I am very new to cast iron and refinishing (or attempting to). I have looked online and read a lot on this, many of the good advice was directly from this website.
I have done only 9 skillets with 7 still in the process of seasoning and 1 was a do over because I did not like the way it looked after 3 coats of seasoning. I thought all was going well until this morning when I had 6 skillets in the oven at 200F all of them with various coats of seasoning. After 20 minutes I took them out one at a time and applied another thin coat of grapeseed oil. This is when I noticed that a few of the skillets actually appeared to have a bit of rust that transferred to the blue shop towel that I was wiping the oil on with. It was not visible as the seasoning coatings are chestnut in color. One of these pans was on coat #7 and up to this point, I had not had this issue. One of the pans was on coat #2 and one on coat #5. All done with grapeseed oil.
I have looked all over online to see if I can find a reason for the sudden appearance of rust after this many coats but I am finding nothing. I hope to find an answer before going any further in case I need to start over. I would be very disappointed to try to cook in one of these skillets only to have rust.
I will describe my process and hopefully someone can find error with it or have an idea of what I did wrong this far along.
I am using an electrolysis tank to get the rust and crud off of these pans. I then take them inside and scrub any remaining spots and overall with very fine 0000 steel wool then use a green scrub sponge and dish soap and water to give them a final cleaning.
My fear is and was flash rust. Being new at this I did not want to have this happen so I tried to move fairly quick when removing from the E tank.
The first 2 skillets I read on a different website that you can use hot water to rinse and apply a coat of oil when its wet then put them in the oven at 200F for 20 then wipe off excess. This seemed to work ok and I did 3 coats of seasoning.
After the first 2 skillets I read that you can use very cold water to rinse then put in the oven at 200F for 20 minutes to dry then wipe on a light coat of oil. This method seemed easier so I kept with this.
When I apply the oil, I wipe all of it back off that I can with blue shop towel then the skillets go back in the oven at 470F for one hour. I turn the oven off after 1 hour at 470F and let the skillets come down to 200-225 range. I then apply another coat of oil and repeat.
This seemed to be working great with no issues. 2 nights ago I had applied the first coat to 2 skillets and the 4th and 6th coat. I let the oven run at 470 for an hour and shut it off and let the skillets cool inside till morning. This is the first time I did this.
I had put the 2 wet skillets that I removed from the E tanks in with the pans in the oven that were preheating for another coat of oil. The skillets were upside down like always and not touching. I had done this before one time as well adding a wet skillet to dry while the ones in the oven preheating with no issue. This was the first time putting 2 wet skillets in at once with the preheating pans but there was still plenty of room and airflow.
Thanks for reading this far and hopefully I described what I have done well enough that someone may be able to help me figure out where I goofed up.
I did go ahead and run these at 470F for an hour after wiping off rust with the oil then let cool 2 hours in the oven and they seemed to come out ok. I applied a very light coat of oil and back in for 20 minutes at 200F then wiped to see if I had any rust again. They were pretty good, a very slight wiped off one, only barely noticeable on the dry blue shop towel. I did not heat to 470F after this time I just wanted to see if the rust would happen again. Before I go any further hopefully I want to see if I need to re-strip these and start over.
Could it be the steel wool use and somehow I am not rinsing it all off after causing rust? Could it be adding the wet skillets to the gas oven when dry ones are in there is causing an issue? I am sure there are other possibilities as well.
I have 2 more in the tanks but I am going to leave the hang out until I can have some input.
This is definitely a fun and rewarding thing to do but I want to do it the right way so I am not giving my family skillets that they will have rust when they cook or bake with them. My Wife has been surprisingly patient with a kitchen full of cast iron for week and more sitting on the porch and I want her to have a good experience using cast iron skillets and for me not to get one upside the head.
Thank You for any and all help and advice.
I have done only 9 skillets with 7 still in the process of seasoning and 1 was a do over because I did not like the way it looked after 3 coats of seasoning. I thought all was going well until this morning when I had 6 skillets in the oven at 200F all of them with various coats of seasoning. After 20 minutes I took them out one at a time and applied another thin coat of grapeseed oil. This is when I noticed that a few of the skillets actually appeared to have a bit of rust that transferred to the blue shop towel that I was wiping the oil on with. It was not visible as the seasoning coatings are chestnut in color. One of these pans was on coat #7 and up to this point, I had not had this issue. One of the pans was on coat #2 and one on coat #5. All done with grapeseed oil.
I have looked all over online to see if I can find a reason for the sudden appearance of rust after this many coats but I am finding nothing. I hope to find an answer before going any further in case I need to start over. I would be very disappointed to try to cook in one of these skillets only to have rust.
I will describe my process and hopefully someone can find error with it or have an idea of what I did wrong this far along.
I am using an electrolysis tank to get the rust and crud off of these pans. I then take them inside and scrub any remaining spots and overall with very fine 0000 steel wool then use a green scrub sponge and dish soap and water to give them a final cleaning.
My fear is and was flash rust. Being new at this I did not want to have this happen so I tried to move fairly quick when removing from the E tank.
The first 2 skillets I read on a different website that you can use hot water to rinse and apply a coat of oil when its wet then put them in the oven at 200F for 20 then wipe off excess. This seemed to work ok and I did 3 coats of seasoning.
After the first 2 skillets I read that you can use very cold water to rinse then put in the oven at 200F for 20 minutes to dry then wipe on a light coat of oil. This method seemed easier so I kept with this.
When I apply the oil, I wipe all of it back off that I can with blue shop towel then the skillets go back in the oven at 470F for one hour. I turn the oven off after 1 hour at 470F and let the skillets come down to 200-225 range. I then apply another coat of oil and repeat.
This seemed to be working great with no issues. 2 nights ago I had applied the first coat to 2 skillets and the 4th and 6th coat. I let the oven run at 470 for an hour and shut it off and let the skillets cool inside till morning. This is the first time I did this.
I had put the 2 wet skillets that I removed from the E tanks in with the pans in the oven that were preheating for another coat of oil. The skillets were upside down like always and not touching. I had done this before one time as well adding a wet skillet to dry while the ones in the oven preheating with no issue. This was the first time putting 2 wet skillets in at once with the preheating pans but there was still plenty of room and airflow.
Thanks for reading this far and hopefully I described what I have done well enough that someone may be able to help me figure out where I goofed up.
I did go ahead and run these at 470F for an hour after wiping off rust with the oil then let cool 2 hours in the oven and they seemed to come out ok. I applied a very light coat of oil and back in for 20 minutes at 200F then wiped to see if I had any rust again. They were pretty good, a very slight wiped off one, only barely noticeable on the dry blue shop towel. I did not heat to 470F after this time I just wanted to see if the rust would happen again. Before I go any further hopefully I want to see if I need to re-strip these and start over.
Could it be the steel wool use and somehow I am not rinsing it all off after causing rust? Could it be adding the wet skillets to the gas oven when dry ones are in there is causing an issue? I am sure there are other possibilities as well.
I have 2 more in the tanks but I am going to leave the hang out until I can have some input.
This is definitely a fun and rewarding thing to do but I want to do it the right way so I am not giving my family skillets that they will have rust when they cook or bake with them. My Wife has been surprisingly patient with a kitchen full of cast iron for week and more sitting on the porch and I want her to have a good experience using cast iron skillets and for me not to get one upside the head.
Thank You for any and all help and advice.
