CAST IRON RESTORATION | Can We Make This Old & Rusted Skillet Shine Again?
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- Опубліковано 29 кві 2024
- Today, I will be trying to restore an old and rusted cast iron skillet that a friend of mine from work gave me! (Thanks Julieta)
To do this yourself, you will need a big tub, some 5% vinegar, water and something to scrub the rust off! Clean it with warm water and soap. After that, it's good to season it (in-depth video coming) and start cooking in it with lots of oil.
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#castiron #castironcooking #castironskillet #fieldcompany #skillet #castironseasoning #castironcookware #field #fieldskillet #BSR #redmountain #stargazer
BSR Red Mountain series 1930-40
Your skillet is a Birmingham Stove & Range (BSR) from Alabama. It's part of the Red Mountain series produced from 1930-1953. I restore for two estate sale companies and myself, easily over 200 pieces a year. This is my experience with vinegar and why I shy away. A 50/50 mix of vinegar and water will remove rust BUT it attracts the iron as well making the pitting worse. Exposure for more than 30 minutes will start this process so scrub it after 30 minutes rinse and repeat if needed. Look into building a simple electrolysis tank, there are good videos about it on YT. Electrolysis has removed buildup, rust, paint, and even concrete, for me. Cleaning your first skillet is like using recreational drugs, you think it isn't goina hurt you and the next thing ya know you're in my shape. It starts with a thrift store skillet and progresses to Griswold waffle irons. lol
Hey thank you for that trip. I'll definitely look into it. And yes, it is a long and expensive path to go down lol
I agree, electrolysis is the way to go. Drives me nuts when I see restoration vids use acids for rust removal. I've done quite a few skillets/dutch ovens/etc with electrolysis and it works great.
how does one get a gig like yours restoring for estate companies?
@@tinytoolmantim It stems from a desire to finance my addiction. lol Estate sale companies with their own building are more likely to want their pieces restored. For whatever reason these pieces didn't sell so they have to cleanout the house as part of the contract. At this point they have very little money in them so if I restore them they sale. Used furniture stores are another place to ask. Like last week Lane ask me to restore some pieces that looked like Fido's butt. His exact words were 'if they are too bad don't fool with them". They looked new when he got them back. In that group was a #10 Lodge that had zero value when I got it but it was worth 50ish when it was finished. Offer to do the worse skillet they have for free to see how it sells, it will sell and they'll call ya back. Show them that it's profitable and you won't have any trouble. I've offered to restore for others that didn't want to fool with it. Like a drug addict whatever I make goes back into cast iron. I'm retired and this is what keeps me busy. Since I'm not trying to live on what I restore I can be cheaper. I also make spatulas from new Lodge skillets. The smash burger crowd really like them and they trade well. I toyed with the idea of starting a UA-cam channel but I don't think I could enjoy working with UA-cam.
Start with the estate companies that have store fronts and used furniture stores that have cast iron. Introduce yourself and pick the worse skillet they have and ask if you can restore it for them. If you're good they'll be impressed and you'll have a customer. About two companies is enough for me, like I said I'm retired and this keeps me away from our savings and I can go looking for pieces that I normally wouldn't pay that much for. If you want to work with the public run an add on Facebook Market Place offering to restore grandmas cast iron. Good luck, I think you'll find customers.
He speaks the truth….. it started with a simple WAGNER skillet for me.
Now I have industrial steel warehouse shelves in my kitchen , full of iron 😂
My Great Gandma willed me her cast iron skillets with cleaning instructions, and her recipes. She kept them seasoned weekly since my Great Grandpa made them for her in 1919 (he was a forger, you might call them a machinist today?). With 104 years of seasoning, I gained 5 pounds in a week using those things with her recipes (love those pounds too). I season them just like she did once a week like a religion, lol, and I'll hopefully pass them on to my kids too.
Those things must be slick as glass
That is an awesome story. 👍. Those will be the most treasured heirlooms in the family. Well done.
I love this
I am 81 and Have Used cast iron to cook many years. Never had an operation. And do not take medicine.
Sounds like a Hallmark Christmas movie 🎉
The only thing I would add is that a follow-up to your vinegar with a baking soda 50 percent and water 50 percent mix to neutralize the acid. That black residude was the acid still working every time you used the water rinse. When you finish the caustic rinse (baking soda/ water mix), then do the final water rinse and oil treatments.
Several years ago I restored 100+ year-old Wapak skillet found in a basement. It was rusted heavily and also had a fair amount of carbon buildup.
I used the electrolysis method with a 5 gallon bucket, water, washing soda, and a manual battery charger. The sacrificial metal was from a 3 pound coffee can, split and opened up. After turning the skillet around once, and replacing the sacrificial metal, it was complete! The bubbling transfer had done its job well and left the gray cast-iron looking like it just came out of the foundry! I seasoned it three times and now the century old pan is my daily user!
Plenty of UA-cam videos showing this method….quite easy!
50 years ago I collected all my cast iron pots and pans that I have out of barns where people had tossed them for the “NEW Modern” Aluminum pans . They all had rust dirt and old mud on them , but I cleaned them all up and re-seasoned them and have been using them ever since.
I always thought cast iron was complicated to maintain and clean. However all the old folk always made the best potatoes, fried okra, and cornbread in cast iron. They wont use anything else. Once i tried cast iron a couple of times now I wont use anything else either, unless I am boiling or deep frying. Cast iron is easy to clean and maintain and cooks everything perfectly and evenly.
@@Bf26fgeThe only way to fry chicken 🐓 is in a cast iron skillet!
best tip with cast iron is to slowly run hot water on it when it is hot after cooking and it will clean up with a paper towel every time 👍 plus you can never have enough cast iron cookware too 👍
Outstanding restoration Eric, ready for another 100 years!
What a lot of people don't know is you never use and plastic utensils or metal utensils when cooking in cast iron. The plastic utensils will start to melt and you don't want melted plastic in you cast iron, using metal utensils will scratch the seasoning off you cast iron. You want to use wooden utensils with cast iron because the wooden utensils will not scratch off the seasoning and will never melt.
You can use metal, the seasoning is polymerized oil, just recoat with a thin layer of oil when done
@@Zestypanda fist of all I was just letting others know that when using plastic utensils in cast iron that the plastic will melt to the cast. And when using metal utensils it will scratch the seasoning off. Yes you can spend the extra time to recoat your cast iron when using metal utensils. But who really wants to take that extra time to recoat even with a polymerized oil. When is just easier to use wooden utensils when you're cooking with with cast iron and not worrying about having melted plastic in their cast iron or scratching off the seasoning when using metal utensils. But if you or anyone else wants to take the extra time to recoat your cast iron after using metal utensils then that fine. I'm not saying that no one can't use metal utensils or plastic utensils because people can use whatever they want. I'm just saying that they should never use them because wooden utensils is much better because they don't scratch or melt.
Easiest way is hot coals! Burn a good size fire in the back yard, let it get to coals. Throw it in the coals and cover with the rest of coals. Take it out the next morning wipe it down and season!
Thats how my Granddaddy and Granny always did it
That doesn’t work.
I am 79 yrs old .ive cooked with cast iron all my life .i have cleaned many iron pans in my time by building a fire and burning the rust and stuff of them then washing them and re seasoning them.
I have my great, great grandmother's cast iron skillet, dutch oven with lid and hanging wire (for use in a fireplace!) and her Griswold snack skillet. I didn't know the snack skillet was a Griswold until I put all of the pots and pans into my oven and ran the self-clean cycle. Let me tell you, those items came out PEFECTLY clean, dark gray like new, with NO rust, NO black carbon, and I was able to clearly see the words Griswold Snack Skillet on the bottom! The other items have no hallmarks. I then seasoned the pieces with shortening on a very low oven temp. I wouldn't even bother trying to restore cast iron any other way but in my oven on self-clean! BTW I am 60, so these items are VERY old, but they come out like new!
So you had rust fall off the pans in the oven?
@CastIronEric Don't do it!!! That's the easiest way to crack or warp your pans!
You got extremely lucky, especially with thinner griswolds.
My dad’s housekeeper took my great granny’s Wagner skillet and yes, put it in the dishwasher. We found it hidden in a drawer after my dad passed. I just scrubbed most of the rust off with an industrial Brillo style pad, threw a little crisco and heat on it and it’s fine. Treating cast iron pretty simple
This turned out amazing, great job and thanks for documenting the process for us. Hope you enjoy many meals out of this!
BSR skillets have super smooth cooking surfaces. Love my 8 1/2 and 10-inch skillets.
This is the best method I have seen. Good job.
Excellent video. Now it's ready for the next 100 years!
i just used a grinder with steel brush attachment.
Incredible! It turned out great.
Thank you, Cynthia! About to cook up some steaks 😁
I have two old cast iron pans from my father when he died. I have a recently produced dutch oven cast iron pan. Two cast iron sizzle platters, a cast iron grill/griddle combo and another cast iron grill pan. I do a hell of a lot of cooking in those pans.
Thank you teaching me how to clean an iron skillet.
For rust removal, I used Prep and Etch phosphoric acid from Lowe's in the same sized storage bin that you used. The rust came off in seconds. Rinse the skillet off with soapy water and used the same steps as you did.
:) I adore my cast iron cookware. I purchased a set about a year ago -- love it!
I do have a non stick pan but mostly my good too pans are my cast iron.....try making a pie in a cast iron pan.....wonderfully easy.
Amazing!
I like the cat, "What's that's smell? That's the stinkiest water I've ever seen. I'm outta here."
Lol yeah he wasn't having any of that
I found 6 cast iron pots & pans under a house I was renovating. No telling how old they were. I put them one by one on my outdoor propane burner until they were glowing dark red. I then hit them with cold water from my hose. One broke due to thermal shock but the rest came out perfectly clean like they were just cast. I then seasoned them like you normally would. I would have never tried this if they weren't free.....Plus it was kinda fun!
You did a great job restoring that pan.
Thank you! I still want to try the fire method and electrolysis method.
Wow! You did good !
Thank you Nancy!
Love cast iron!
Amazing! I’ve got to try that on my camping cast Iron skillet. It’s not nearly as rusted but I would like to get rid of it all.
Yeah I was quite surprised how easy it was to remove the rust. Honestly, the more time consuming part was reseasoning it.
That's awesome!
Thanks!
Great video, well edited.
Good job with the restoration. The heat ring on the bottom isn't meant for glass stoves. You need a smooth bottom skillet that sits dead flat so you don't damage your burners with poor heat transfer. You can use this one in the oven.
I have a Field that also has a little ring. It seems to work pretty well, but I usually give it more time to slowly warm up
not a heat ring it is a stabilizing ring for woodstove holes if a iron skillet has one it was usually made before 1950, flat bottoms made after 1950 and yes you can use either on glass stoves poor heat transfer is a wives tale. Once cast iron heats up it stays uniformly hot throughout
@GenX...MCMLXV the pans with the heat ring don't allow direct contact with the glass surface. While the pan will heat, this damages the burner. A warped pan is also not good for glass burners.
Great video! Thanks for sharing!
I have tried many different methods over the years. I have not tried this method. Next Rusty one i come across, im giving it a try.
Great job 😊
Thanks I was really surprised how well it turned out
Good video thank you I have a dutch over I bought at good will that is about 50% rusty, I will try this method
yeah i left mine outside for like 2 years then brought it in one day and steel wooled the hell out of it and re-seasoned it like this and i use it all the time.
Every store in six or eight in my time with Boy Scouts of, the easiest way is find somebody that has a sandblasting cabinet. I’m lucky I had one at work. It is sandblast a whole thing, and wire brush smooth it out nice and smooth, and then re-season it is simple.
That’s great! I’m going to go thrifting and see if I can find one! Good to know.
First thing you should cook in a new or restored skillet is bacon. The grease is the best for seasoning.
As someone who does this a lot (I also use the leftover liquid to ebonize wood but that's another subject), you don't need to add water to your vinegar. In fact, your working against your goal by doing that. 5% Vinegar in 5% acetic acid (vinegar) and 95% water, so you already have quite a bit of water already. I tend to use 30% vinegar you can get at the hardware store and it only needs to soak 40 minutes at most. It is more expensive ...but so is your time! Just wash it off real good with soap and water after the vinegar. No need for baking soda or any of that. Soap is ok before you season...the jury is still out on after (I dont...just corse kosher salt)
I will try that when I get back to making videos again! Thank you for the tip
I have restored many pieces of old cast iron skillets, and vinegar is your friend on these pieces the large amounts of rust. I have seen some people use lye-based stove cleaner to do this, and using stove cleaner is just insane…very dangerous concoction. If you get that cleaner in your eyes, you are blind and your sight is not coming back. Vinegar is absolutely safe, vinegar will get the job done, and vinegar will not possibly hurt you or your skillet in a restorative process.
Nicely done mate! Cheers from BC 🇨🇦🤠🍺🍺🍺🍺
Impressive 😮
Thank you!
A nice, cast iron, pan/cookware is a pleasure to cook with. And it can last, virtually, forever. You pass it down to your kids.
Birmingham stove and range, bsr . red mountain series. Great skillets and made in USA
Awesome video. Thanks for sharing.
Electrolysis is the way to go to remove rust. For seasoning, you used the right oil but no more than a dime size each round is all you need. A little goes a long way.
Thank you for posting video.
Great video! Your cat is adorable, too! 😊
Well done bro!
Appreciate it James. More content coming soon
Great job
Great job! Well done buddy.
I have a cast iron skillet that my sister left out in the rain I'm gonna try the vinger baking soda and water
Knowing it would depend on the location where the rusted skillet was found, I would have to wonder if it might have been used for something other than cooking in it’s lifetime. Perhaps by an angler to melt led perhaps (or some other harsh chemical solution). That would not necessarily all be removed by this restoration method, and therefore would not be good to prepare food in now.
Nicely done 👏🍳
Then you, Kev!!
That is a beautiful skillet. Smooth. My mother's and grandmother's cast iron skillets were smooth like this one. My grandmother used hers every day, and she cooked fried chicken in hers just about every Sunday.
Thanks for the video I have a bunch of cast iron to redo
I'm going to try this method. I have two large dutch ovens with lids. They are very rusty. Any tips for using this method with something as large as a dutch oven? Do I need to have enough vinegar/water solution to completely submerge it? Can I reuse the vinegar/water solution for the second dutch oven? Any advice is appreciated! 😃
Great idea with six hours in a sealed container with two gallons white vinegar and equal amount of H2O.
I’ll do my cast iron Dutch over and lid this way.
Seasoning it with Crisco in the oven at 500 degrees will work MUCH better.👍🏼
Animal fat is superior
We didn't have the temp that high ( 375-400) and left it in for an hour or two..
excellent
I learned that silicone mitts are great until you get oil or grease on them. The skillet handle gets slick as a hot eel!
Way to go Eric! Now I know how to fix these! Thank you!
I love that kitty ❤
Glass bead blast then season job done dude
You should have turned the cornbread out , Let's see how well the pan was seasoned.
I was hoping the bread was turned out too.
WOW! You saved me from throwing away an old cast iron skillet.
Nooo, don't do that! 🥹
put some carbonated water in it and lemon too! definitely the scrub should do the trick
Oh that's a good idea. We will try that on my gf's Wagner
Back to life 😮😂😊
Thanks very much for allowing me to restore it! 🙏🏻
I have never used the vinegar method? I have used electrolosis, it work real fast on metal like your frying pan.
I tried to scrub off the rust from my skillet and I used CLR but the rust keeps coming back. Then I gave up 😢i will give it a try thanks 😊
I congralate you. That pan will be in service for your great grandchild if you take care of it.
Unless it is snapped in half, or crushed... never throw cast iron away. It can restored in almost any condition with very little effort. I just redid one of mine last weekend. There are many different ways to do them. Last weekend I had a bunch of old wood I needed to get rid of so I loaded up the fire pit. My skillet had sat our on the back porch all last winter and moat of the summer so it was covered with a pretty decent layer of rust. I got the fire good and hot and tossed it in until it was cherry red. Burned all the heavy rust off, but obviously developed a layer of surface rust from sitting next to the fire pit for over half the day cooling down. I gave it a good scrub with soap & water. Filled it with water and put it on the stove on high until it boiled half the water out ( to make sure I got all the soap out) Gave it another rinse. Hand dried it put it back on the stove to warm it up and boil off any left over moisture. I used olive oil to season. Repeated the same process after each layer of seasoning. Oven on 500 degrees in the oven at 500 for 30 mins. Then let it cool with the oven over about 2 hours. Pulled it out repeated two more times and was satisfied with it
"Vinegar won't hurt you don't worry" 😂😂😂.
Yes mate I put on my chip's and EAT IT !!!
I have done this plenty of times and before using oil I put water in it and boil it and scrub it and rinse again then do the oiling and heating.
Great video!! Get some silicone handle covers!
I have never use cast iron skillet, can you use bare hands to manipulate the handle while cooking, or is it to hot?
It gets toasty, but you can. Or you can use a towel
Great job.. looks great. The only thing I might have also done is hit it with some sandpaper after the vinegar soak was done.
Unless you know exactly where it came from, get an inexpensive lead test kit online and test it for lead before you cook food in it. Some of these old pans were used to melt lead into fishing sinkers.
Now I know how to restore my cast-iron pans
At yard sale I purchased a 3 legged pot With a handle like you use in the Fireplace. that was painted black on the outside. Rusting on the inside. I am going to attempt to clean it. I am concerned about the black Paint, how to get it off. I do not know what has been in this 3 legged pot through the years, it is very old. If I ever wanted to use it, I would want it to be clean and.safe. I will start with cleaning the paint off on the outside. It will need to be off before I can put it into an oven. Any suggestions Will be appreciated.
Question, are you suppose to use cast iron pans on a glass cook top stove? I have heard you shouldn't, but I don't know. JUST WONDERING.
You can, you just need to make sure you pick it up when you move it, rather than sliding the pan around.
You really need a flat bottom on your pan or you'll burn out the element. I did that with a stainless steel that was slightly raised in the venter and kablooey!
The ring on the bottom tells you it made set on a flat burner..stove!!
If you are going to restore a large amount of cast iron, you should look into an electrolysis tank. They are super easy to build and inuse converted computer power supplies to run mine. I only use a vinegar mix as a final step to remove some staining and small rust spots. Never let your pan stay in vinegar over 30-40 minutes. I actually left one in for a couple of hours, and it started eating the metal. Thank sgoodness it was an import. As for your scrubbers, you really need to stick with stainless. The worst is brass brushes because it's softer than cast iron and can get embedded in your pan.
What kind of oil is best . To releasing the pan
There are many opinions on this. I think there's a lot going for grapeseed oil (what I use), flaxseed oil, and even bacon grease works well provided you use it often
Canola has worked best for me. It always just drops out every time no matter what pan I use.. Cornstick pans, wedge skillets, regular skillets, doesn't matter. The key is to get the pan hot, then oil, then pour in the batter. Easy peasy
@@hawgwildcastiron2023 I've not used canola oil yet. I'll pick some up this weekend
i use bacon, beef or lamb fat 👍👍
@@TyCampbell666, my husband uses bacon grease for his.
I place it all inside self cleaning oven and let it do it’s magic then clean it with soapy water then rinse it clean it and get it put it on your stove and as it’s not heating up she’s in it and then you’re ready to cook
I was thinking do it like some old rusted gun parts, by boiling it for 45 minutes then card, then submerge in olive oil, then bake a few times with oil rubs. Would that work?
You never know until you try 😃
When you use an acid, you need to neutralize it to a PH of 7 by using baking soda…..Simple chemistry.
Why didn't you attempt the baking soda paste scrubbing followed by the vinegar? Just wondering, I am no pro and saw others do it that way.
I just felt like the vinegar bath would be more fun to try but I'm sure a lot of elbow grease and scrubbing could have worked as well.
@@CastIronEric The one I saw he cleaned with a paper towel. He made a paste with water and baking soda, then poured vinegar to remove the seasoning. As I said, just wondering. In a different video, they did scrub with SOS steel wool pads first, then did the chemical.
Try using a lye bath, it will work faster with less elbow grease.
I have read that lye works great for getting off old seasoning and build up, but not so much for rust. We have a video coming up that will test this!
I look forward to watching it.@@CastIronEric
BSR…Birmingham Stove and Range. I have one that is very similar.
You should use lard on your clean skillet and bake it on 500 for 1hr 11:21
I cook bacon in my cast iron. Pour off the lard into a small Mason jar and save it for seasoning.
About how long do you feel it lasts before going rancid?
@@CastIronEric a long time. I find it to be a great way to season the pans. I use it for more than seasoning. I fry eggs and hash browns.
All you need is to do the oil in the pan like the 2nd time place it on the burner and bring it to a smoke. Then let it cool and wipe off. It will be good to go.
I would use a battery powered sander.
Does anybody test old pans for lead, heavy metals ?
Has "Tupperware" become a genetic term for plastic containers these days? Because that cheap plastic container definitely is NOT Tupperware.
Boil it in a big pot of water and put a shovel full of wood Ash out of the wood stove you will be amazed brand new condition do that outside preferably it definitely works boil till clean
Can we see if the corn bread stuck to the skillet.
It actually did in a couple small sections.. the pitting still needs work being filled in