Traditionals and Cast Iron Cookware

Just got an email from Lodge; they have opened a cast iron museum at their TN plant. Says it is just north of Chattanooga. I've been wanting to visit the TN Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga, now I have two museums to visit when I get there. OH
 
I aint looked at this whole thread yet. But cast iron is one of my loves. Odd ain’t it, how knives, guns, cast iron are all passions of so many. Anyways.

What’s everyone’s seasoning techniques? I ain’t had much luck yet but I’m trying.
 
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JM2 said:
I Janet looked at this whole thread yet. But cast iron is one of my loves. Odd ain’t it, how knives, guns, cast iron are all passions of so many. Anyways.

What’s everyone’s seasoning techniques? I ain’t much luck yet but I’m trying.
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I've restored around 50 cast iron pans, I always have luck with:

1. Strip old seasoning with oven cleaner
2. Heavy duty scrubber plus barkeeper's friend and cold water
3. Heavy scrub with soap and cold water
4. Hand dry, then dry in 250F oven
5. While hot, coat with crisco or whatever oil
6. WIPE OFF ALL OF THE OIL. That should be your goal, and you should only stop when you've gotten as close as you can. You'll fail to remove it all and will leave a very thin layer which is what you want. It shouldn't even really look or feel oily. Too much oil is by far the most common problem people have.
7. Heat oven to 350F. When it reaches temp, take the pan out, wipe it off again
8. Back in oven, temperature at or just above smoke point of oil for 60 minutes

That will give you a nice base coat that will resist rust, usually turns out a nice golden bronze hue. I usually do a second layer before I start using it to cook.
 
☝️ Pretty close to how I go about it. I use tallow for most of my seasoning purposes (and shortening for that matter). For a quick on the fly seasoning I'll just oil the pan and leave it on the burner until it starts to smoke a bit.
 
Wild Willie said:
☝️ Pretty close to how I go about it. I use tallow for most of my seasoning purposes (and shortening for that matter). For a quick on the fly seasoning I'll just oil the pan and leave it on the burner until it starts to smoke a bit.
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Yep, great for touch ups. Also how I season nickel plated pans, otherwise the nickel tarnishes while seasoning and you have to scrub it again
 
Preciate the replies. I ain’t got oven cleaner and I barkeepers friend. I do have dawn and steel wool. And I have some pans that stick every time we use them.

Do I need to remove all the old seasoning? Can I start with step 3? Some of my pans had seasoning and are just been used some have been down to the metal and need from scratch.
 
JM2 said:
Preciate the replies. I ain’t got oven cleaner and I barkeepers friend. I do have dawn and steel wool. And I have some pans that stick every time we use them.

Do I need to remove all the old seasoning? Can I start with step 3? Some of my pans had seasoning and are just been used some have been down to the metal and need from scratch.
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I strip all of mine to bare metal because I buy them used from thrift shops, and want a nice fresh start. Not strictly necessary if you scrub off all of the loose seasoning and grime, which is also easier to confirm has been done if you strip to bare metal.

Shouldn't be a safety concern or anything, an hour at 500F is going to kill anything alive, and if there isn't loose seasoning underneath the new layers should be durable.
 
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This may be a bit controversial, it is not meant to be, i just found a little gem which completely surprised me. I am currently house sitting a family members house who has gone on a overseas holiday. Was going through the pot and pan drawers and found 2 Cast Iron pans. This is one of them. It is just so smooth and completely non stick, and i mean non stick, an egg will just slide straight out. But it is so light, the actual metal is not as thick as a normal Cast Iron pan. But on looking it over what really surprised me - Made in Taiwan. I was shocked, all the Chinese made ones i have had anything to do with are rubbish, they warp and are nearly impossible to get that smooth slick surface. I don't know how old this is or how long they have had it for, but if you didn't know you would swear it was made in America or made by a well known Cast Iron manufacturer. There is no doubt, that the great pans are from the great names in the industry, but this really surprised me, a great little pan. And the larger one is the same.

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cudgee said:
This may be a bit controversial, it is not meant to be, i just found a little gem which completely surprised me. I am currently house sitting a family members house who has gone on a overseas holiday. Was going through the pot and pan drawers and found 2 Cast Iron pans. This is one of them. It is just so smooth and completely non stick, and i mean non stick, an egg will just slide straight out. But it is so light, the actual metal is not as thick as a normal Cast Iron pan. But on looking it over what really surprised me - Made in Taiwan. I was shocked, all the Chinese made ones i have had anything to do with are rubbish, they warp and are nearly impossible to get that smooth slick surface. I don't know how old this is or how long they have had it for, but if you didn't know you would swear it was made in America or made by a well known Cast Iron manufacturer. There is no doubt, that the great pans are from the great names in the industry, but this really surprised me, a great little pan. And the larger one is the same.

x1mID7L.jpg
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Most of the stuff I see from Taiwan has roughly machined cook surfaces but some of them are as smooth as Wagner etc., looks like you have a good one there!
 
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