How To Clean and Season Old Iron Pots

I had these in my yard and decided to clean and season them















Above thumbnail is video of the process.

Can you explain more about the process you used? I don't think I've ever grilled cast iron clean, but I could be mis-reading the pics.

I've had several, long, filthy bouts with cleaning cast iron, most recently with an old Enterprise sausage stuffer (detailed in my post, Adventures in sausage making.

I really wanted to try the "electrolysis" method, but opted for the more tedious (but safe) hand-scrubbing method.

I am always on the lookout for cool cast iron, but the pain-in-the-ass cleaning process usually keeps me from buying anything but the must-haves. Maxwell St. market always has a few cool pieces here and there, if you're looking.

crrush wrote:Can you explain more about the process you used? I don't think I've ever grilled cast iron clean, but I could be mis-reading the pics.

I've had several, long, filthy bouts with cleaning cast iron, most recently with an old Enterprise sausage stuffer (detailed in my post, Adventures in sausage making.

I really wanted to try the "electrolysis" method, but opted for the more tedious (but safe) hand-scrubbing method.

I am always on the lookout for cool cast iron, but the pain-in-the-ass cleaning process usually keeps me from buying anything but the must-haves. Maxwell St. market always has a few cool pieces here and there, if you're looking.

I found this method somewhere online and copied it. All I did was take old rusted iron pot, steak presses, etc and put them directly on the hot coals until the rust disolved. Then I took them and cooled them off. Next cleaned them with ajax and dried completely. Ok , now I coated them with a thin film of oil (very thin coat).. I used grape seed, but anything should work. Now, lay them with the opeings face down so no oil collects in pools. Put the oven or your griil at around 300 degrees and let the oil harden into a protective coating. Let cool and it's ready for use... To clean use a paper towel with bacon fat and salt.. Try to avoid water so it doesn't rust again..

crrush wrote:I could be mis-reading the pics.

The last pic also links to a video.

Aaron Deacon wrote:

crrush wrote:I could be mis-reading the pics.

The last pic also links to a video.

thanks Aaron Deacon - need to put some text under that thumbnail...

Do you use a wire brush after removing from the fire?

Okay, so if you're scrubbing the cast iron anyway, and this process only seemed to really work on the pieces with minor rust (I watched the video...thanks!)--do you recommend it?

I was seriously hoping for a miracle here...an easy way to remove rust from odd, big pieces of cast iron. I checked the Wagner and Griswold Society's boards to see what the general concensus was for cleaning by fire...and it was clearly a big "NO" to the diehards--mostly b/c it can warp and discolor the piece.

I didn't notice that problem on the pieces you "grilled", though.

Next question: how long did those pieces sit over the coals?

I'm still too chicken to try the electrolysis method (detailed here), but you seem brave. I dare you to try it.

stevez wrote:Do you use a wire brush after removing from the fire?

stevez, I took them in the house and scrubed with ajax and a green brillo pad sponge until clean.

crrush wrote:Okay, so if you're scrubbing the cast iron anyway, and this process only seemed to really work on the pieces with minor rust (I watched the video...thanks!)--do you recommend it?

I was seriously hoping for a miracle here...an easy way to remove rust from odd, big pieces of cast iron. I checked the Wagner and Griswold Society's boards to see what the general concensus was for cleaning by fire...and it was clearly a big "NO" to the diehards--mostly b/c it can warp and discolor the piece.

I didn't notice that problem on the pieces you "grilled", though.

Next question: how long did those pieces sit over the coals?

I'm still too chicken to try the electrolysis method (detailed here), but you seem brave. I dare you to try it.

crush, I did it to cheap iron piece I had outside. Nothing warped at all. I left them on the coals for about 20 minutes or so. You can see the rust change color to black. It was an experiment and I had about an 80% success rate. The piece in the video that didn't fare well is ok now. I coated it with more oil and cooked it. It looks good now. I just have to learn to take everything in after using, We have lots of humidity here....

A similar method for resurrecting old cast iron is to put them in the oven during the self-cleaning cycle. Works like a charm.

Binko wrote:A similar method for resurrecting old cast iron is to put them in the oven during the self-cleaning cycle. Works like a charm.

Great idea!!!!