I cleaned a cast iron pan over the weekend. “Oven cleaner” the voices on YouTube said. In reality I needed an angle grinder and it took me the better part of 3 hours to do. My pan had some kind of matt black factory “seasoning” that was definitely not just oil and it took that long to chip it all off. Anyway pan is back in action now.
As an addendum I think the “seasoning” was some kind of matt black enamel layer on the inside of the pan. I wouldn’t have touched it but even in regular use flakes detached and I had about 6 divots in the pan because of it. Oven cleaner did nothing to remove this layer so I used by angle grinder and a sanding attachment. It was painfully slow (my grinder is cordless and needs recharging) but I cleaned it eventually. Once I was down to bare metal I cleaned it and seasoned it with a few layers of oil. I think it will be far easier to clean from now on. The outside of the pan and bottom are still coated in whatever the inside was when I bought it.
I cleaned a cast iron pan over the weekend. “Oven cleaner” the voices on YouTube said. In reality I needed an angle grinder and it took me the better part of 3 hours to do. My pan had some kind of matt black factory “seasoning” that was definitely not just oil and it took that long to chip it all off. Anyway pan is back in action now.
As an addendum I think the “seasoning” was some kind of matt black enamel layer on the inside of the pan. I wouldn’t have touched it but even in regular use flakes detached and I had about 6 divots in the pan because of it. Oven cleaner did nothing to remove this layer so I used by angle grinder and a sanding attachment. It was painfully slow (my grinder is cordless and needs recharging) but I cleaned it eventually. Once I was down to bare metal I cleaned it and seasoned it with a few layers of oil. I think it will be far easier to clean from now on. The outside of the pan and bottom are still coated in whatever the inside was when I bought it.