Can this be re-finished?

C

Charles_Cox

New member
I picked up this skillet at a garage sale this morning. At $35 I may have paid too much, but after seeing what the owner did I have to try and save it. Does this look like it will be able to be saved? The guy told me he ground it down yesterday because it looked bad.
 

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Not much to be done about it now. At least it's only the inside. Seasoning will cover the marks in time, but you'll know they're there. Any chance of a return? Probably not.
 
That is just a cryin' shame. If you can't get your money back, you might try 0000 steel wool and about two tons of elbow grease. (don't forget protective gloves). It'll take a while, but you don't have anything to lose except your time. Good Luck!
 
It might be on this site somewhere but I haven't found it.... What methods were used at the factories to smooth the inside surfaces?
 
Specialized machinery. A pan would be affixed to a motorized spinning mounting, while a grindstone, shaped to fit the contours of the pan (think where sidewall meets cooking surface), and spinning in the opposite direction would be moved across the surface of the pan by an operator.

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I've never tried it on a cast iron pan, but you might be able to get some of worst of it out with a felt polishing/buffing wheel or bob, chucked to a drill, and a mild abrasive like automotive rubbing compound. Wear googles. You really don't want it in your eyes!
 
I have a #12 Wapak that was pitted real bad, but I bought it anyways. After a few years of cooking, its almost filled in with seasoning. Took about 5 years, but its one of my favorite skillets now.
 
Buffing compounds used to polish gun barrels would take most if not all of it out. When converting old military rifles to sporters the barrels are draw filed down a lot of times to reduce the weight, then buffed to remove the file marks and polished before bluing. Brownell's Inc. has it in stock.
 
I would think a orbital sander with 1000 grit to start, then go down to 60 micron for the inside bottom. The sides done by hand though.
 
Scott J. said:
It might be on this site somewhere but I haven't found it.... What methods were used at the factories to smooth the inside surfaces?
Click to expand...
I saw an old film from about the 20-30s.
They used a machine that was kind of a combination of a lathe and a grinder. The skillet would be put in a clamp and spun. Then a series of rotating grinding stones (finer and finer) would grind the bottom and sides smooth.
 
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