Cleaning Cast Iron pans ?

[Joel_BC]

Once you've got an old skillet down to the cast iron again, the light-duty kitchen-type cleaning methods will work. (See the previous pages.)

 

[ilvalleygal]

I knew, I saved my drippins for some reason.. Been buyin turkey bacon, ,n cook w/veg oil now. So what is tallow?, and Crisco cant be used, cause it's veg oil ?

Tallow is rendered beef fat, similar to pork lard.

Crisco is hydrogenated vegetable shortening so it will get sticky after awhile.

 

[hqueen13]

Just found this article today, and found it really useful... I know what I'll be doing over the next few weeks!

http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2...ique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/?roostBDI=375678

 

[BirdBrain]

My preferred method is electrolytic removal. The rust is removed by attaching the cast iron to the positive side of an auto battery and the negative to just about any form of iron in a salt bath [plastic pail] the rust will come off first before the cast iron is attacked. The nice thing is that you can reverse the electrical connections to do a minor plate job on the surface of the cast iron which tends to smooth the surface.
~gd

Can you please elaborate on this? I am having trouble picturing exactly how I would do this and how it works. Thanks.

 

[Cindlady2]

My preferred method is electrolytic removal. The rust is removed by attaching the cast iron to the positive side of an auto battery and the negative to just about any form of iron in a salt bath [plastic pail] the rust will come off first before the cast iron is attacked. The nice thing is that you can reverse the electrical connections to do a minor plate job on the surface of the cast iron which tends to smooth the surface.
~gd

Can you please elaborate on this? I am having trouble picturing exactly how I would do this and how it works. Thanks.

Yea, me too. The first part I get, but with what (and how) do you do the plating? I thought the item had to be submerged to plate?

 

[~gd]

My preferred method is electrolytic removal. The rust is removed by attaching the cast iron to the positive side of an auto battery and the negative to just about any form of iron in a salt bath [plastic pail] the rust will come off first before the cast iron is attacked. The nice thing is that you can reverse the electrical connections to do a minor plate job on the surface of the cast iron which tends to smooth the surface.
~gd

Can you please elaborate on this? I am having trouble picturing exactly how I would do this and how it works. Thanks.

Yea, me too. The first part I get, but with what (and how) do you do the plating? I thought the item had to be submerged to plate?

Sorry for not answering sooner but I thought I had finished this subject. the rust is removed by submerging the rusty item in a salty solution in a non metal container [for safety reasons a metal container will work but you can get a nasty shock if you touch the wrong things when power is applied] an other bit of metal [iron rebar] is attached to the negative terminal and placed in the solution to finish the circuit. The current oxidizes the rust first and it goes into the solution. in theory with enough current and time your cook ware could end up as a thick plating on the rebar. you quit derusting when the rust has disappeared, if you want
to plate some iron back on the cook ware you just reverse the wires on the battery and the iron comes off the rebar and plates the cook ware. the plate will be pure iron without the alloy metals. Pure iron is nowhere near as tough as cast iron so I only try a little at a time to fill the pits that rust tends to produce. rinse very well, oven dry and completely reseason to finish the project. Yes Cindlady 2 in theory you can spot plate without submerging. I have never tried it on cast iron. but have done so with gold and silver jewerly using a purchased kit, it is often on silver plate or where gold is plated onto silver. both are soft metals and tend to wear off. You know when your skin turns green that you have worn down to the copper base and it is time to replate. I hope this answered your questions. ~gd