Cleaning a very rusty cast iron pan

[wahkahchimaol.com]

Greetings! I have a very rusty antique Danish cast iron aebelskiever pan. It lay without my knowledge in my mother's back yard for years. Seriously rusty. Is there any way to clean it? Advice welcome. Thanks.

 

[Black Hand]

Media-blasting?

 

[will5a1]

You can remove the rust, with a product such as Evapo-Rust, some prefer plain old Coca Cola, or remove it as suggested above by sand or bead blasting, or use a die grinder with a knotted carbon brush, or a sanding disc, lots of methods depending on what you have available. If it is deeply pitted, though, you won't be able to get it smooth without sanding or machining off a lot of metal, which may not be feasible.

 

[Robert Wolfe]

Put it in a fire and burn it out. If you get it to a dull red you'll remove most of the rust and other gunk. After it has cooled scrub with water and a coarse stainless steel scrubber.

 

[Crewdawg445]

Little iron is good for ya! I don't think id want to introduce any chemicals into my cookware... You could try a stainless pot scrubber with a little water, table salt and elbow grease.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

+1 for Evaporust.

LD

 

[satx78247]

You & "rwolfe" have the CORRECT & SAFE technique, imVho.

I've "cleaned out" any number of BADLY rusted cast iron pots/pans/DO over the years with a "session in the fireplace", followed by scraping with the edge of a spoon & using kosher salt OR sharp sand & lots of elbow grease to remove the rest of the crud/rust.

Then, I waited for a cold night & put the pot/skillet, suitably coated inside & out with lard/Crisco & left it in an oven set on about 250 degrees overnight.

I've NEVER not been able to salvage any rusty pots/pans using that method, including some badly pitted ones. = The baked-on grease "covers many sins", by filling the pits.

yours, satx

 

[Rifleman1776]

Electrolysis will remove all the rust. Then just wash, season and use. The process is widely explained with Google searches.

 

[swathdiver]

Apple Cider Vinegar followed by baking soda and then season it as normal.

It would be wise as already suggested to scrape/grind away the worse of it.

 

[Kansas Jake]

I too would avoid any harsh chemicals to clean it. Then you need to find a good(or even bad) aebleskiever recipe and use that pan. Of course you will have to invite me over to help eat them. We have two of the pans here, an old cast iron one and a newer aluminum on. I'll bring the maple syrup that my daughter in Michigan brought me.

If it is seasoned, it may still work okay even with some pits.

 

[Kansas Jake]

Aebleskiver is a Danish pastry similar to pancake batter that is baked in a pan with half round divisions that are about 3 inches in diameter. It has lots of whipped egg whites folded into the batter and creates a light "puff". The batter is poured into the pan and when the bottom starts to brown they are turned over to bake the other side.

Is my Danish heritage showing?

 

[tenngun]

Little iron is good for ya! I don't think id want to introduce any chemicals into my cookware... You could try a stainless pot scrubber with a little water, table salt and elbow grease.

:thumbsup: Boil it, then heat some oil in it till smoking. boil water again scrub in between with steel wool or greeny pads. Heat and season with oil your pot will be plenty clean to cook in.

 

[pab1]

This method Cee Dub demonstrates works well.

[youtube]NA4xUDp5a8I[/youtube]

 

[zimmerstutzen]

I had a collection of both old and new cast iron pans that were in a house fire. Some cracked and are useless junk now. Some have some pits. I have been slowly restoring them to use. I use qa wire brush to get the worst out, then sandpaper and elbow grease. First 150 grit and then down 600 grit and finally 1200 grit to polish the inside. A few pits will not matter. One pan is about as nonstick as cast iron gets. Make omlets every morning and only need to wipe it clean. The another is getting there. I have been cooking in it. Everytime food is left sticking, I clean it out, scrub it good with a steel wool soap pad and then start over seasoning it. It is finally to the point that I can fry eggs without sticking. But burgers stick terrible still. I just started on my largest, a No.: 18 Wagner. Oddly, I had two "two burner" griddles that came out with barely any work. There are about 15 more pans to go.

One thing I noticed. The seasoned oil covered pans came through the fire with the least problems. Those that were clean (my Mrs.'s obsession) had even more pits to deal with. My 40 gallon kettle was barely scorched and is still glassy smooth inside, although the forged ring was melted burned/mangled beyond use.

 

[crockett]

I think the burning out idea might be good- that and a good scrubbing with a wire brush. If there is any rust left maybe a chemical cleaner but I'd get a second opinion on that- you want to make sure you can clean it all away. On the inside- maybe some kind of a dremel tool to smooth it out a little.

 

[Woods Dweller]

The way rwolfe said.
"Put it in a fire and burn it out. If you get it to a dull red you'll remove most of the rust and other gunk. After it has cooled scrub with water and a coarse stainless steel scrubber."

Putting pot's in the fire has been How people been cleaning pots from biblical times.

Numbers 31 Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had gone into battle, “This is what is required by the law that the LORD gave Moses: 22 Gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, lead 23 and anything else that can withstand fire must be put through the fire, and then it will be clean. But it must also be purified with the water of cleansing.


It has been working for 1000's of years.

 

[Rifleman1776]

All I would add is to wear safety glasses when doing the power wire brush bit.

 

[Billnpatti]

If you don't have a smoker like Cee Dub's, you can achieve the same thing by simply putting your rusted cast iron is a self cleaning oven and running the self clean cycle. Also, you don't really need Cee Dub's seasoning stuff, Crisco works quite well. :thumbsup:

 

[omarick1948]

You can de-rust cast iron just like the video demonstration in an oven set at 400 to 450 degree's for about 1 hour and take out of oven and set outside to cool slowly. Use that drill scrubber or wire brush to get the rust off. Then just wipe a thin coat of vegetable oil, not any lard or other animal fat, and reheat 1/2 hour again in oven. Wipe out with paper towels or clean rag and done.

Tried and tested several times with great results!

Rick