Cast Iron Pans and Power Tools

C

Chuck P

New member
Hi folks,

I would love to hear from the veterans here about taking power tools to cast iron pans. I bought this skillet for $5. Beautiful SBLBL Griz right?

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Well there's a reason why I was able to buy this beauty so cheap. The cooking surface is badly pitted.

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When I bought it I was thinking that I would go to work on the cooking surface with power tools, sandpaper, steel wool and see if I could smooth out all those pits. But I just haven't been able to bring myself to work on any of my pans with abrasive tools. I'm afraid that the tools will leave swirl marks or something that will forever destroy the value of the pan.

How do you all feel about taking power tools to your pans? And another question, will months and years of seasoning ever fill in the pits?
 
I've been cooking in this one quite a bit for a couple of weeks and it cooks great. I know this skillet will never be worth any money, but I was just wondering how others feel about using tools to recondition a pan. So far I've just been relying on electrolysis.

@Bonnie Scott Awesome video by the way. Thanks.
 
I have an deep cast iron kettle that I think of as "the thorn in my side". It has really deep pits and when I bought it, it was covered in paint to disguise the rust. Every now and then when I need a little therapy I will pull it out and sand on it a while. It gets a little nicer every time I work on it. I tried a drill brush on it but I like the results I get with a sanding sponge better.
 
I have ground (Machined with sandpaper) down two new Lodge skillets to a smooth Griswold finish a few years ago. Seasoning covered the grind marks and filled in the pits left by Lodge quality CI. I would not think about grinding down a Griswold as they need the metal to keep from warping.

Yes, the pits will fill in with seasoning in time. To hurry the process, coat the bottom lightly with lard and bake it right side up at 450 - 475° for an hour, let cool and bake it again without fresh lard. Use it a few times and then repeat. The seasoning/carbon will fill the pits after two or three rounds. It's that or 10 to 20 years. It took me ten years to finally cover the mountains on the bottom of my Lodge SK10 with seasoning after I stopped using PAM, using it almost once a day. I made no progress during the 15 years I used PAM.

Hilditch
 
Oh God no!!

Leave it, it will be fine. I'm not all that concerned with the videos I've seen of people grinding down brand new Lodge skillets to get them smoother. Whatever floats their boats, but leave well enough alone when it comes to something vintage.

That's not rough. Cook in it and find out. Let it live out it's life as the factory intended. Searing a steak, cooking some bacon, browning some tortillas, making a grilled cheese, making cornbread, browning some hamburger, etc..

I'll offer my personal guarantee (worth about $7.49) that you'll love the way this piece cooks. Just try it.
 
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