sheet-pan skidmarks

[turkeybone]

In my months at culinary school, I've gotten tons of stains and tons of ways to get them out. The standard cocktail is a detergent, oxyclean, and borax/cascade soak for 2 days.. I've definitely boiled my whites.. and of course if you get them sent out then thats good too.

BUT -- the one stain I can never get out without extreme effort and frustration is the "holding a sheet pan on your shoulder" aluminum-y stain. Has anyone had any success in getting these suckers out on the first try?

[FabulousFoodBabe]

In my months at culinary school, I've gotten tons of stains and tons of ways to get them out. The standard cocktail is a detergent, oxyclean, and borax/cascade soak for 2 days.. I've definitely boiled my whites.. and of course if you get them sent out then thats good too.

BUT -- the one stain I can never get out without extreme effort and frustration is the "holding a sheet pan on your shoulder" aluminum-y stain. Has anyone had any success in getting these suckers out on the first try?

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Heh. If you figure it out, turkeybone, you will make a small fortune. The only thing I found that worked was not touching my whites with the pans

If you soak in tide, and scrape with a putty knife, after using a power toothbrush or some sort of spinning brush on the marks, they might come out. Maybe.

[SweetSide]

In my months at culinary school, I've gotten tons of stains and tons of ways to get them out. The standard cocktail is a detergent, oxyclean, and borax/cascade soak for 2 days.. I've definitely boiled my whites.. and of course if you get them sent out then thats good too.

BUT -- the one stain I can never get out without extreme effort and frustration is the "holding a sheet pan on your shoulder" aluminum-y stain. Has anyone had any success in getting these suckers out on the first try?

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Let me know too -- I've also tried bleach, setting them in the sun (does wonders for many things), lemon, straight peroxide... Nothing.

The sheet pan stains are still there...

[chezcherie]

have you tried zout? iirc, that was the only thing that zapped the aluminum grey stuff. (and affter culinary school, i switched to colored coats--an easy solution!)

[Tonyy13]

God Luck ladies and gents, those stains are actually microscopic metal shavings that have embeded themselves into your fabric. Think fishhooks with barbs that you just can't get out of fabric. No amount of bleach or washing will do, even the personal favorite treatment of chlorox pen then cascade paste.

[turkeybone]

Hmm.. maybe theres a niche market to be had for nanofiber whites after all

Well, thanks for the explanation -- I never thought that it was actually filings. That still doesnt make them clean. Heh

[Mallet]

what about a really strong magnet?

[McDuff]

I hate them more on my index fingers from sliding the pans off and on a stainless steel rack. The phenomenon is known as "galling" I think.

Well after googling it, maybe it's not technically, but I do remember a lot of articles in gun magazines when manufacturers started making stainless steel guns that parts that were not stainless were causing a problem with the rubbing and so on. I just moved to a location that has THE dirtiest collection of sheet pans I've ever seen. Amazing how soap and water and three or four minutes with a copper scrub pad makes them shine again. The perfed pans probably need a session with the pressure washer.

Edited May 28, 2006 by McDuff (log)

[prasantrin]

I wonder if spraying new jackets with Scotchguard would help prevent the stains or make them easier to wash out. You'd probably have to reapply after each washing if it worked at all.

[rooftop1000]

.........epaulettes??

T

[BigboyDan]

Aluminum? We don't use no stinkin' aluminum... stainless steel. Stainless. Get it?

[turkeybone]

Check out my whites, theyre not so stainless

[Teri Everitt]

After a typical day at work, I usually look like I had a fight with a cake....and lost.

Cheap bar laundry soap from the asian market tackles the chocolate smears, fruit puree etc, but I haven't yet solved the sheet pan stain.........and since the pastry kitchen is small and in the centre of the bakery, I do a lot of walking around with stuff on my shoulder.

If they find a cure for this one I'll be the first in line to buy some.

[Melanger]

Greased Lightening with a stiff nail brush works really well.

If that fails try a soak in trisodium phosphate (used to clean driveways and whatnot), a wash in clean water and then a wash with bleach and laundry soap. DO NOT combine the two.

After all of that labor, a precautionary towel over the shoulder will work wonders.

[fiftydollars]

After all of that labor, a precautionary towel over the shoulder will work wonders.

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Genius!

[joiei]

Aluminum? We don't use no stinkin' aluminum... stainless steel. Stainless. Get it?

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Don't know that I worked in any restaurant kitchens that had stainless steel sheet pans. The standard always seemed to be the Chicago Metal aluminum sheets, both full and half sheet pan sizes. The price was the deciding factor every time. And the hot line guys would friggin' trash my pans that I used for the bake shop every time. They had no respect for anyone elses property. But with an after shift and all was forgiven.

[turkeybone]

So, I was doing my weekend culinary mercenary thing, and I ran into someone whose uncle is a dry cleaner. What they do for those stains is so amazingly simple!!

Wet the stain with water. Get a bar of Ivory (and I guess it has to be Ivory, or a similar take-the-first-layer-of-skin-off soap) and rub it into the stain. Let it sit for 5 or so minutes, and then take a spoon to it, and it scrapes off /extremely/ well. I've just done it on one of my whites, and it definitely works.