Porthos

Let me start by saying I am having fun restoring cast iron. I am also learning some things about why I want Griswold, BSR, etc instead of Lodge. I documented the restoration of my first 2 pans, a Griswold 8 and a Griswold 5, over in the "Yard Sale, Thrift Store, Junk Heap Shopping (part 2)" thread. Today I finished prepping a Lodge 10 SK (pre-1961) and a "Basic Essentials" Reversible Griddle/Grill. There is nothing like being in contact with the surfaces of these pans to show the difference between different manufacturer's surface finishes. Whereas my first use of the Griswold 5 was scrambled eggs, which did not stick, the Lodge will never see eggs. I think it would be relegated to camping if we actually camped anymore. Likewise the griddle/grill. On the griddle I used the white vinegar soak to remove the substantial rust (my fault). I started with Bar Keeper's Friend and had some luck but the level of rust was beyond making this practical. About an hour and a half in the vinegar/water solution with steel wool scrubs half way through and at the finish, and then some touchup with the wire brush did the trick. It sits in the oven right now getting its first pass at seasoning. I did the first pass seasoning on the Lodge pan earlier today. I had not planned on doing the griddle seasoning also but the rust I had to deal with came from a) waiting too many days after stripping, [i was down for a week with the creeping crud] and b) allowing it to accidentally get wet, I wanted to get the first application of seasoning on to avoid more rust problems. I still have the dutch oven to do but since we're supposed to get rained on like mad in a few hours that is going to wait. As I said, I'm having fun.

Thanks so much for posting this. Great laughs.

Andie, thanks for the link.

I own crock pots in 2 sizes. Don't use them all of the time but I do like them for a couple of things. They are perfect for my slow-cooked-in-Guinness corned beef. I make pot roast in them. I brown the meat first then in it goes. I deglaze the pan and add that to the CP along with reconstituted bouillon, sliced onion, carrots and potatoes, then set it on low. 5 hours later I have meat done to my liking. I pull out the meat and veggies, strain the broth and make gravy from it in a saucier. I did think of something else that takes up space. It doesn't qualify for "had to have it" though. My DW gave me a KitchenAid immersion blender several years ago. I have used it twice. It sits in a bottom drawer. What do cooks who like them use them for? edited for typos.

Scoobydoo97/Anna, I was using sugary BBQ sauces and such. I never thought about the paper towel trick.

I'd opt for well-seasoned cast iron.

It was a pain in the a$$ to clean. Went to a thrift store.

Shel_B, I went to Lowes and purchased a 2" cup brush as shown in the video.

The Griswold #5 cleaned up nicely. Here it is ready for seasoning: I am not as happy as I could be with how the cooking surface came out after 3 rounds of seasoning. Hopefully some cooking in it will help.

I am now holding out a little more hope for the Lodge #10 pan I bought last Friday. I put it through a second "self-cleaning" cycle and it is moderately better. It is a pre-1960 pan. I may be thinking incorrectly. I was thinking that the smooth surface of the Griswolds would be found on the pre-1960 Lodge. The bottom line is that its finish inside and out is rougher, most markedly on the cooking surface. I believe it will be useable after seasoning but it is not nearly as nice as the Griswolds. I am in the midst of seasoning the #5 Griswold I found this weekend. It's a sweet little pan.

The pan I posted about yesterday is a Griswold #5 with the 1 7/8" small block logo.It appears to be in very good condition. Color me a happy camper.

Teapot, that is absolutely incredible. Enjoy!

So I bought a Lodge pan Friday that by the markings I thought was old enough to not be a sand cast pan. Wrong! I will finish it up but was rather disappointed. But today I bought an unknown pan.It is 8" across the top rim. Any markings on the bottom are covered by the crud. Based upon how smooth the interior surface is I have high hopes for it. I paid $8.00 for it. It most definitely needs help: Since I really shouldn't be spending money on such things right now I did tell my DW that this will be the last one for a while. This is more for the fun of it since I don't really use CI except for meat browning. The Griswold pan I finished I will use on Thanksgiving to make my Lemon-garlic green beans.

rotuts - not a guaranteed accurate answer but wouldn't the break-down and polymerization of the fats disable whatever mechanism allows for going rancid?

I used Chad Ward's class to get started, learning to hand-sharpen. I then moved on to using an EdgePro Acme and have never looked back. It came with a video that can also be viewed on the EdgePro website.

He says that Crisco has worked well on almost all of the 66 pans he has ... He states earlier something about using this technique on most of the pans and having to use another technique on some pans that had other issues, as I understand it.

Saturday night my DW and I had a date night of some thrift shopping and then a bit of dinner. While at the first store we shopped at I found six Correll dinner plates in our pattern. The price sticker was the color of the week for 50% off. That would make them $1 apiece. My DW said "yes, lets buy them." When the cashier rang them up she noticed that the stickers were marked $1,99 for the set. After my senior discount I got six plates for $0.90. They've been through the dishwasher and are now in the cupboard.

At 11:07 he says it while talking about Crisco as his choice for seasoning.

Quick comment: I've been looking for a Griswold in a thrift stores for many months. I had to chuckle recently in a thrift store that has a "collectables" section. I picked up a pan in that section that had no maker's name, just the country of manufacture on it. I would hardly qualify that as a collectable.

I recomend watching the video linked to in post 251 for his take on cleaning this way.

Here is the pan ready for seasoning: I was able to finagle some time that I didn't expect to get to season the pan sooner than I thought I would be able to. I did 3 cycles of re-seasoning. This is the finished pan: Again I want to thank Shel_B for providing the link to the self-cleaning-oven method of restoring cast iron.

rotuts, I am planning on using Crisco following the directions from the video (by Jeffery Rogers aka The Culinary Fanatic) linked to by Shel_B upthread. The last pan I restored I used olive oil successfully. I would use plain soy-based vegetable oil if I were to buy oil. The pan is ready for seasoning but I have no time for that step until Monday or Tuesday. After seeing how effecient this method is I'm going to restore a Nordicware cast iron griddle next, but that will have to wait until after Thanksgiving - something about wanting a clean home for family that day.

Thank you, Ashen. I will be posting a picture on the FB group page asking about the probable date of manufacture. For this pan I have chosen to use the method from the link that Shel_B provided. Here is the pan after the self-clean and initial steel wool scrub:

In the oven half way through the 2-hour self-clean cycle.

I have a new project and (I believe) an heirloom in the making. I found this pan today for $8.99. My best guess is that it is late 30s/early 40s but I don't know. This is the interior. There is a lot of clean-up to be achieved. This is the side. I have no idea whether I should try to take this back down to bare metal before seasoning or not.