Weak Piranha Etch

R

RustyP

Member
Has anybody tried this before?
http://www.genuineideas.com/ArticlesIndex/castironseasoning.html

The article was written by Dr. Greg Blonder, who I've heard of through AmazingRibs.com (an excellent site about BBQ, full of great information much like Doug's work here).

I've never heard of a piranha etch, but the picture of the surface change looks impressive.

WPE_standard_comparison.jpg


According to this document from Carnegie Mellon University, a piranha etch is usually 3:1 sulfuric acid to (H2SO4) to 30% hydrogen peroxide (H2O2).
http://www.cmu.edu/ehs/fact-sheets/piranha-solution-handling.pdf

Dr. Blonder reduces the sulfuric acid to 1/100 and the hydrogen peroxide to 1/10 for his "Weak Piranha Etch" - so it's not as crazy as it sounds in the PDF.

Anyway, I'd be interested in giving this a try if it's really worth it, but I don't know if I would try it on a machined pan.
 
If I'm reading correctly, there should be no need for any of that with an already polish ground piece of vintage cast iron cookware. And, other than the "sanding of hillocks", everything else appears to be the run-of-the-mill stripping and seasoning procedures. But, then, I did kind of stop reading at "flax oil".
 
Yeah, I'm learning the flaxseed oil lesson the hard way... on EVERY single one of my pans. I seasoned all 6 pieces I own before cooking in one for the first time...

Doug, I think your seasoning article is too polite about shooting down flaxseed. I was willing to risk trying flaxseed oil in exchange for a potentially superior seasoning (based on what I read on that one "scientific" blog), but... I don't think there's ANYTHING superior about flaxseed oil. It scratches VERY easily. It disappears quickly after cooking. It doesn't even look as nice as Crisco, which seems to come out darker. IMO, it only looks good when you're building up the initial layers of seasoning. Once you cook on it the first time, it's gone!

Anyway, I would be willing to do the piranha etch thing if it would encourage magnetite formation... but after re-reading I don't know if that's true. All I really want is a nicer black color. Right now, I'm experimenting with prolonged electrolysis sessions (re-doing my AB&I #15), which seemed to help my last pan.

So far, I'm not a fan of the high-temp bake prior to oiling. I get blotchy red and blue colors more than black. The blue is REALLY pretty, and it still shows through the seasoning, but the fact that it's patchy makes it ugly. I almost want to try sending a pan to a gun bluing guy and seasoning over the blue to protect it.
 
If your wanting black and I mean black on the first bake then try the bee's wax. I am telling you it works , it is slippery, rugged.
 
Hm... What kind of beeswax do you use? Do you melt it then smear it on, like Crisco? I can handle Crisco's melting point temperatures, but melted wax sounds painful.

Locally, I've found beeswax candles, bulk filtered beeswax, and bulk unfiltered beeswax. I think the unfiltered one had a lovely honey smell, while the filtered one was kinda stinky. Or I might have those swapped...

I used the yummy smelling stuff to wax my bowstring once (I practice archery for fun), and I should have some of that left. I think it was really expensive per pound, though...
 
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