wax removal ?

T

Tony Gilliam

Member
I gave my newest find a wash in dawn, and when drying it I noticed the water beaded up and ran off like a freshly waxed car hood. I don't know if someone melted paraffin wax in it for sealing jelly jars or if they intentionally waxed this pan with turtle wax. I have washed, then heated on the stove, then wiped down with paper towels about 6 times and it just won't clean up. When heated on the stove the coating melts every time.
Will Lye eat this stuff? I'm thinking camp fire but that scares me.
 
I've had this happen to a couple of pans. In my case, I think it was the dish towel I was wiping it down with. I thought the towel was 100% cotton until I noticed the beading on the second round of seasoning. Turns out the towel was a cotton/poly blend. The beading went away in subsequent rounds ... I'm assuming the 500 degree oven solves the problem.
 
You say you washed it in Dawn, which could be inferred to mean you considered it ready to start using as found. Does the pan look like it has been stripped and newly reseasoned or is what's on it old seasoning? Or are you saying it's just what seems like wax on bare iron?
 
Comment: I have a bean pot which had a distinct wax coating when I got it. I think it had been used for paraffin. Since I wanted it more for a decorative than a use item, I let that go. The pot sat empty on the wood heating stove for several years, and last Winter I realized that the coating seems to finally be gone. Not an ideal solution, but the coating is gone now. I'm still not going to use it for food, but I'm watching it very closely to make sure it doesn't start to rust. If it does, I'll season it as I do other CI.
 
i dont know the science behind it. It just did not work. it was in the tank for 3 days and came out the same. open fire or gasoline rub is the only food safe way to get it off
 
I’m not suggesting 900° self-cleaning ovens, but heat will reduce many things to carbon, ash or gas. Even heating is important when dealing with cast iron when trying to burn off unwanted coatings that are not removed with lye or electrolysis. It is uneven heating that normally warps or cracks cast iron below a 2,000 degree melting point.

Hilditch
 
Glad to know electro's a waste of time with wax. Eventually I'm sure I'll run into that problem. If tossing a waxed skillet into a fire is known to work, a gas grill should also work if it's hot enough. Mine will turn seasoning to ash in less than an hour with all the burners set to high. I still occasionally strip non-valuable CI this way.
 
Doug, It looks like it was properly stripped and freshly seasoned. It had an oily coating on it that I washed off with Dawn. I assume it was sprayed down with cooking oil to keep it from rusting in the store. After washing it, I found the water beaded on the seasoning like no other pan I own. After towel drying, I put it on the stovetop to heat up and dry the remaining 1% of water the towel left. I turned on the burner and the dry coating instantly liquefied. I then wiped it down with a paper towel. I have repeated this several times now and the paper towel gathers less and less each time. It looks like wax to me but I'm not sure what it is. The coating hits its smoke point at a very low temp. Maybe 300 deg.
Not knowing what this coating is, I've decided to just hang it on the wall and warned my wife not to use it until we get the coating removed.
Tony
 
There is a possibility that it was freshly seasoned, but seasoned using a spray on product like PAM, that has silicone as part of the mixture. This will not easily wash off, and will cause beading like a fresh waxed car.

Try a cloth soaked with some rubbing alcohol.
 
RLMuse said:
There is a possibility that it was freshly seasoned, but seasoned using a spray on product like PAM, that has silicone as part of the mixture. This will not easily wash off, and will cause beading like a fresh waxed car.

Try a cloth soaked with some rubbing alcohol.
Click to expand...

Rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol does not do much to organic (waxes, oils). You would have better luck with denatured alcohol probably.

That said... I would go with acetone or lacquer thinner. Both are very aggressive solvents that remove a variety of materials. They also leave zero residue.
 
If there's what appears to be seasoning under this mystery substance, I'd still give lye a try and see what happens. Can't be any worse. If there's a way to submerge it in boiling water, that may float it off to where it can be skimmed or poured off, or left to cool and solidify. Failing that, we still don't know if we're talking a 60s Lodge or an Erie. If it's not an older, thinner pan an hour or so in the SCO might be worth considering. That should reduce anything on it to ash.
 
This is my #7 Favorite smiley / Miami diamond duel logo. It is a very nice thin pan.
After many sessions of washing, heating, and wiping most of the coating is gone but it still smokes quite easily, So I'm gonna try some easy off today.
I should have my E tank set up soon, So I will have that option to try, but I have had 0 luck finding Lye.
I will post my results.
Tony

PS: Thanks for all the help and info.
 
Not sure where to find "lye," but I've been using Thrift drain cleaner as my lye source. I forget the chemical name for lye, but Thrift is pure whatever it is...and the leftovers can be used to clean drains around your house when you need to. I get it at my local plumbing supply place; you MAY be able to find at a big box store, or order from Amazon. If I could find it a Wally World, I'd jump for joy!

Here's a link so you know what the bottle of the stuff looks like:

https://www.amazon.com/THRIFT-MARKE...78256080&sr=8-1&keywords=thrift+drain+cleaner

Good luck,
Steve
 
Tony - I found lye at my local Ace Hardware.

Steve - sodium hydroxide (also called caustic soda) is the name you are looking for.
 
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