The following is a client post from my supporter Andy Weiss , who has been experimenting with refinishing cast atomic number 26 Pan . -DG
Cast Iron Cookware History
Modern cast iron does n’t have a machined preparation open . Prior to the 1950 ’s , it was stock praxis to machine the preparation surface flat . Also , finer - grained George Sand used in the casting process created smooth surfaces .
At the time , large manufacturers like Griswold ( example here ) and Wagner ( model here ) machined and round their cookware and that ’s why their products are valued by collector and cooks today .
In 1965 the Disamatic casting car track casting and labor costs , but leave a much jumpy ending in casting that were not hardheaded to machine smooth . Also the utilization of Teflon drive the marketplace away from premium , machined cast of characters iron cookware as cheaper products flooded the market .
Lodgeis one of the last major American cast off smoothing iron producer ( both my skillets are Lodge products ) and when it modernized its processes in the 50 ’s and 60 ’s , it substitute hand - poured production with machine-controlled modeling . Machining was no longer cost in force and by the 70 ’s , Lodge no longer offered svelte preparation surfaces , leave alone us cooks with a pebbly , as - roam surface that was a challenge to time of year .
In the 70 ’s , Griswold , Wagner , and Atlanta Stove Works either closed , or were acquired by someone else . By this time , no one was produce machine cast iron .
Lodge sell untried cast iron with a carnauba wax coating till 2002 , and now “ pre - seasons ” their Cartesian product with soybean crude .
A modern FINEX 10″ cast iron skillet
Today we have companies like Butter Pat Industries ( found 2013 – now larn by Yeti ) that practice preciseness cast techniques to develop polished finishes and other companies likeField Company(founded 2016),Smithey Ironware(founded 2015 ) andFinex(founded 2012 ) who deal hurl iron with machined and polished cooking control surface .
A modern FINEX 10″ shake off atomic number 26 frying pan
A month ago I did n’t have sex the history or about the new , boutique companies producing mellow quality hurl - iron cooking utensil .
A modern FINEX 10″ cast iron skillet
Yet I did have two cheap Lodge cast iron pan , with their typical rough surface resulting from the Disamatic molding cognitive operation . Could I make them better ?
Experiments in Refinishing Cast Iron
A decennary ago , my boss hand - polished a new cast branding iron skillet as a giving for his wife . He worked on it during his dejeuner hour , drop an entire year polishing it .
At the time I thought it was more a labor of love than a real matter … then the YouTube algorithm fed me a video about machining and polishing cast iron and I know I require to try it .
I decided to start with my little genus Pan .
Not having a programme , I tried a caboodle of things : I tried a Dremel tool with a small pit to take off the factory seasoning ( with my seasoning on top of it ) , then I tried manus stoning it ( a la , my old party boss ’s technique ) with some sharpening stones . I was surprised at how I did more damage to the surface and left gouge rather of progress to any literal progress . I also hear sand newspaper publisher , then sandpaper stoppage , then end up using an orbital sander with medium ranging from 60 moxie to 180 grit .
All in all , I must have had 20 + hour into the pan before I was old-hat of working on it and decided to season it to see how it execute .
I have a CNC metal lathe , M - Head Bridgeport manufacturing plant , and a few sundry welders . Cast iron was Modern to me and I had fun work in the garage and getting a feel for the novel fabric .
After smooth , I seasoned the pan by applying a fragile pelage of avocado vegetable oil and putting it upside down in a 400F oven for a few hours . A small-arm of Al foil was on the lower rack to catch any drippings ( this is a seasoning technique I find on the web that crop well ) .
I expected the cooking pan to be better , but I was n’t expecting to get something out that find like oiled glass but that ’s what I got . After a few uses , this perfect finish was gone , but it ’s so much in effect I do n’t call for to fine-tune it any more .
Orbital Sander for the Win
I was so inspired I buy a few more average grit disc for the orbital smoother and started sandpaper the big pan .
Roughly 80 % of the work went into the flat bottom and about 20 % on the side . The 60 - grit media film off the seasoning and begin the polishing process .
Each newfangled sand media initially left a matte finish as the grit had incisive edges . I ’d sand the bottom flat till I ’d sandpaper the whole bottom , then I ’d do the same to the sides , then I ’d finish on the bottom again . As the media wore out , it would go from leave a matte cultivation of fine scratches to a somewhat shiny stopping point as the now blunt edges of the sanding media buff the metallic element .
Then I ’d move to a fresh saucer , with the next step finer grit and repeat the physical process .
The magnanimous pan take aim 23 minute of arc . It went tight and temper just as well .
Below is the niggling pan , after its first flavourer . you could see the gouges from the stones , but you ca n’t find them . The parched oil finish bequeath a bland control surface .
Here ’s the little pan , gouge and worked on by a dremel tool , properly before I commence with the orbital drum sander . The orbital sander is the way to go .
You will get contaminating , but the metal fare off easily with a little goop .
I have magnets across the garage and they were coated with the same dust . The dust is so hunky-dory , the filter on the orbital sander ( and I did modify it so it would fit in the pan ) did n’t catch the particles . The cast iron detritus is much much finer than sawdust . I ’m just glad there ’s no floppy disc drives anywhere within 100 understructure of this project .
Here ’s the big pan , with 23 minutes , and 6 sanding discs afterwards . It ’s on its direction to be seasoned ( that ’s pm , on the kitchen range clock ):
And the ‘ polished ’ surfaces are n’t staring , they range from ( that ’s a Ni for denotation ) this :
To this :
What I line up is the flavourer covers a lot of variation in the surface . You do n’t need to make it perfect , you just require to make it better and then flavor it .
That ’s my initial compose up on what I did and how I did it , with a petty history thrown in .
