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Thread: How do I restore cast iron skillet?

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    Default How do I restore cast iron skillet?

    Not sure if this is correct forum but...How do I restore and season cast iron skillets, pans, pots 'n stuff? I want to make old cast iron which is crusty, dusty 'n rusty look like new again? And by the way, what does seasoning do for cast iron?
    What else should I know?


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    Super-duper Moderator Sarge47's Avatar
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    thanks sarge u beat me to it, hahaha good links also,

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    A cleaning method to remove any build up on cast iron cookware is to place the cast iron onto a bed of coals or into a self-cleaning oven and cycle it thru a cleaning. This should take it down to a bare metal and will allow you to re-season the metal using your preference of cooking oil or lard. If you still have any significant rust you may want use steel wool to clean those areas and then wash & dry the metal before seasoning.
    Last edited by Cast-Iron; 08-09-2012 at 07:51 AM.

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    Senior Member Graf's Avatar
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    After reading this I got the urge to season my dutch oven, I used coconut oil and did it twice, it did a nice job.
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    Cooking with cast iron is great, esp for camping/survival. They double as a weapon ^^ Just duck when the wife throws one at yo head ^^

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    I guess I lead a sheltered life......now I need to add survival cooking to my lexicon.
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    Resident Wildman Wildthang's Avatar
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    With 2 girls in the house, I keep all the cast iron out in the pole barn

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    We have gone to cooking in cast iron for years and have, except for one small personal size pan, gotten rid of all of our teflon. Next on my cast iron wish list:
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wildthang View Post
    With 2 girls in the house, I keep all the cast iron out in the pole barn
    no need to do that, just have quick reflexes to duck.
    Its hard finding good cast iron now a days for not alot of busting on your piggy bank.
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    Senior Member Winter's Avatar
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    Being a wilderness survival forum I'd like to know how to clean it in the bush?

    Anybody know?


    ETA- seen it cleaned many times. Sand/gravel, a scotchbrite, and some oil to char into the holes in the finish. I don't carry cast iron in the woods. It's too heavy.
    Last edited by Winter; 08-09-2012 at 11:43 PM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Winter View Post
    Being a wilderness survival forum I'd like to know how to clean it in the bush?

    Anybody know?


    ETA- seen it cleaned many times. Sand/gravel, a scotchbrite, and some oil to char into the holes in the finish. I don't carry cast iron in the woods. It's too heavy.
    The key to cast iron is to not use detergent on it. You want to maintain the cooking oils in the pores of the iron. If it is already seasoned and in good shape a simple rinse out/wipe out is all that is needed. Food does not stick since it has that wonderful coating IN the skillet or pot. Just don't use soap and it is always good to go.
    If for some reason it needs to be re-seasoned in the wilderness as you mentioned the same process as above does it. Heat that baby up in a good hot fire to burn everything out of in and then scrub it out real well. Heat it again to 'open' the pores and then apply a good coating of oil, shortening or lard. Good to go then. The stuff is just wonderful.

    But you're right, it is bad heavy!
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    Senior Member Bushman's Avatar
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    But you're right, it is bad heavy![/QUOTE]

    these days it ALL gets carried by the 110 Defender, so 'weight' aint an 'issue'..........

    back in me yoof all I used was Army issue Aluminium grub set........eventually dissed that and just used the 'cups/canteen' for everything................likewise when backpacking for deer......... as got older I figgered 'more comfort' would be good and trained up a Donk as a pack mule.............but even THEN,kept the weight down and used spun steel pans & skillets..........

    but NUTHIN beats a good old Venison Hotpot, slow cooked in a CAST IRON Dixie pot...........hunions/meat/bacon grease ........brown the meat, deglaze with some good red.......add vegetables/beans/terbasker sauce whatever..........take off the heat.....put the lid on.....cover with hot coals, go hunting for an hour or three........come back...........remove lid.......EAT !!
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  14. #14

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    One final question...
    Instead of having the oven in the kitchen running for 2 hours, can I do the initial, first couple of oil 'n heat steps in the gas grill? I mean, does it matter if you you flame or electric element heat? Probably not since one person said I could do it in a bed of hot coals.

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    Senior Member wtrfwlr's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sofasurfer View Post
    One final question...
    Instead of having the oven in the kitchen running for 2 hours, can I do the initial, first couple of oil 'n heat steps in the gas grill? I mean, does it matter if you you flame or electric element heat? Probably not since one person said I could do it in a bed of hot coals.
    I'm sorry sofasurfer I thought I had replied to this with a yes on the coals or an open fire. That is just fine and so is a grille or range top or whatever you can come up with to heat that baby real good and hot. All you are trying to do is OPEN up the pores in the metal to allow the oil to penetrate the surface somewhat.

    I had to re-season a 10 1/2" skillet of mine yesterday and this is what I did.

    1. Heated the skillet up on my range top in my kitchen until is was HOT. That means when I put a drop of water on it the water would sizzle and dance around for just a second and evaporate quickly. As soon as I got it to that temp I doused it under HOT running tap water to bring the temp back down.

    2. Next, to get all of the cooked crud off of it I took some coarse steel wool and some comet cleaner and scrubbed it until all old food residue was removed and the surface was nice and smooth.

    3. Now I needed to season it. I put it back on the range and began to heat it back up. I put about a tablespoon of lard on it (shortening or vegetable oil works too) I made sure that there was an even coat of the hot oil all on the surface and allowed that to heat until the oil just began to smoke a little but not burn. Then I took it off the range and once again placed it under HOT running tap water, be careful doing this as it with really sizzle and steam up fast for just a second. I repeated this step two more times just because I could, once or twice is probably fine.

    This will season the skillet and treat it so that food will not easily stick to it and it is very easy to clean up with just some warm water and a wipe out with a towel and then just a light coat of oil. Then it is ready to cook in again.
    Do Not wash it out with detergent! That washes out the oils and ruins the season so to speak. It can be re-done as above but if you just clean up with water and a towel then put a little cooking oil of some sort to keep it from forming rust it will always be ready to cook with. The only reason I had to SOS pad and then burned a bunch of food in it. It is seasoned now and will last for years to come again. That is as long as my 'friend' stays away from it!!
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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    Nornally .......Heat, water and finally oil are your friend......soap and detergent are not.....unless you rally have a rusty and baked on cruddy pan of pot, that need a lot of work.
    Anything goes, heat, wire brush, scrapper.....Then re-season.

    After cooking in it;
    I have used a wad(ball?) of alum foil in place of of SOS, with hot water.....no soap.

    If crudded up really bad, put on coals and boil water to loosen crud scrap with spatula.

    If its gonna get stored awhile, and has a lid (skillet, pot or dutch oven)...make sure to oil up the area where the lid and pan fit together.

    The big skillet is also used to be the lower heat for baking,..... placed on a trivet, filled with coals, preheated ditch oven place in pan w/coals....more coals on top of dutch oven.
    When done, just boil out skillet and re-oil.

    P.S. I just found a #3 Griswold, about a 7" skillet, and am in process of making up a ranger/longhunter kit cira 1700, but my go with a small tin pan.......and a corn broiler is on it's way from Crazy Crow.....work in progress
    Last edited by hunter63; 08-12-2012 at 10:33 PM. Reason: added stuff.
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    That a word from a man that has been there a done it!
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  18. #18

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    Thanks you guys. I scoured it with steel wool. There was just a bit of rust and a few rust pits. Then I rinsed it out. Heated the grill to 400. Oiled the pan. put it in upside down. Baked one hour. Cooled in grill. Looks good to me...for what thats worth.
    While still warm I turned the grill back on. Oiled her up again and am baking it again now.
    Its just a little 6 inch pan. I am on the look out for more...and a griddle.
    Last edited by sofasurfer; 08-12-2012 at 10:55 PM.

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    Yeah, well a couple of times.....
    Did I ever tell you about the time my MIL brought about 30# of venison to rendezvous, and was thawing out in a crappy cooler,.... then she used every cast iron pot, pan, oven, and skillet to cook it all up while were were at the range, shooting.....I was cleaning baked on venison tallow in the dark for a long time, that night.

    Could have killed her,..... but then I would have had to bury the body,.... but was too tired.....ground was hard.....you get the picture.....
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    Darned hard ground.

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