Stripping cast iron skillet question. Update

I plan on making a electrolysis tank this spring coming but have a couple skillets i wanted to give as Christmas gifts. So I thought I'd try the oven cleaner method. It ain't gettin it lol. Has anyone tried this and it worked? I know there's a lot of build up but after four days I thought I'd be golden. Am I doing something wrong?

i do the small fire cleaning.
never have tried the oven cleaner

Five gallon bucket, one can lye, water to cover. Heavy crud may need a scrub every couple days.

What about a wire wheel?

Sandblasting

I was thinking about trying that with a brass one.

How long could that take if its really built up warrior? And I assume I would have to neutralize with baking soda after?

Put them in your kitchen oven, then run the oven's clean cycle. It will burn it all off.

Then wash in hot water using Scrubbie to clean up the residue.

Then to season, coat lightly with PAM non-stick spray and heat in oven or BBQ at around 300 degrees for a couple hours. Upside down to start....then right side up to finish. Repeat as needed. Get that right and it will look like baked on enamel. It will act like teflon.

I never use dish soap on cast iron. Never. Soap will screw up your seasoning job.

Thanks Howard but my stove is from the 80's, it don't have a cleaning cycle. I do clean it every few years whether it needs it or not though lol. It goes up to 550.

just cut some dry soft wood up. old 2x4s work. hardwood gets too hot. lay up a fire about two feet high. put the skillet on top and light the fire. just let it go till it burns out and the skillet cools back down. scrub it good with dish soap and steel wool. rinse it off good then dry. rub it down good, the whole thing, with lard. put in a 400 degree oven for an hour. let it cool down. repeat 3-4 times. dont want a lot of lard or it will be sticky. if it is sticky when it cools down heat the oven back up to 450-500 and stick it in for another hour. may have to do that 2-3 times till its not sticky. then use it. or give to somebody else who will use it.

I just did a real rusty dutch oven, first took a cordless drill with a 2" wire wheel and went at it hard to remove the rust, rinsed it out dry it , put baking soda in it added white vinager, let it soak for 10 mins. and then took a small wire brush to it, wash it out with soap and hot water, rinsed it good put it on stove burner , heated it up to make sure it was dry. All rust and junk was gone. Heated oven to 350, coated the whole thing inside and out with olive oil put in oven for 1 hour, let it cool then repeated, after second time in the oven it was seasoned and looked great. It is a lot of work if you do it right.

The worst I recall was a bsr wedge cornbread pan that had baked on grease like a heavy coat of poly. It took about a week. When scrubbing I use a stainless scouring pad. No need to neutralize with soda as lye is a base same as soda, just a good rinse with water. But I always do a scalding hot soap scrub and rinse prior to oven drying and seasoning.

Thanks warrior, I'm gonna give it a go tomorrow. With any luck I'll have them done before Santa comes lol.

Shouldn't take long judging by the pictures. BTW wear gloves and don't splash the stuff on painted surfaces.

Last question, I think lol. Will it work out in a unheated shed or should I bring it in with a good lid on the bucket.

Don't use the fire method .You'll warp them.I use the oven cleaner and steel wool.It works great.On super bad ones it might take 3 cleanings.I put the pan in a plastic bag and spray it with oven cleaner close it up and let set set for 24 hrs.I clean at least a dozen a year like this and some are really cruddy.

Thanks Dave, I've been at it for over 4 days with this skillet doing just as you mentioned, and it still has a bunch of crud on it. I did buy the off brand no fume oven cleaner, maybe that has something to do with it. IDK

I just did a medium wised frying pan and just put it on my gas burner I use for big stuff outside and left it glowing for a few minutes and then slowly turned the heat down bit by bit till it was on the smallest flame that beast would let me and kept it there for 20 minutes or so, then turned it off and let it cool. Looked like sand blasted after that. Now the usual seasoning and done.

daveharmon you'll have to show me which one of my black skillets or where my dutch oven is warped. i cant find it. i havent put them all in a fire but several i have. i know i did my dutch oven. cant remember which skillets i cleaned like that. you ever get out this way you can show me which ones i warped

That's how I have done dozens of them.I tried all the other ways,,and sand blasting gets er done.In two minuites your done with one pan and its like brand new.Just need to re season.

lye is the least invasive most gentle way suspend the pice in a tub with a wire so that it isn't touching the bottom and let is soak for days in lye and water

simple overnight method put it in the wood stove on a good bed of coals , get it out and wash it in the morning this comes with a little risk of cracking.

Not to hard to make a electrolysis rig... here’s mine, just got to rotate the pan here and there... once it’s done I bake in oven with flac seed oil.. iv done around 20 skillets..

Well I am heartbroken this morning. I did the lye bath, thanks warrior! It is working really well. I pulled the skillet out this morning to scrub it down and see if the two stubborn spots were gone and the ding dang skillet is cracked. It rings like a bell, but it has a bad crack that was covered by build up. So, I can't give that as a gift, plan B I guess lol.

Someone put that skillet in the kitchen sink when hot to make that crack.
That crude was probably the sealant stopping the fluids from burning the elements.

Pb melter now

Yep. I took a chance on it, buying it with that much build up, but it rang good. Lesson learned lol.....

That sucks.I got a lot of them at yard sales for a dollar or two.I only buy the oldies,,wagners and grisswalds and such.I already had a set that I have been using for forty years or more.I bought the others to make two more sets,,one for each of my two boys.I have tried the oven,,throw in a fire,,do this soak it in that.Now,,,I sandblast .A couple minuites and the pan is brand new again.Just need to re season and your done.

These are old Victors made by Griswold, the one came out beautiful. Nice skillets, didn't see that crack coming. I like the lye bath, works good. I have a nice Wapak that is my user and it's in the bath right now, I don't want to give that one up lol.

Had that happen with a nice older three notch lodge.

Here's a pic of the crack.


I really love my Wapak skillet and am seasoning it and the cracked Victor as we speak. I read that Christmas story Bullet posted again this morning, dang it lol. I'm gonna keep the cracked one and give the Wapak away. Did I say dang it lol.

I just did a Griswold number 8 an hour ago. Put it in the wood stove on hot coals and burned off all the crud, take it out and let it cool so it can be handled and scrub with a soap pad. Put it on the gas stove to heat up and kept rubbing butter into it. It will smoke when it is hot enough so use the cooktop fan. The more times you put the rag with butter on it , the better it will get.You have to get it to bare metal and the hot wood stove is the best route, I have cleaned a lot of them and never cracked one , just don't put it in a roaring fire get it red hot and cool it fast.

I'm doing mine with Crisco. Just about ready for round two. The one Victor skillet that's done came out beautiful.

Well, I finished them. Ended up doing a extra round on them and I drank too much pop and ate too many Hershey's kisses, didn't sleep well lol. They came out looking great.

yes they did

That will do very nicely Catch ... well done. I have a small one left to do. Got it cleaned up, just need to sand the inside and season it to make my set complete again. Then look out for a dutch oven.

They look great.

Thanks guys. I have a unmarked Wagner dutch oven in the lye bath right now. I hope to have it done before Christmas so I can bake bread in it.

They came out great

Here ya go ddt. I figured it'd be easier to bring it back to the top.