When Does My Stuff Get Shiny?

N

NateN

New member
So I've been refining my seasoning technique; I think I've got it down well enough that I tossed all of the skillets that I had that had never been redone, or were early efforts that I wasn't happy with, in a bucket of lye. Three are still in there... they're nasty :) One that was one of the first I'd done I've already put through the oven. Another is in the e-tank because when I stripped it it looked like it needed it, as if I'd seasoned over some black rust rather than getting it perfectly clean.

So the question. The one that I seasoned this morning was a little #3 BSR; I decided to try Crisco on this one because a) herself had just made French fries in Crisco the other night and hadn't thrown out the leftover and b) I have a #3 3 notch Lodge that is about as similar as you can get; I thought it would be an interesting experiment to see if I noticed any difference between the Lodge (seasoned with lard) and the BSR done with Crisco.

Well, after two rounds the BSR has blackened up quite a bit more than the Lodge, which is a nice golden brown. I'm using Jeff Rogers' method with both oils. However, I see nothing resembling a "sheen" as he mentions on his web site; the little guy is very matte.

Am I doing something wrong, or "just cook on it."
 
Here is my opinion. When you pass the smoke point of your oil you'll get a dull finish, but if you apply the oil at a lower temp you get the shine. Once I get mine properly seasoned, I apply another thin coat, let it cool and store or throw on the display. I've used crisco and various veg oils and all have been the same. Different brands, time frames, etc will effect the final color of the iron. Nearly all of my older (1800s to 1950s) seem to get black pretty quick. The newer stuff seems to hold that grey color for me.
 
WWGD (What would Grandmaw do) Cook on it! If you stress every time you see some unevenness or a spot, blotchy color etc, and re-strip and start over, you may never get it black. There are really no magical shortcuts. I'm working on a chef skillet I picked up and it's slowly getting darker. Something sticks, clean it scrape it, grease it and back to work it goes.
 
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