There seem to be all sorts of 'right' ways to treat cast iron. I've found this article really helpful. It has a bit, about half way down the page, for getting crud and rust off old cast iron pans: http://richsoil.com/cast-iron.jsp
So sorry to hear about your house fire, I can't image this. Hope life gets back to normal for you as soon as possible.
I recently had to deal with some poorly maintained cast iron, and found this video to be helpful.....https://youtu.be/j6Tz3HnnCFs
Hope this helps a bit!
Whichever method you use, and you've been given sound advice here, hopefully the pans haven't warped from intense heat which would make using them problematic. Sorry about your loss---that's the big picture. I'm a bit sensitive on the topic of home ownership right.
My Grandmother stored and forgot about a couple of pieces of cast iron many years ago. It was in her damp basement. Horribly rusted, but I really wanted to restore it. As Sam suggested, I took it to an auto body shop and they sand and chemically blasted it to bare CI. I used the Canter method to re-season, but I used beef tallow instead of the linseed oil. Many will suggest bacon, but I feel the sugar in the cure works against a good, strong, thin seasoned layer.
Here's the Canter method and the pan now. I think mine looked worse than yours. It was years of rust.
Chef June, so glad you didn't get rid of your skillet. The whole restoration process is so satisfying. The Canter method is quite involved, but you end up with cookware that literally is like Teflon. It reminds me of a surfboard with new resin. You can wash it with a scrub brush and hot water. Even an occasional squirt of soap does no harm.
You might want to try a bicycle restoration shop as well. A friend of mine just told me last night she took her CI Dutch oven to a shop last week.
I can't wait to hear how it goes for you if you decide to try it.
If you need remove rust and such. Try an autobody shop, they can sandblast it or do a chemical electrolysis to remove everything.
I have a friend that rescued a very weathered dutch oven that way...she referred to the process as 'chemical sandblasting'.
After that treat it like new. Oil and heat...oil and heat...and repeat.
I'm terrible sorry about your house. This guide will likely help you get your cast iron pans back into shape: http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/12/how-to-restore-vintage-cast-iron-cookware.html
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9 Comments
There seem to be all sorts of 'right' ways to treat cast iron. I've found this article really helpful. It has a bit, about half way down the page, for getting crud and rust off old cast iron pans: http://richsoil.com/cast-iron.jsp
I recently had to deal with some poorly maintained cast iron, and found this video to be helpful.....https://youtu.be/j6Tz3HnnCFs
Hope this helps a bit!
My Grandmother stored and forgot about a couple of pieces of cast iron many years ago. It was in her damp basement. Horribly rusted, but I really wanted to restore it. As Sam suggested, I took it to an auto body shop and they sand and chemically blasted it to bare CI. I used the Canter method to re-season, but I used beef tallow instead of the linseed oil. Many will suggest bacon, but I feel the sugar in the cure works against a good, strong, thin seasoned layer.
Here's the Canter method and the pan now. I think mine looked worse than yours. It was years of rust.
http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/
You might want to try a bicycle restoration shop as well. A friend of mine just told me last night she took her CI Dutch oven to a shop last week.
I can't wait to hear how it goes for you if you decide to try it.
I have a friend that rescued a very weathered dutch oven that way...she referred to the process as 'chemical sandblasting'.
After that treat it like new. Oil and heat...oil and heat...and repeat.