January 17, 2011

Cast Iron

I found some cast iron rusting away on a friend's porch. I asked if I could take it, clean it and return it to her and she accepted. It'll make a nice coming home present for her when she gets back from field work in NC. I cleaned a lot of the rust off with steel wool but I think it was mostly unnecessary, because scouring with salt and oil really did the lion's share of the work.
It needs a little more work around the handles which I am only noticing now in the photos, so maybe cooking on it can be a project for TaD.

3 comments:

Jay Bazuzi said...

Nice. I like the idea of restoring cast iron.

A sand blaster apparently works really well. I gave a pan to a friend to blast, and he never gave it back. So, watch out for that.

Lye solution is also good. Soak for a month. You can reuse the solution, once you have it. Lye is a little dangerous, though.

I'd love to buy all the cast iron the thrift store gets, clean it, reseason it, and give it away.

As soon as it's clean, season it before it rusts.

Abby - Bright Yellow World said...

I'm a huge fan of Barkeeper's Friend, which has served me well in the past. And be sure to season that bad boy, preferably with lard. Lard makes cast iron so very, very happy.

Socks said...

I season with EVOO because I cook for a vegetarian. Bacon grease is my preferred season but is a hard sell to someone that doesn't eat meat.