Ken Knight
New member
Picked up a nickel plated McClary No7 dutch oven and thought I'd get some opinions here as to how best restore it without damaging the finish. Thanks.
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McClary Dutch Oven
- Thread starter Ken Knight
- Start date
Ken maybe it's just me or the way the pictures are showing on my phone but it's not looking like nickel or chrome but but close to bare iron for the most part.
Maybe just a good cleaning with dawn dish soap and a stiff brush may be enough and then a 30 minute soak in 50/50 vinegar and water followed by 000 or 0000 steel wool.
Maybe just a good cleaning with dawn dish soap and a stiff brush may be enough and then a 30 minute soak in 50/50 vinegar and water followed by 000 or 0000 steel wool.
Ken Knight
New member
Thanks Steven yes both pot and cover are plated, it appears that the cooking surfaces were not plated so inside of cover is bare cast iron, I'll post some additional photos.
Ken....I kind of agree with Steven regarding plating on your piece. To me it appears to have a few light rust areas on the lid and around the top rim of the base. I have several pieces of Nickel plated pots and pans and none of mine appear as yours does in the photos shown.
Would like to see the bottom side of the lid and pan should you post any more pics.
I know the inside looks darker than the outsides but that may be attributed to what was cooked in it.
Would like to see the bottom side of the lid and pan should you post any more pics.
I know the inside looks darker than the outsides but that may be attributed to what was cooked in it.
Ken Knight
New member
Thank you for posting on this MDFraley, there is some sort of plating or metal dip on the exterior of this dutch oven but I'm in agreement that it doesn't appear to be nickel of a type usually seen on US cast iron. A quick net search shows that many McClary dutch ovens show a similar exterior brightness so rather than posting photos for additional misinterpretation I'll take the piece for metallurgical testing to find out what surface coating it has before further cleaning or speculation.
That sounds kid of extreme. I would at least run it thru a lye bath and scrub with fine steel wool first. This shouldn't harm any finish that may be on it.
Ken Knight
New member
Thanks Jeff, I was able to confirm with a nitric acid spot test and with a local McClary vintage wood stove rebuilder that the dutch oven was nickel plated directly onto the cast iron without use of a copper base layer. The lid is slightly different from the pot section in that it was sandblasted prior to application of the nickel plating, the DO pot appears to have been plated directly onto the raw cast surface. Turned out to be an great day as the stove guy had some interesting Canadian pieces.
That gives enough information to proceed with lye cleaning although WD40 and a small bristle brush have removed some portion of the nickel oxide which is dulling the surface, steel wool doesn't work as it doesn't get to the valleys of the rough surfaces. Here's an additional photo showing the nickel plated rim edge transitioning to unplated cast iron on the inside of the DO cover.
That gives enough information to proceed with lye cleaning although WD40 and a small bristle brush have removed some portion of the nickel oxide which is dulling the surface, steel wool doesn't work as it doesn't get to the valleys of the rough surfaces. Here's an additional photo showing the nickel plated rim edge transitioning to unplated cast iron on the inside of the DO cover.