16 thoughts on “Not a waste of cast iron but some work to bring them back.”
Would sand-blasting them be a good start?
Sure. It will make the surface rough inside but you can buff that with fine sandpaper. Then all you have to do is re-season it.
I have used CO2 blaster to clean and you don’t get that rough texture you do with sandblasting
Evaporust
Yup. Quick and easy to remove enough rust to determine how deep the pitting goes. If you’re not going to get too thin on remaining iron, it’s worth refinishing. Otherwise, deep pitting will lead to hot spots on the refurb and it’s not worth the effort to go further.
I have my grandmas cast iron dutch oven. It has to be almost 100 years old. Took it from my brother who was using dish soap to clean it.
Sacrilege! No soap ever touches my cast iron. Do you think your brother was a moron?
Heat them up to 300 degrees and apply a modest amount of glycerin based soap and scrub with a 3m pad. You will never clean iron or steel any other way again. It is super fast and comes perfectly clean every time even when abused.
A little work and they will be as good as new. The cast iron was the only thing that survived my eldest step-son’s house fire. He cleaned and re-seasoned them and is still using them over 20 years later. My wife and I both have cast iron that has been in the family for at least 70 years. It still gets regular use.
My uncle is a retired and disabled welder. He just traded me his Lincoln AC225 and all his accessories for restoring and seasoning all his cast iron.
Holy cow did you just score!
It is in fantastic condition. He took very good care of it. And a couple of big grinders with all the cup wheels, grinding wheels, and cutting wheels. Much havoc will happen in the shop.
I also had a buddy fab new plates for the wood lathe so that is back in action, as well.
A knotted wire wheel on an angle grinder makes short satisfying work of that, and leaves behind a surface with a smooth, flat top to build a smooth, flat nonstick seasoning on. Plus, a chance to test how well your mask keeps out the rust dust. Ha!
I do not have any power tools that will buff or polish the surface of my cast iron. What would be the best way to refurbish and re-season them?
Would sand-blasting them be a good start?
Sure. It will make the surface rough inside but you can buff that with fine sandpaper. Then all you have to do is re-season it.
I have used CO2 blaster to clean and you don’t get that rough texture you do with sandblasting
Evaporust
Yup. Quick and easy to remove enough rust to determine how deep the pitting goes. If you’re not going to get too thin on remaining iron, it’s worth refinishing. Otherwise, deep pitting will lead to hot spots on the refurb and it’s not worth the effort to go further.
I have my grandmas cast iron dutch oven. It has to be almost 100 years old. Took it from my brother who was using dish soap to clean it.
Sacrilege! No soap ever touches my cast iron. Do you think your brother was a moron?
Heat them up to 300 degrees and apply a modest amount of glycerin based soap and scrub with a 3m pad. You will never clean iron or steel any other way again. It is super fast and comes perfectly clean every time even when abused.
A little work and they will be as good as new. The cast iron was the only thing that survived my eldest step-son’s house fire. He cleaned and re-seasoned them and is still using them over 20 years later. My wife and I both have cast iron that has been in the family for at least 70 years. It still gets regular use.
My uncle is a retired and disabled welder. He just traded me his Lincoln AC225 and all his accessories for restoring and seasoning all his cast iron.
Holy cow did you just score!
It is in fantastic condition. He took very good care of it. And a couple of big grinders with all the cup wheels, grinding wheels, and cutting wheels. Much havoc will happen in the shop.
I also had a buddy fab new plates for the wood lathe so that is back in action, as well.
A knotted wire wheel on an angle grinder makes short satisfying work of that, and leaves behind a surface with a smooth, flat top to build a smooth, flat nonstick seasoning on. Plus, a chance to test how well your mask keeps out the rust dust. Ha!
I do not have any power tools that will buff or polish the surface of my cast iron. What would be the best way to refurbish and re-season them?
Get some Scotch Brite pads and start scrubbing.
https://www.harborfreight.com/power-tools/grinders-sanders/angle-grinders/7-amp-4-12-in-slide-switch-angle-grinder-64856.html
$29.99
https://www.harborfreight.com/7-piece-grinder-brush-kit-90976.html
$9.99