How to remove stove polish?

L

LVaughn

Member
I picked up a #8 gate marked footed kettle today that has a layer of thick black "paint" on it. The more I look at it the more it looks like stove polish or something similar. In the past I have run across a couple of others with this crud on them and have had a very difficult time getting it off. The lye bath (months) doesn't work on it very well, neither does the electrolysis tank (days). Some of it comes off, but there is always at least one stubborn patch that will not come off whatever I do to it. And I hate that, I like for all of my pieces to be usable for cooking. Any suggestions for something that might work better to get this black stuff off?
It isn't old seasoning, its something that has been brushed on.
 
It appears there are different kinds, some water-soluble, others wax-based. If that's indeed what it is. I don't know if I'd risk using SCO, might not be something you'd want to do (for various reasons, bail handle, fumes, odor, damage risk). I wonder if a citrus-based paint stripper would work without damaging the iron. Might still want to try lye or electro first, at least you know they won't hurt the iron.
 
Doug, thanks for your comment. I have recently replaced my aging manual battery charger with a 300w adjustable power supply for my E-tank, I’ll give that a whirl. The higher current works great on other crud, it might be enough to pull this stuff off. I'll report back in a few days.
 
I only use Easy Off, as I have no tanks. It works well, but in this case i doubt it would work.
 
After a couple of days in the electrolysis tank and a couple of weeks in the lye tank, and much scrubbing, I finally got all of the paint or whatever it was off. It was most stubborn in the pits and nooks & crannies of the casting flaws, as usual. I curse the paint or whatever it was, but it did protect the iron from further rusting, so I can’t curse it too loudly. It came out pretty nice in the end.

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