CLEANING IRON—QUICK FIXES

PROBLEM: BUILT UP CRUD & GREASE
SOLUTION: LYE

For one piece:
You well need a plastic bag & easy off oven cleaner. Don't get the unscented Easy off as it won't work well. Get the original Easy Off Oven Cleaner. Put your crud-covered iron in the plastic bag. Spray liberally with easy off, tie close and let it "work" for 2 hours (or two days—it won't hurt iron). Scrub with S.O.S. and rinse with soapy water. Dry & oil.
Many crud-covered pieces:
You will need 20 plus gallon plastic garbage container, can of lye (sold near toilet cleaning supplies), rubber or latex gloves to protect your hands and water. Use ½ can lye to ½ tub water (hot works faster, but cold works eventually). It is caustic, so be careful. Put a piece of wire through hang hole and totally submerse piece into solution with wire bent over edge of container for retrieving. Leave it in Solution as long as needed to loosen crud. Scrub with S.O.S. and rinse with soapy water. Dry & oil. Cover the solution and reuse with as many pieces as you can totally submerse at once, each on separate wires for retrieval. If the solution appears to be weak after a month, simply add more lye.

PROBLEM: RUST
SOLUTION: VINEGAR

Cover the rusty item in vinegar/water solution of roughly one-pint of cider vinegar to three-gallons of water in a plastic tub. The item needs to be totally submersed for evenness of finish. Don't leave the item in long as vinegar is an acid and will hurt the finish if left too long. Check it in ten minute intervals and remove each time to rinse, wash in soapy water, scrub with S.O.S. and oil when satisfied with results. You may have to wire brush for stubborn rust.

PROBLEM: SHOULD I CLEAN THIS CAST IRON I JUST BOUGHT?

SOLUTION: DEFINITELY

Many people ask about this. This vintage iron has been around for years, passing through many hands and processes. For sanitary reasons alone, I'd do this. Scrub the item with S.O.S. or steel wool. Submerge it into a hot sudsy bath and wash thoroughly. Rinse and dry completely. Once dry, coat with your favorite cooking oil, all over. Wipe off any excess as too much oil is NOT better. Put it on a cookie sheet or aluminum foil in a cold oven. For example, a skillet should go face down so only the edge of the rim touches the sheet or foil. Turn the oven to 325 and bake it for an hour. Turn off the oven. Don't open the oven door. Let it cool down and then remove it. It should have a nice hard sheen. Put it away until ready to use it.

Take the extra time to actually season in the oven as makes a world of difference in the end result.

Once a piece is fully cleaned and dried put it in the oven "naked"; no oil of any kind and heat it to 450°F. Leave it in long enough to just reach that temperature. Be careful and remove the piece from the oven and let it cool to where you can just handle it. This step works great for slightly darkening the piece and giving it a uniform appearance. No one likes a spotted or zebra stripped piece. Use Crisco shortening only and use a cotton rag (t-shirt) to apply a thin/very light coat on the entire piece. If there are tight nooks and crannies to fill in, use a Q-tip.

Once completely and lightly coated (note: we stress a LIGHT coat), put it back in the oven at 400°F for 30 (use a timer) minutes and at that point turn off the oven and leave it in the oven till it cools on it's own.

When you remove the piece it will have a nice dark brown uniform patina that shines brightly.

You can repeat with one or more coats of Crisco, if you like, but you'll be happy none the less.