Picked up several pans from a private lady couple months ago. All cleaned up nice - but one. A 10 1/4" fry pan that has heavy, hard crud around the outside of the pan. Ly bath did nothing for it. Have tried 2 different paint removers (It was painted black) which got the paint off. Nothing has touched the thick hard layer of crud. Even a chisel does not faze it. Bottom is cleaned enough to see it is not branded, does have a heat ring but no collector value to this pan at this point. Next step is going to be the air scalar out in the shop. Pan is no good this way so doubt I can hurt it much. Nothing else will make a good cat pan.
-
If a web search for the answer to your cast iron cookware question has brought you directly to this forum, the information you seek may be covered in one of the many reference topics featured on the main website.
Quick Links: · Main Website · How to Identify Unmarked Pans · All About Cleaning & Seasoning · Reproductions & Counterfeits · Commonly-Used Terms
Impenetrable Crud
- Thread starter RJ Ruchti
- Start date
The difficulty becomes, with either lye bath or Easy Off HD, that if there's no grease left in the crud, there's nothing for the sodium hydroxide to react with. It's just carbon, and if electro won't budge it, other mechanical means have to be employed, and at the risk of marring the iron. A slippery slope...
I tried the pneumatic descaler and going at the crud at an angle it worked well. Few very light bright spots showed up so don't think it is going to hurt the pan any as long as I take my time. Slow but good. No heat in the shop so the air tool got cold on the hands quick. Will put it up for a warmer day. Don't really want all those tiny crud chips flying around my small shop in the basement.