I just seasoned two pans at once. After the e-tank I scrubbed them down, dried them, put on crisco, wiped off excess with a microfiber towel, put in oven at 200 for 5-10 minutes, did a second wipe down, and then slowly worked up to 550 degrees for a total time of 1 hour and let cool in the oven. I've used this method once before and it worked fine. However this time the two pans came out looking sort of blue-ish and as I heard described in another thread, like the pipes on a Harley. It also looks like there's a little bit of brown rust under the seasoning. Not sure how that happened since I oiled it right after I dried it. Is it possible I wiped off ALL of the oil when it went in to cook? Or wiped off too much? I decided to try again on two other pans and now I have four like this. Should I start over or just keep seasoning? Any ideas on what went wrong?
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What am I doing wrong?
- Thread starter JakeN.
- Start date
W. Hilditch
Active member
I second Steve. Seasoning does not like it over 500°.
Hilditch
Hilditch
Jake, I used to use a different method than is suggested by Doug on this site. I've found that his method works better. Check it out here: http://www.castironcollector.com/seasoning.php
Heating the skillet before applying the oil, and not going over 500, has worked for me.
Heating the skillet before applying the oil, and not going over 500, has worked for me.
Thanks for the advice! Yeah I normally heat up the pan before seasoning but for the initial seasoning I can't seem to do it without it flash rusting, even with rinsing it in cold water. I will try to season right over top of these using the methods you guys suggested and I'll report back.
My (not vast!) experience has been that there's no need to worry about flash rusting, and IIRC, Doug's seasoning directions say the same thing. When I put the Crisco on the heated iron, the flash rust seems to be neutralized by the fat.
Steve
Well I tried to season right on top and it didn't change a thing. Heated them up first, oiled, wiped down, cooked at 350 for 10, wiped down again, and then 450 for 45 mins.
I suppose it might even out after cooking with it but at the moment I'm attempting to limit my cast iron to griswold and these came in package deals so I plan on re-selling and doubt they'd sell in the state they are in. I guess I'll throw them back in the e-tank for a bit and then re season using dougs method. The only problem for me is that the skillets flash rust like I said. I would try to just season over since you say the oil tends to neutralize the rust, however my pans get completely rusted all around after about 10 minutes. I can't imagine leaving it in for almost an hour before even putting oil on it, so not sure what to do.
Would it hurt to let it dry in the oven and then put oil on it before slowly raising temp. to 425, or is there a reason for that?
I suppose it might even out after cooking with it but at the moment I'm attempting to limit my cast iron to griswold and these came in package deals so I plan on re-selling and doubt they'd sell in the state they are in. I guess I'll throw them back in the e-tank for a bit and then re season using dougs method. The only problem for me is that the skillets flash rust like I said. I would try to just season over since you say the oil tends to neutralize the rust, however my pans get completely rusted all around after about 10 minutes. I can't imagine leaving it in for almost an hour before even putting oil on it, so not sure what to do.
Would it hurt to let it dry in the oven and then put oil on it before slowly raising temp. to 425, or is there a reason for that?
When you put the oil on the hot, flash-rusted pan and then wipe it off, you are doing two things: 1) removing the miniscule layer of flash rust with the oil you are wiping off and 2) sealing the iron from the air, therefore flash rust can no longer form. If your pans then look brownish/bronze after baking, it is not because of flash rust. It's just how basic, initial manual seasonings sometimes look.
I let them sit for probably about 20 hours and then followed dougs directions exactly. Interestingly this time they didn't seem to flash rust at all, which almost makes me think I didn't strip them completely however when I took them out that rainbow coloring was gone. Anyway, they turned out the same way again. I've only done 5 pans on the e-tank so far, the first one came out beautiful and the next four I've had the same problem with. Weird, but oh well. I'll sell them as is and cook with the keepers and hopefully they'll darken up.