Seasoning Question/problem

[NateN]

This is the part that doesn't make sense. A pan coated in oil or fat, baked on and polymerized (or not) shouldn't be flash rusting. Something else was afoot.

That was my point. Apparently not enough oil adhered to the cooking surface, and the water vapor coming off the gas burner caused the cooking surface to rust.

I deliberately did it the exact same way after stripping, cleaning as I described, and letting it go another initial round of seasoning (400F for 1.5 hours, upside down in oven, let cool in oven, reheated oven with pan still inside) I did not experience that problem again.

 

[Doug D.]

I'd say something just didn't happen correctly the first round, and the second it did. Perhaps water vapor from the gas oven had something to do with it, as it would be conducive to rust forming on bare iron, but even the thinnest coating of baked on oil should have prevented flash rust. I'll just say I have never, in hundreds of pieces restored, taken heroic measures to completely eliminate residual oxides, and have never had a seasoning adhesion failure.

 

[NateN]

No argument here! just passing on my experiences. SOMETHING definitely went wrong, but the skillet in question is great now.

 

[SRFrancis]

I'm with Kevin on this as I have a smooth as silk Wagner skillet and DO. I seasoned both with 6 very thin coats of flax oil in my outdoor grill, wife would not let me do it in the house after the 1st time because of the odor. Just gave my daughter a smooth wagner ware #8 last month that I found at a swap meet, seasoned it the same way and they love it. They use it for steaks, pork chops and hamburgers. The seasoning has held up great.