Alternative cleaning technique?

From my admittedly limited research, I've learned that there are five ways people use to clean and restore vintage cast iron.

1) Scrub the pans until your arms fall off.
2) EZ Off and a bit of elbow grease.
3) Lye bath.
4) Electrolysis tank.
5) Fire/self-cleaning oven cycle.

I bought three pans last week that were in need of serious cleaning. The interiors didn't look too bad, but the exteriors were disgusting. Either way I was going to strip them because there is no way I am going to use pans of unknown history without a thorough cleanse.

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For various reasons, the methods above don't work for me. I have a young family, I have better things to do with my time than spend a weekend scrubbing. EZ Off could work, but I'd rather avoid dealing with the chemicals in the stuff. That rules out the lye bath as well.

I know the electrolysis tank is the preferred way of cleaning old CI, but it's not worth the hassle. I'm no collector and have no intentions of becoming one, so building a tank for three pans is overkill.

Then there is the fire/self-cleaning oven cycle. There is a lot of disagreement on this, with many endorsing this technique as a great way to cleaning old pans. While those who hold this opinion may have long years in cooking and using CI, they seem to have less experience in restoration and only deal with a few items. The ones who handle lots of cast iron, both the professionals and the passionate collectors insist that this method needlessly subjects vintage cast iron to damage. The high temperatures involved (800-900 °F) can cause significant warpage. Then there are the potential problems involved in using your oven's self-cleaning feature. I've read of people blowing fuses or their oven's control panel. That sounds like a very expensive fix and not worth the headache just so I can clean a few bucks worth of metal.

So what to do?

I remembered a couple of years ago when I was cooking a steak, I forgot to take out the Lodge that lives in my oven prior to preheating. The pan was none the worse for wear, but the seasoning was destroyed. I figured if this process took off seasoning accidentally, it should be able to do it deliberately.

So I set the oven to its highest baking setting (550 °F). I immediately placed the pans in the oven so they could warm up with oven. I don't know if it's necessary, but what could it hurt? Once they reached the desired temperature, I left them there for two hours and turned the oven off. Once everything had cooled, I took the pans out.

The old seasoning and crud was finished. It was powdery in some places, flaky in others. A bit of coaxing with a grill brush (maybe 10-15 minutes each) had the pans down to bare metal. I quickly placed the pans in a vinegar and water solution to get rid of the rust, and fired up the oven again so I could start seasoning them.

Here are the results. Three beautiful SBL Griswolds, in sizes 6, 7, and 8.

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What do you think? Is this a viable cleaning alternative? Or is 550 °F still too hot and potentially damaging to the old black stuff?
 
No one here will recommend fire as a cleaning process. The caveat about SCOs is more aimed at what could possibly happen, particularly to an older, thinner, and likely irreplaceable vintage pan. The bigger problem using the SCO is just the unnecessary wear and tear on the appliance. For rust, vinegar can work just fine, so electrolysis is not a must. I think too much is sometimes made of lye being a "chemical" to be avoided. Yes, there are safety precautions required, but if you've eaten olives, bagels, canned mandarin orange slices, you've ingested something processed with lye. At the strength used, it can be caustic, but is neutralized simply and effectively with just plenty of running water.
 
Even at 550? That's not nearly as hot as an SCO cycle and is only 50 degrees hotter than what I oven finish my steaks at.

Is it the extended duration that's problematic? Or the temperature?
 
If your oven is capable of 550F (some aren't), you allow the pan to come up to temp and back down slowly, you don't find the odor objectionable, and the results are acceptable, I don't see why not.

BTW, that speckled look in the last photo can be avoided by wiping the oil off more thoroughly before baking it. See: http://www.castironcollector.com/seasoning.php for more info.
 
Agreed. That's why I put the pans in the oven from the very beginning. I think it's better than placing them cold into a hot stove.

Lol...I thought i had wiped them well. Not well enough I suppose. Not a problem. They'll even out and darken soon enough with use.
 
That's true. If just splotchy and not sticky, it's only cosmetic, and if used, temporary.
 
Hey, I'm definitely new at this, and I've got the burned hands to prove it. These skillets do get quite hot, and it doesn't take long to figure that one out. :eek:

As for the splotches mentioned, I have found that when curing a skillet in the oven, you need to check it periodically. When I cure one, I like to warm it up to maybe 200F, then remove it, wipe it down with the oil or lard, and set it back in the oven so that it continues to come up to temperature, right along with the oven. I set a timer for 10-15 minutes. At that time, I pull the skillet from the oven, and quickly inspect for splotches, pooling, and/or small beads of oil, that may form, especially on the cooking surface as the pan heats. Usually there will be a few, depending on how much oil was applied, but normally they will wipe down smooth, if caught in those first few minutes. I then put it back in the oven (this should be a quick transition), and again, I set the timer for 10-15 minutes, at which time I check again, wiping lightly with a paper towel, just to make sure. Normally, after a couple or three, checks and wipes, all is okay, and the skillet cures out very smooth. I do like to continue checking, though, until I am able to pull that piece, and no wiping is needed. Good Luck ! :icon_thumbsup:
 
Nick, you must do one skillet at a time. I stack several on the shelf (upside down, throughly wiped down) so removing them several times would be dicey. So far my pans come out gray and eventually black, with no drips, splotches, beading, what-have-you. (I really work at that wipe-down!)
 
Nick, you must do one skillet at a time. I stack several on the shelf (upside down, throughly wiped down) so removing them several times would be dicey. So far my pans come out gray and eventually black, with no drips, splotches, beading, what-have-you. (I really work at that wipe-down!)

Yep, being more of a user, than a collector, I'm usually doing (seasoning) just one skillet at a time. Sometimes I actually do one skillet on the top rack, while I'm cooking in another on a lower rack. I don't have a ton of skillets, so I'm basically just re-seasoning one, here and there. :-D I really got just two that I use on a regular basis. (unmarked Wagner #8 plus a BSR #8)
 
My process is lye bath, molasses bath (rust), wash, season, cook... The baths are put in, forget for a few weeks so not much effort there and the washing isn't difficult since all seasoning and rust are gone from the baths.
 
My process is lye bath, molasses bath (rust), wash, season, cook... The baths are put in, forget for a few weeks so not much effort there and the washing isn't difficult since all seasoning and rust are gone from the baths.

So, I guess your process is more for restoration of newly acquired pieces (dirty, rusty, neglected, etc), than just daily maintenance.

I was actually re-seasoning one, that had been somewhat neglected over the past several years. No real rust, just a bit gummed up. I ended up taking it back down to bare metal, with a buffing wheel, and starting over. Seeing as I am just getting back into using my CI, there was a bit of trial & error involved, but it doesn't take too long to figure things. Now that skillet is slick as glass ! :D
 
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