Grinding & Curing Cast Iron Jambalaya Pot

I figure I'd share since I relied on a ton of different threads from here, most of which have had the images deleted, in case anyone is planning on this in the future. I'm sure there are other ways, but this is what worked for me.

I have a 15 gallon R&R setup that I've cooked on 6-7 times. As with most modern cast iron, it was a pretty rough finish. I'm using it this week and saw I had a little rust, so decided to grind some of the texture off today and re-season.

Before:



Close-up:




I used a cordless hand-drill, an Avanti 4" Quick Strip Disc, and a Diablo 5" Sanding Disc with 40 grit, 80 grit, and 180 grit paper. I mostly relied on the 40 grit discs, I went through about 7 of them. You wear them out quicker than you'd think, because the curve of the pot basically makes only the outer part of the discs useful. Also you'll definitely need a mask, dust gets everywhere.

After using the Avanti:



Closer:



After the 40 grit, and hitting the entire pot with a single 80 grit and a 120 grit disc.



I didn't use water on it to avoid flash rusting, I used very little oil on paper towels to wipe all the dust out until the paper towels started coming out clean. Took like 1/2 roll of paper towels.

Decided to try Opie's method of seasoning since I don't have a place to make a fire. I put two of the bricks of Crisco shortening in, and spent about 30 minutes using the paddle to coat the sides of the pot while on low/medium.






I raised the temp till I began seeing smoke, and continued coating the sides until the smoke was too heavy to see. Then, this happened, as intended.




Cut the fire off, let it burn itself out. Had a little flaking right in the middle where the oil pooled, so I did it again with a very light coat of oil, but just let it smoke this time for about 30 minutes.

Wiped it all out.




Rain started this afternoon, gonna continue working on the seasoning tomorrow.

Took me about 3 hours total, but mostly because of continuing to wait for 2 batteries to recharge. Probably 90 minutes of grinding and sanding in all.