OT: Hints for saving cast iron skillet are needed

So ChunkyFrog's stove thread got me to thinking.
I found a couple of very old cast iron skillets in the barn (remember my house is probably 70 years old) and I want to clean them up and use them but they are a mess. My usual tricks for cleaning and seasoning just haven't help enough.
Anyone have anything they have used on really bad cast iron to clean and re-season?

I want to essentially bring them back to the point where I can re-season but I can't quite get all the old stuff off.

Heavy Duty Oven cleaner spray. Let it sit on the surface for a few hours and rinse.

Aretino wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 01, 2023 7:32 am

Heavy Duty Oven cleaner spray. Let it sit on the surface for a few hours and rinse.

Thanks....I haven't tried oven cleaner yet. Don't have any as my stove has a self cleaning oven.
I can go get some oven cleaner once it thaws a bit here. Right now roads are ice rinks and my little truck doesn't do ice/sleet very well. It is great in deep snow what with 4 wheel drive but it is useless on ice what with the light back end and I didn't think to add extra weight to the truck bed. Color me a dumb ass but when bad weather hits here I just usually hunker down,

Do the skillets needed to be heated?

What's on the skillets that needs to be cleaned off? Rust? Old food?

Got any steel wool?

I’ve had people pass on some Dutch ovens that needed serious TLC to come back to life, steel wool and elbow grease is my go to. You can scrub with baking soda, salt, and/ or dish soap if it’s extra bad. A nice scrubbing with hot soapy water is also good to get rid of any old oil build up (despite what many are told dish soap and water is fine just be sure to immediately and thoroughly dry the cast iron after). After all that scrubbing you’ll need to season it; oil and put in a 350 oven for about an hour.

Oven cleaner is a good idea, saves all that scrubbing. Personally i’ld worry about using such harsh chemicals on something that has direct contact with food.

Walmart heavy duty oven cleaner, (yellow plastic cap) is what i buy. Use caution as it contains Lye. I dont apply it to heated surfaces. I usually lay some newspaper or cardboard down to keep overspray from damaging surfaces. Best to use outdoors if possible the fumes can be dangerous. This recent cold icy weather in Texas seems to have no end.

Conrad wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 01, 2023 8:00 am

What's on the skillets that needs to be cleaned off? Rust? Old food?

Got any steel wool?

Both rust, old food and a very thick layer of really gunky oil in places.
Steel wool has already been tried along with wire brush scrubbing.

If I knew someone with a sand blaster I would do that but I don't know anyone.

I have salvaged cast iron in the past but these 2 skillets just haven't responded to my satisfaction.
Improved but not yet where I want them to be.

The rust isn't as much of a problem as the gunky thick layer of crap.
It seems to be preventing the re-seasoning to take hold.

I have tried the baking soda trick...minimal help. Also tried various rust removers and other chemical agents.
I have scrubbed and scrubbed till my hand hurts really bad (bad arthritis in my wrists) which is why I was wanting something to help loosen the gunk.

I am not afraid of using chemicals like oven cleaner....I have already tried some other chemicals.
The skillets are unusable as they are now.

Self-cleaning oven.

Rubicon wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 01, 2023 8:21 am

Self-cleaning oven.

Are you saying to put the skillets in the oven and run the self cleaning cycle?
I remove the baking racks before running that cycle because once I didn't and I really messed up my racks when I did that.
I don't use that stove anymore (it was when I lived in Vegas) and I really didn't want to mess up the racks in my new stove.

Dissolve a dishwaser cleaning tablet in the skillet - maybe warm it.
Can't be worse than oven cleaner....

ozij wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 01, 2023 9:22 am

Dissolve a dishwaser cleaning tablet in the skillet - maybe warm it.
Can't be worse than oven cleaner....

Thanks. I will give that a try once I go buy some cleaning tablets. I don't have a dishwasher so I don't keep dishwasher stuff.
I would install a dishwasher if I had room but I don't. Teeny tiny house with extremely limited kitchen storage.
I don't have a cabinet I want to give up. Already gave up part of one cabinet to go from a 24 inch stove to a 30 inch stove.

Have you tried Goggle?

When the cast iron got crusty, my mother would burn it off in the incinerator.
I put my crusty range grids inside the wood stove, and all the buildup burned right off.
If your oven has a self clean function, I would try that.

No snore wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 01, 2023 10:05 am

Have you tried Goggle?

What the hell is "goggle"?

If you meant Google....yep...that was my first thing I did. I spent hours researching on Google.

My wife has used a cut potato with a mixture of salt and baking soda to restore several pieces of cast iron cookware. It still takes elbow grease, though.

This method works as well. Vinegar baths are really good for removing things from steel and iron.

https://www.hometalk.com/posts/clean/ca ... t-44291850

Once it's clean you can use chain-mail to keep it that way.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01A5 ... =UTF8&th=1