Cleaning rusty Iron Pots

[RiverRat]

I have a few old rusty iron pots that I would like to use for camp. Nothing toxic was ever melted or cooked in them. They are suffering from years of neglect, the insides are covered with rust. How can I get them ready for food again?
Thanks

 

[rebel727]

Having them sandblasted would prolly be best but most expensive. Wire brush in a drill would work but would be tedious. Maybe somebody else knows a better way.

 

[Trina]

I use a vinegar soak to remove rust.Steel wool comes in handy here...I have a pot I need to clean to Depending on how rusty your pans are as to how long or how much scrubbing it will take... once rust is removed then reseason.

 

[pondoro]

Wirebrush and/or steel wool works great for surface rust. Electrolysis will take out the serious stuff. Sombody here did it to a cannon and the Dutch oven forums (There are a bunch) talk about it all the time. It is not as high tech as it sounds.

 

[chipper]

I have a few old rusty iron pots that I would like to use for camp. How can I get them ready for food again?
Thanks

I would recommend a wire brush attachment to your power drill. Don protective glasses, ear muffs and let the rust fly.

Clean it with water and use a good elk roast, potatoes, onion and bay leaf to season it.

Regards
Wounded Knee

 

[RiverRat]

Sounds like a vinegar soak followed by a wire brush on my drill. Now I need to find some elk roast to season it :hmm:
Thanks for the suggestions.

 

Kill two birds with one stone.

Pour some vinegar in the pot like Cookie said, then boil it for a few minutes. The rust will disolve into the vinegar and make you a bottle of good wood stain for your rifles builds.

 

[Trina]

The rust will disolve into the vinegar and make you a bottle of good wood stain for your rifles builds.

Yup it will.. I used it on the rifle I built, thanks to a post Ghost started a year or so ago.. makes an awesome stain, and this is just how I started it.. a rusty ole dutch oven. :thumbsup:

 

[Trina]

and if you dont have a elk roast to use.. put a coat of crisco all over them and put them on your gas BBQ about about 350-400 and let it cook for an hour... then let cool... you can do this in your oven as well.. but it smells the house up aweful

 

[Twisted_1in66]

I have a few old rusty iron pots that I would like to use for camp. Nothing toxic was ever melted or cooked in them. They are suffering from years of neglect, the insides are covered with rust. How can I get them ready for food again?
Thanks

I like the boiling the vinegar option to make wood stain the best, but here's another idea:

I used some Birchwood Blue & Rust Remover to take the bluing off of my rifle so I could pickle the barrel. Wiped it with alchohol to remove any grease, dobbed the stuff on liberally, let set for 2 minutes and then took some 0000 steel wool to it. Didn't even have to rub hard. Pulled the bluing right off. Did it a second time to pick up a few places that didn't come off completely the first time, rinsed it and dried it. It went from blued to absolutley bright "in-the-white" in about 10 minutes. Would probably work on your iron pots too, but might be a little more effort because they are probably pitted whereas my barrel flats were smooth.

Might be worth a try.

--------------------------------------------
Twisted_1in66 :thumbsup:

 

[RiverRat]

Very cool suggestion! If I bottle up the vinegar
stain, how long will it hold? I don't plan on building a gun for a while.

 

[hack]

BAKING SODA
pour baking soda into the pan (lots of it )
add water and bring to a boil, swish it around for a while, turn off the heat and let it set till water is warm, wash it out in the sink, dry, and oil with crisco.
try it works for me.

 

[Trina]

Ok RiverRat, my rusty or should say... was a rusty dutch is out on the BBQ seasoning.. you have yours done yet????? :winking:

 

[Trina]

Hack, Ill have to try that one of these days...Im pretty dangerous when it comes to power tools.. I find its better for me to use elbow grease.. that way no one gets hurt :haha:

 

[RiverRat]

Baking soda sounds very cool also. We decided to de-rust one pot with vinegar and the other with baking soda. We'll post some before and after pics. Nice pot Cookie, now we have to get moving on ours.

 

[Trina]

I am curious to see how the baking soda works... I dont have another neglected piece of cast iron so please let us know how it worked for you..

 

[RiverRat]

Well, the results are in. Hands down, the vinegar did the trick for us. The photo below is the pots before we did anything to them.

The next photo below is one pot after a 2 lb. box of baking soda/water and cooking it for 45 mins. to 1 hr. An improvement, but nothing compared to the pot after using vinegar.

The next two photos are both pots after using straight white vinegar, boiled for 45 mins - 1 hour. Both pots were wire brushed lightly (mostly on the outside) before washing and then seasoning. The larger of the two appears to have an orange tint, not rust, maybe too much Crisco? We're going to scrub it again and re-season it before using it. We seasoned them with Crisco for another hour after cleaning.
Definitely a project for the outdoor grill, it smells awful while cooking.

 

[Trina]

Definitely a project for the outdoor grill, it smells awful while cooking.

Told ya so, told ya so :blah: I learned that lesson the hard way as well...that larger lodge dutch is about what the one I just re-seasoned looked like... they look pretty good to me...

 

[hack]

THANK YOU
I'll be useing vinigar from now on.
Who says you're to old to learn something new.
:bow:

 

[Holley]

Hey, I can see that for removing rust from my metal tools for silver smithing. It is sure humid in Fla. and my stamps get rust on them.