Restoring cast iron pans

[Rings Я Us]

My dad said people used lye in a bucket back in the day. . Looks good how yours turn out.

 

[biaviian]

My dad said people used lye in a bucket back in the day. . Looks good how yours turn out.

Yeah, that's a common way to go, but it won't remove the rust so you would need a second step, usually vinegar.  I like to go chemical free as much as possible.  Some people use lye to remove or loosen the crud then electrolysis to remove the rust.  Lye can be dangerous but you can reuse the bath many times and you can leave the piece in the bath indefinitely without hurting it.  Also, you need 100% lye and that can be hard to get locally.  I get mine from Amazon.

 

[DanMcG]

The few pans I restored I used lye and it works well but they worn't rusty, just covered in crud. I've done gun and truck parts with electrolysis over the years and it does work like magic sometimes

 

[Rings Я Us]

Think they were on a farm and had no indoor bathroom. Used lye for stuff more back then. [emoji]128512[/emoji]

 

[biaviian]

Think they were on a farm and had no indoor bathroom. Used lye for stuff more back then. [emoji]128512[/emoji]

One reason it is getting hard to find is that it is used in drug manufacturing, meth I believe.  I grew up with an out house.  That was not fun.  We used it until the township forced us to install a septic.  They also outlawed cisterns although we continued to use it.

 

[biaviian]

This is what the anodes looked like after I removed the pan from the bucket.

 

[smokesontuesday]

My grandma has always used the old school blue tub Crisco so that's what I use to season mine.

Awesome work Biav. Love seeing those old pans restored and used.

 

[bbqwillie]

You're not the only one...

https://www.northeastshooters.com/v...many-of-you-cook-solely-on-cast-iron-cookware