okinawan sweet potato (purple sweet potato) and water. Something in the sweet potato will naturally eat away at the rust leaving you a clean cast iron pot. I have yet to try but my grand aunty swears by it to clean rusty cast iron tea pots.
Quote from: Bill B (Tarfu) on January 07, 2019, 01:05:32 AM
Thanks guys for the advice. It's pretty crusty inside and what looks like cement, the rust looks like a piece of cake with a wire brush and some scrubbing. John, pm sent, I just finished a Wagner Dutch oven using oil and the result was so so. Bill
You might get a lead test kit to be on the safe side. A lot of weights were made from old wheel weights melted down in cast iron pots.
Rob
Jose, if that were the case wouldn't there be an obvious ring of lead in the pot? Dominick
I don't know Dominick, but would tend to err on the side of caution when it comes to food and safety, for the most part :) . I am also no metallurgist, but have seen a couple of lead stained pots (my dad has one he melts solder in to sweat a copper pipe railing that is lead all over the bottom, not a ring) and one with a shiny ring only. I think the lead only sticks to cool(enough) metal so it may depend on if you are using a charcoal fire like my dad, a forge with the whole pot red hot, or somewhere in between (a propane torch maybe). This is just a theory..
There may be no need to worry, but was this basement pot a family heirloom or a garage sale find?
I don't think a visual only inspection is safe without more information available. They used to seal food tins with lead and that turned out very bad.
Rob
Okay...I got it. Dominick
Thanks for all this great advice...I love cast iron.
Bill, What are 'Gate Marks'? Also. if I were you, I would want to know what the 'cement' like substance is. I would assume that the porosity of cast iron could really hold on to lead even if it looks cleaned out. I think a lead test kit is good advice.
Dominic, Flaxseed oil has been my favorite oil for seasoning. I have a friend who use to work at an oil distributer and she swears that flaxseed and linseed are one in the same but that flaxseed is safe for human consumption but that linseed has additives. I know the difference between linseed and boiled linseed is that boiled has a solvent like mineral spirits added so that it will dry. Regular linseed stays sticky without the solvent. Just to be safe flaxseed should be considered optimum.
My Grandpa gave me my favorite pan. He had a pile of them in his yard and I asked him for one. I picked out a very rusty Griswald but it had the best feel and balance. That pan just gets better and better with age, I would never part with it.
Now that I got my comments out of the way, I have a question. My newer pan is a lodge. The casting texture is very course. Does anyone know if it would be advisable to run an orbital sander around in it to smooth out the texture or will it smooth out on it's own as the black builds up? My Griswald had deep pits from the rust but now after many years is as smooth as a baby's bottom.
Rob, there is no history on this DO. The outside of the DO looks like it was used on a wood fire due to a large amount of charing on the bottom. Inside is as expected rust but there is a white/yellow hard and smooth coating around the top 2". At first thought it was eanameld but it is too coarse to be enamel. I'm thinking either cement or animal glue. Gonna try the electrolysis method this weekend to see what I get. I have a lead test kit and will give it at test after.
PAC, gate marks are formed during the casting process where the molten iron was poured into the sand mold. Gate marks are not found on CI after about 1910. It is used as a way to date early CI. As I'm just getting into the history of CI, the older CI has a finer grain, thinner side walls, and lighter than contemporary items.
Here's a link to a good website on cast iron.....http://www.castironcollector.com/cooking.php
I can see this cast iron becoming an obsession.....kinda like fishing reels 😱
Bill
Quote from: Bill B (Tarfu) on January 08, 2019, 04:35:30 AM
Inside is as expected rust but there is a white/yellow hard and smooth coating around the top 2". At first thought it was eanameld but it is too coarse to be enamel. I'm thinking either cement or animal glue. Gonna try the electrolysis method this weekend to see what I get. I have a lead test kit and will give it at test after.
cool topic
don't know much about CI
do know that lead carbonate is white
hope your test kit detects lead compounds, as well as the element
I only cook with cast iron; a dutch oven, small fry pan, medium fry pan, and a griddle. My wife hates them and has her own stuff.
When the dirty dishes can no longer be ignored, I let the Labrador lick left-overs from pans before washing. You can't leave cast iron with him for too long though because he will lick the seasoning and top layer of crud off so it has to be re-oiled before going into the cupboard to prevent rusting. No wonder she hates them.
-steve
Quote from: PacRat on January 08, 2019, 04:31:08 AM
Now that I got my comments out of the way, I have a question. My newer pan is a lodge. The casting texture is very course. Does anyone know if it would be advisable to run an orbital sander around in it to smooth out the texture or will it smooth out on it's own as the black builds up? My Griswald had deep pits from the rust but now after many years is as smooth as a baby's bottom.
Yes...after seasoning the skillet a few times the build up will smooth the surface. After a few years of
proper use and handling it will be smooth as glass.
Things cooked in cast iron cook on the carbon layer, same principle as a carbon steel Wok. The new Lodge pre blacken pans are rough but like Moe says the roughness will fill in. Peanut oil is another preferred seasoning oil due to its ability to sustain a higher temperature when heated. Putting then in a camp fire or self cleaning oven only burns off the carbon and does not effect any rust. The rust has to be removed mechanically via sanding or steel wool aka a Brillo pad etc. Than the pan can be oiled and seasoned.
I did some further research as to my comments using flaxseed oil to season a cast iron pan after getting the rust out. Check out this link. Dominick
https://www.cooksillustrated.com/how_tos/5820-the-ultimate-way-to-season-cast-iron
Steve is my kinda guy! Let the hounds earn their keep around the house by doing the dishes! Everything in my house is either Cast Iron or Stainless - keeping stainless looking new is very hard - just like with CI don't get happy with the aggressive abrasives and maintain that non-reactive layer...
Starting on my second cast iron Dutch oven....was pretty grimy and rusty, first thing is assemble the supplies for an electrolysis bath.
Battery charger and leads, large bucket to soak in, anode (I cut open a large coffee can to increase the surface area for better conductivity) and chemicals. From what I've read washing soda (sodium carbonate) is the stuff to use, but can be hard to find. A little research shows you can can make it by heating baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) which releases carbon dioxide and water. I'm no chemist, but can use an oven so I made my own. I also added some borax as a degreaser for good measure.
Assemble everything tun on the charger and let it cook. One warning though the electrolysis releases hydrogen gas, and unless you want to re-inact the Hindenburg, ventilate well. This will be multiple posts during the entire process.....
Here's the assembly,and progress after three hours. I've been turning the pot and changed out the solution , so far impressed with the results.
Keep us up to date. Good work. Dominick
Well at least I'm not out any money 😤 Just finished the third round of electrolysis today, and discovered the Dutch oven is cracked, I'm assuming its fatal.
Lessons learned, electrolysis is a good way to clean the rust and grime from cast iron (CI), the chemicals used primarily sodium carbonate is caustic, how to make sodium carbonate from sodium bicarbonate, electrolysis produces hydrogen and oxygen which can be "exciting" i.e. Hindenburg, it is a messy job (the wife will not be pleased with the mess in the kitchen sink 🙄).
On the good side the Wagner Dutch oven that was found with the D&M, was solid and seasoned very well with peanut oil.
Bill, great work! The other one is a permanent flower pot....i bought a cauldron once that was cracked, we tried to weld it and everything but in the end game it has a mandevilla in it now lol.
I had to google mandevilla...we live and learn. Dominick
Had to look it up also, interesting plant. I may give welding or brazing a shot, nothing to lose at this point, I have some pretty good welders at work. Will let you know how it turns out.....Bill
I'm more interested to see a money shot of whatever you cook up in the one that isn't cracked, Billy-boy! May be out to OC this spring, my turn on beers.
A good welder can braise that no prob.
We have a 2 ton Chevy flat bed on the ranch that the yoke on the differential was braised back in 1988.
Still going strong and that Chev gets used ......
Brazing...that's good to know......John if you have time Lake Gregory is about 5 mins from the house, I have plenty of light tackle for some trout fishing, we can walk and cast from the shore line, it's about an hour walk all the way around. Bill
I had to look it up too but only found stuff about the vine. They say to drill a hole at the end of the crack to keep it from running and to relieve stress. Then fill the hole later. Grind out a groove along the crack. Feather it out to about 1/2 inch wide so you have a fresh (shiny) surface to wick the brazing and not contaminate it. While the groove is still shiny, braze with brass rod and lots of that white paste flux. Seems like there's absolutely nothing to loose.
-steve
Sodium carbonate, (NA2CO3), is available at pool supply stores as "pH Up", or something similar. You don't have to make your own.
Thanks Sid, unfortunately the nearest big box home store or pool supply is a 30 minute drive down the mountain. Next time I do this I will pick some up.
So today I dropped off the pot with my welders at work, they're going t bead blast it before welding and hopefully they can get the white crust that may be plaster or cement off that's inside. Heck if I knew this I could have saved a lot of time, but then again we don't do these things just to be speedy. Just like reels, it's a labor of love and in this case learning too. Will update after th boys finish. Bill
The Crack Pot (sorry) may not be good for a stew but I bet ya could do a no knead rustic bread in that thing?
Tim
Quote from: Bill B (Tarfu) on January 15, 2019, 12:55:03 AM
Brazing...that's good to know......John if you have time Lake Gregory is about 5 mins from the house, I have plenty of light tackle for some trout fishing, we can walk and cast from the shore line, it's about an hour walk all the way around. Bill
You're in Crestline? I sold my place in Twin Peaks a year and a half ago. I spent a lot of time at Lake Gregory with my boys when they were little... and in Deep Creek with my younger son when he was older.
Mark, we've been here about 6 months now, winter has been pretty mild so far, at least for us. Big Bear is getting a lot of snow now. I havent had the chance to fish Gregory, when the weather settles down a little was thinking of walking the shore and tossing a few lures. You have any favorites? I have the usual Kastmasters, Super Dupers, Panther Martins and Mepps..... Bill
Got the Dutch oven back from the boys today. While not a perfect repair, this DO was never going to be brought back to "perfect". Some welding with stainlesss steel rod and some brazing and a good bead blasting brought it back to life. Oiled it down to prevent rust. Looking forward to seasoning and some No Knead bread.
Couple slices of bacon , and 2 or 3 potatoes ,
Just let it simmer till crusty.
Throw the first batch out , from then on you will be good to go.