Is this stained?

[ChadVKealey]

I finally finished stripping my two vintage #8 skillets: a Favorite Piqua Ware with the smiley logo and a Maid of Honor.

I tried the self-cleaning oven bit, but the fumes demanded that it be cut short. So, I treated both to two week-long (or longer) soaks in Easy Off with a thorough washing & drying in between. All of the crusty gunk is gone, but both seem to have some kind of black staining. I hit each with a brass brush on my cordless drill, and it's just not coming off. Here's a sample:



The surface is smooth, so it seems like this is embedded in the metal. Since they're bare metal, I started seasoning them with some clarified bacon fat to make sure they don't start rusting. These will be users, not sellers or showpieces, so as long as it won't affect their cooking ability, I'm fine with it staying on there. Maybe with enough coats of seasoning, it'll even start blending in.

 

[JMoss]

Chad
Most of the folks here do not recommend mechanical (metal scrapers and brushes) means for cleaning CI. Particularly brass brushes and or scrapers. Brass can leave a color residue.

Have you read the Cleaning and Restoration section of this web site? see it here:
http://www.castironcollector.com/cleaning.php#electrolysis

All you cleaning and restoration questions will be answered here.

Good luck

Jack

 

[Mark H]

Looks like a clean surface so time to season. Great info on this site for that if you need. Time to cook some bacon, sauté onions and peppers and your seasoning built will have all that blended in.

 

[JustinR]

I bet a few coats of seasoning evens that out

 

[ChadVKealey]

To start the seasoning, I warmed each pan up on the stove, applied a very small amount of bacon fat, wiping off excess with a cloth. Then, I placed them in a 350 oven for an hour and let 'em cool. I did one round Sunday afternoon, another yesterday afternoon, then cooked bacon in them for dinner yesterday. There was a bit of sticking (probably from the sugar in the bacon), but between a Lodge scraper and a damp scotch-brite pad, it all came off. After cleaning them, I did another bacon fat - 350 degree oven treatment. The surface is smooth (aside from some fine/thin scratches, which I assume will fill in), but color-wise it's kind of blotchy; not yet that slick black beauty of well-worn cast iron.

One thing I did notice with the Favorite was that when it warmed up, it didn't sit entirely flat. There seemed to be a bit of a crown in the center, so it wobbled & spun on our glass cooktop. The few times I've used it before, I didn't notice that behavior, but then again, it used to have a good deal of gunk buildup on the bottom that probably leveled it out.

 

[DougH]

That deep black color most often comes with use and time. Most of my freshly seasoned pieces are some degree of either gray or brown...but they darken up with use.