Specific Cleaning Questions

J

JeffreyL

Member
I have a few items coming up to be cleaned that I have been putting off, but before I start them I just want to make sure I won't mess anything up...

I have a few plated pieces, griswold chicken fryer with lid, and a Wagner R muffin pan. I read where these can safely be put in the lye tank, but not etank. Any other acceptable forms of cleaning without ruining the plating?

I have two Wagner R muffin pans and one griswold 10 muffin pan, I have read where some people use a stainless steel brush chucked in some sort of power tool to clean the cups, but I get nervous about power tools on my irons so I always do by hand. Is there an acceptable attachment and tool to use on the muffin cups?

Griswold waffle iron with metal coil handles, should be ok in lye and electrolysis, do most people unscrew the handle for cleaning process or just leave them attached?

Thanks for any help and replies!
 
JeffreyL said:
I have a few items coming up to be cleaned that I have been putting off, but before I start them I just want to make sure I won't mess anything up...

I have a few plated pieces, griswold chicken fryer with lid, and a Wagner R muffin pan. I read where these can safely be put in the lye tank, but not etank. Any other acceptable forms of cleaning without ruining the plating?
Click to expand...

Lye is fine on plating. E-tank may adversely affect plating that has already been compromised and had rust form under loose areas.
I have two Wagner R muffin pans and one griswold 10 muffin pan, I have read where some people use a stainless steel brush chucked in some sort of power tool to clean the cups, but I get nervous about power tools on my irons so I always do by hand. Is there an acceptable attachment and tool to use on the muffin cups?
Click to expand...
With a variable speed drill running very slowly, you shouldn't have a problem, but a cup brush probably won't reach all the areas you need it to. My trick has been to use a paint mixer attachment with a plastic propeller to spin a Chore Boy pad in each cup.

Griswold waffle iron with metal coil handles, should be ok in lye and electrolysis, do most people unscrew the handle for cleaning process or just leave them attached?

Thanks for any help and replies!
Click to expand...
Assuming iron not aluminum, lye and/or electro are fine for the whole thing; you can leave the handles on.
 
Anything else acceptable to use on exterior of plated pieces? I use SS brushes and 0000 steel wool on the iron pans, but that doesn't seem like a good idea, is anything safe for the hard to remove stuff?
 
0000 steel wool or even coarser shouldn't harm plating. A lot of stuff that seems to stick hard to bare iron doesn't so much on plate, at least in my experience.
 
I picked up five spray painted skillets last week. They were all marked early pieces so I figured I would take a chance, sure enough they were all plated and the plating was quite worn. I ran them through both my lye tank and my E tank with no ill effect on the remaining plating. Because of the plating I used 0000 steel wool vs my usual #1 / 2. Again no harm to the remaining plating. The only nice thing about the situation was the spray paint did not stick well to the plated areas making clean up rather easy.
 
John Foley said:
When you refer to plating are you talking about the silver coating?
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yes. cast iron was plated with nickel and chrome (both relatively shiny compared to bare iron). I assume it was just an appearance thing and not a performance thing back in the day... I know the plated pieces sold for more than un-plated (bare iron).
 
just ran across another piece im not quite sure how to clean. a griswold clean easy dutch oven lid. the enamel on the inside im guessing wont do good in lye bath or e-tank, how do you clean the top of the lid without damaging enameled interior? I think i read somewhere someone was going to try to float one upside down in the lye tank, i wonder if that would work?

luckily i dont think the lid is bad, and it wont touch the food so i thought about just washing in soap and water and adding another layer or two of seasoning to the top of it. heres the lid.
http://imgur.com/Cx5fqlK
http://imgur.com/8CCxWj3
 
JeffreyL said:
...how do you clean the top of the lid without damaging enameled interior?
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Place it flat on a small piece of plywood and spray it with oven cleaner. Leave the lid on the board and place it in a garbage bag. You can keep it on the board when scrubbing and rinsing so the underside won't be affected at all.
 
Jeff S. said:
Place it flat on a small piece of plywood and spray it with oven cleaner. Leave the lid on the board and place it in a garbage bag. You can keep it on the board when scrubbing and rinsing so the underside won't be affected at all.
Click to expand...

thanks Jeff, do you think there would be any harm in the soap and water, then season? it doesnt have rust so im thinking since it wont touch food theres no reason to strip it?
 
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