First Lye Bath...oops!

M

Marsha B

New member
First timer trying a lye bath.
Put three skillets in and have been checking them.
I checked this evening around 6:00 and the ground around the tub was dark...
Oh no! Two of the pans were out of the bath.
I quickly put them in water and cleaned them up as best I could.
Came in and gave them a scrubbing with dish soap and steel wool.
One is a four notch heat ring with an 8 on it.
Another is a "Wagner" 7 with an A.
The last one is a 3 with one dot on the underside of the handle.

My husband got the grill going and I have another 10 minutes at 425*.
Will turn it off and check them in the morning.
I have not seen any smoking but I put a layer of Crisco on after heating them in my oven at 225*.
Wiped it on pretty good but also wiped it off pretty good too.
Anxious to see how they turn out.
The 4 notch does not look that good to me..
I guess I will call it pitting.
I took pictures..of them after the lye bath but before seasoning.
I did not season in my new oven...
But I am chuckling that I am seasoning in our new propane grill.
Husband was hesitant for me to use the oven and happy for me to use the grill!
 
Yes...I left the leak part out of my post!

I checked my grill and the pans have cooled down...
The #8 looks like it has a crack about a half inch long down from the rim.
Which I did not see before..
The thin layer of seasoning...looks like I need to repeat on the skillets.
My skillets are not a nice black color..
So I think it will need another coating of Crisco.
Of course....I could have done it all wrong after discovering the leak.
(I felt I needed to get the lye bath washed off and the Crisco onto the skillets as soon as they dried off from the oven.)
You all make it seem so easy!
 
Whether or not you're seasoning at a temperature above or below the smoke point of the oil you're using will make a difference with how black it gets, above the smoke point giving darker results.

And that's one of the advantages to oven over grill for seasoning - you have to manually control the temperature with a grill but an oven temp is controlled by a thermostat...

But from a functional (cooking) perspective the lighter color from seasoning below the smoke point works just as well and should darken in time with use.
 
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