Remove Black Sticky Stuff from Corn Stick Pans

D

DReedy

Member
I have three corn stick pans and I sprayed with oven cleaner now in the kernel parts is black thick substance. It is like a very thick molasses. I scraped with my nails and I could only get it off my nails with a spray cleaner with bleach, otherwise normal soap only move it around.

Is there a simpler way to clean?

thanks,
Dean
 
^ What he said. I'm finally doing the last of my old stuff I've had for ~20 years; three of the skillets came to me with thick, flaky seasoning on it and I just cooked on it but I've finally been inspired lately to actually make my stuff look nice, they've been in a 5 gal. bucket with one container of lye crystals for almost a week, that's the beauty of this method, doesn't harm the iron at all. Then they'll go in the e-tank for a day each side et voila.
 
Hi Dean,

I had the same question when I recently embarked on cleaning a cast iron waffle iron (I use HD Easy Off Oven Cleaner). The following suggestions from this Discussion Forum that really helped were:
  1. Time - leave the oven cleaner on for a long while... let it do its job. This I think was key.
  2. Rinse - use a lot of water to get most of the crud off. A power rinse with a garden hose was suggested.
  3. Scrub - use a stiff/tough scrub brush to get into the nooks and crannies. A user suggested a Mothers Carpet & Upholstery Brush which was not available in Canada. I found a HDX brush at Home Depot that did the trick.
Worked like a charm.
 
Spray cleaner seemed to be to much work as suggested, so I broke down and bought:
  • 2 - 5 gallon buckets
  • One lid
  • Santeen 100% Pure Lye Crystal Drain Opener - 16 oz.(Ingredients says 99%)

I have eye protection, hand protection and old clothes. Only need to find some old wire hangers somewhere, we tossed ours out. :(

thank you for suggestions.

Dean
 
Bailing wire works fine for hanging cast iron items. You can find it at Home Depot or other hardware stores. I only hang them when in the E-tank. I just drop them in the lye bath.
 
I use dish gloves that go up my forearms quite a ways, then a pair of tongs to fish the item shallow enough to reach in and grab it, if necessary.
 
You could tie a length of string thru the hang hole before dropping it in. Lye won't dissolve it. It really won't hurt your bare hand (at the recommended strength) if you just fish it out and rinse it, and your hand, in fresh water. If you don't immediately rinse it off, in a minute or so, your skin will feel dry and slightly sunburnt. I'm not saying you shouldn't respect the fact that it's a caustic, just giving some perspective as to how much of one. Again, at the recommended strength.
 
After soaking for 5 days in a 5 gallon bucket with lye, wow, what a difference and easy. I did end up using tying bailing twine to the handles. That worked well.

After removing from the lye bath I put the items in an empty 5 gallon bucket and sprayed them down. Then took that water and poured it on a darn tree root I want to get rid of.

Thank you everyone for the advice.

Dean
 
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