Refurbishing a Cast Iron Dutch Oven

samson · BBQ Pro Joined: 30 Mar 2007 Posts: 869 Location: illinois

I think I'm going to give this a try since I've got the smoker running today. The pan I mentioned was given to me by my mother. She said she may have bought it or my grandmother may have. Either way I don't feel too connected to it and would be willing to try something new. I would rather have something that works well as opposed to a nasty heirloom sitting around taking up space...I'll let you know how it goes later in the week.

Serial Griller · Posted: Jan 09 2009 Post subject:

samson · BBQ Pro Joined: 30 Mar 2007 Posts: 869 Location: illinois

Serial Griller · Posted: Jan 09 2009 Post subject:

SoEzzy · Posted: Jan 09 2009 Post subject:

If you don't want to do the oven cleaner gig, you can also get good results with Vinegar or Coca Cola, but you basically need to keep an eye on either method, it will help with lifting the crud of the bottom.

I cook with a couple of large cast iron skillets, and as some others have said I give them a clean out with sea salt every once in a while, just get the bottom hot, add the sea salt, heat and move the salt around and the salt gets yucky and the pan gets clean.
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Serial Griller · Posted: Jan 09 2009 Post subject:

Workaholic · Newbie Joined: 27 Nov 2008 Posts: 34 Location: Kansas

I unfortunately deal with rust and pitting corrosion on a semi regular basis, since I work on aircraft. The standard SOP for where I work would be getting a wire brush, try to get one about the size of a tooth brush, you don't want a big one. Make sure the bristles are steel, as if you use a brass brush, you will have to deal with more corrosion, caused by dissimilar metals. Using a small wire brush will get into the pits, and clean them out. it will take lots of elbow grease to do this. use a rag lightly dampened with rubbing alcohol to wipe the area, prior to checking progress. the alcohol and rag will remove all the dust, allowing you to see how much corrosion is left on the area. make sure you give the alcohol a minute or two to evaporate before inspecting, and use a really good light when you inspect. for the larger areas, just use normal strokes like sandpaper, for the pitting, use small circular strokes, as the brush will get into the pits, without doing causing excess wear on the surrounding metal. once you get the areas cleaned up, you should be able to season it like like normal.

Another option we use, (mainly on magnesium gearboxes, etc) is to use a rubber wheel (the ones we use are about 3 inches in diameter, with lots of "nubbies", attach it to a drill and use light pressure. this method tends to work very well on pitting corrosion, without damaging the surrounding metal. then just use the inspection method i outlined above.

On the other hand, my dad told me years ago about a gentleman he ran into when he was out camping. The gentleman would wait until after his skillet cooled, and then clean it using fine sand and water. you might consider trying fine sand, and rubbing it into the pitted areas, although i'm not sure how well it would work in your situation, however.

make sure that no matter what method you use to clean it (whether mine or someone else's) you check your progress regularly, and often, to minimize excess wear to the areas around the pitting.

hopefully this helps.

-rich

Serial Griller · Posted: Jan 11 2009 Post subject: Refurbishing a Cast Iron Dutch Oven

samson · BBQ Pro Joined: 30 Mar 2007 Posts: 869 Location: illinois

Wings55, I put the pan into the coals after I cooked a butt the other day. It wasn't an even burn but the gunk did come off half the pan. Its in a fire now to get the rest off. I'll let you know when its done and I get home from work to clean it out.

I am getting nervous now...its starting to glow. Guess I gotta finish what I started though.

Serial Griller · Posted: Jan 11 2009 Post subject: Refurbishing a Cast Iron Dutch Oven

Stan41 · Posted: Jan 11 2009 Post subject:

Don't be timid with the fire or coals. I like to complete cover the dutch oven with coals. Sometimes I use a shovel and just bury it in coals. It is impossible for you to build a fire hot enough to melt cast iron.
Stan

samson · BBQ Pro Joined: 30 Mar 2007 Posts: 869 Location: illinois

Hey there Wings55, sorry about the delay. I pulled the pan out yesterday and all the gunk was burned off. The pan is so bare I found there were a couple pits that must have been covered by what ever was on there.

The only thing was the fire did produce some discoloration. I tried to scrub it out but its still there. I started to season it and it looks better but I can still see it. I'm sure it will go away with use. At least I can use it again!

I took some before and aftrer pics but the wife took the camera. If you want I can post them sometime for reference.

Let me know what you ended up doing...good luck!

Serial Griller · Posted: Jan 12 2009 Post subject: Refurbishing a Cast Iron Dutch Oven

Serial Griller · Posted: Jan 13 2009 Post subject: Refurbishing a Cast Iron Dutch Oven

Here's before, after burn, and after wire brushing pics.I used about 3/4 bag of Kingsford and the fire was red hot for about 3-4 hours.I even put coals inside the pot.

As you can see I have more elbow grease to expend
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Hell Fire Grill · Posted: Jan 13 2009 Post subject:

Hell of a cool pot you have there, and a very interesting project. It must be about 6-8 quarts. Cant wait to see it when its all seasoned and cooking again. Does it have a makers mark?

Serial Griller · Posted: Jan 13 2009 Post subject:

whitey · Posted: Jan 13 2009 Post subject:

Samson like We were talking about before,turning out perfect. I found one of my best cast iron bean pots out in the camp shed,it was spotted with rust I will see if I can fix it or build me a fire and start over. I will post pics. Are you going to condition that pot with Crisco?
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Teleking · Posted: Jan 13 2009 Post subject: Re: Refurbishing a Cast Iron Dutch Oven

Serial Griller · Posted: Jan 13 2009 Post subject: Re: Refurbishing a Cast Iron Dutch Oven

Serial Griller · Posted: Jan 18 2009 Post subject: Refurbishing a Cast Iron Dutch Oven

I had the pot sand blasted.Then I brought it home and preheated the oven to 200'. washed the pot with water, dryed it and set it in the oven to thoroughly dry for 30 minutes.Then turned up the heat to 350' and slathered the warm pot with about 1/2 stick of Crisco and put it in the oven for one hour.Turned off the heat and let it cool in the oven.
When it came from the sandblaster it was a pewter color as expected.After the first seasoning it's now a bronze color.I plan on repeating this three more times before cooking in it.
The two pictures are after the first seasoning.
Thanks to all for your helpfull ideas and directions to on-line links in restoring this pot.

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