Dutch ovens

[Trina]

Alot of it depends on how rusty the pot is... is it pitted? its been my experience that potts that are pitted dont come out very well...
If you want to give it a shot, bring the pot in and add some vinegar to it... then after a soak scrub it out... sometimes I have had to do this several time...
The last one I did I let the vinegar set for a few days...IT was bad.. dumped it (vinegar) into a jar and added steel wool to the jar... it set for a few weeks and I used that to stain my gun:>

 

[Blizzard of '93]

Sandblasting would clean 'er up, but just blast the inside lightly, and wire brush the exterior. Cast iron will not flake with rust as steel does due to high carbon content, but blasting will remove the blackened surface left from the casting, you could use stove polish meant for refinishing cast iron wood stoves to restore the dark finish to the exterior.
If the inside isn't too bad you may get away with using a rotary wire brush on a drill motor. But light sandlast will really clean 'er up.

 

[BS]

I really like my deep 12"ers..............I bought two for $30...........Tex*****.......they work OK, but the lids didn't fit flat.........I used some lapping compound and honey.....spun the lid back and forth.....about an hour or so for each........the cooking time was reduced!

I would buy the Lodge, deep 12 and make sure the lids fit flat, and don't rock.

 

[Mulebrain]

Get Lodge as others have said. Please stay away from the imports. They work, but you will be much happier
in the end!

I am running with 4 ovens at this point, all in different sizes.

when it comes to cooking or camp cooking, you just cannot beat the versatility of the Dutch Oven!

Now I want another!

 

[FFFarmer]

I bought a 12" Lodge Lewis and Clark commemorative DO this summer, it came pre-seasoned, it also came with 2 small books that referenced care and recipies. We love cooking in it and have bought a couple of other cookbooks just for DO's. The only problem is that with the great meals and desserts that we've done I think I've gained the equivalent weight of the DO!

 

[Wanders]

Hey FFF, That pretreatment on that DO wouldn't be Teflon would it???? :rotf:
My ironware is all old & used. The one I like to use for baking pies in is marked Griswald and Wagner. Apparently Griswald bought out Wagner and used both logos for a year or so. Thanks for the tip about using vinegar to get rust off. I've gone through a LOT of SOS cleaning up some old ones.
Wanders

 

[Many Klatch]

You could make a tin strip circle fastened end to end to fit on top of your lid. That will hold the coals in place as long as you are careful. I did that with an old round top lidded Chicked fryer that I picked up at a flea market.

Many Klatch

 

[FFFarmer]

Hey FFF, That pretreatment on that DO wouldn't be Teflon would it????

NOT Teflon! it is just pre-baked with oil.

 

[redriverclerk]

I almost hate to admit how many DO's I have. I use a 12 deep Lodge for regular Rendezvous cooking. It has legs so we can set it on a bed of coals to make pies. Then I have 1 Wagner and 1 Griswold that I use on the fire grate, as they are both flat-bottomed. One has the concave lid and one has the convex lid.

We have bead-blasted some DO's and pans before when we buy them at auctions. They need to be re-seasoned, but they sure clean up nice.

I found the history of Griswold once upon a time. I still have the document, with photos of logos and dates associated. There are some really unique logos. One I haven't been able to find has a spiderweb logo. Not many of them left around.