I ruined my cast iron skillet. And attempted to restore it.

[@chadlpnemt]

I've been learning how to "restore" cast iron pans recently myself. I've ordered a few antique ones from ebay that said they were restored, cleaned and seasoned, but when they got to me the cooking surface still had rough spots on it from old seasoning or cooking. After watching a few dozen videos I took the plunge and took out my electric sander with 80 grit paper and smoothed it out to mostly bare metal. But it was smooth. I cleaned it again and used canola oil at 450 in the oven and it works great. As others may have mentioned here, heat and oil are your friends in cast iron. I thin coat the whole cooking surface with oil, be it olive or canola before I drop my eggs or meat in there. Not deep fried, but I get no sticking doing it that way. The only sticking I get is carmelization from sauces, sugar or burned juice from the meat, but it comes right off in really hot water and a wipe. Not too different from teflon. Eventually I'll use less oil as it gets more seasoned on the fly but it's kinda fun restoring old pans.

[@averagecamper695]

The more I use cast iron, the more I like it. I use cast Iron at home almost exclusively now.

[@tulekahju]

As people in the comments recommended just keep cooking with it, but hold of on anything acidic until you get a good seasoning on there again. Also, if you ever have to reseason a skillet again wipe off the oil you applied, then place it in the oven upside down, and place a tray or foil on the lower rack to catch any potential drips. You chance the skillet getting sticky if you dont wipe it down. Upside down bake prevents pooling.

[@averagecamper695]

Thank you

[@splatterbrained]

I did this exact thing a few days ago...I'm glad this popped up on my feed. All I did was clean and season in the place where it was all grey and now its returning to form after several seasoning sessions. But yours came out so nice. I don't really have any tools to do what you did. Wish I have.

[@averagecamper695]

It should be fine. I think cooking with it, will fix it over time.

[@sidewyndersshed1676]

You can use an electric drill with a 5 inch sanding pad attachment, and some 60 grit sanding pads. Here is a link to a video showing the process if you are interested. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fYvap6RoftOCkKM

[@lukefromtexas]

It helps a lot to allow the pan become hot before adding your food. Learning that trick helped me a lot.

[@averagecamper695]

Great tip!

[@2K9s]

Turned out great! Currently fixing my own mishap on the old electric burner by baking in the oven. Figure this is bound to happen at some point so may as well learn how to fix it! Good times!

[@averagecamper695]

I should have stopped after about 4 layers. I made a follow up video that explains what happened next. Thank you for taking the time to comment.

[@pjbaker9781]

Something I learned when restoring a cast iron skillet is to put plenty of grapeseed oil in the pan (like you where going to do a shallow deep fry, maybe 1/4 inch) and then fry up some potato peels with 2 or 3 times the salt that you would normally use and fry them up until the are really burnt. Something about the starch in the potato's really help to restore the finish.

[@averagecamper695]

I may have to give that a try. not sure where to find grapeseed oil, though.

[@pjbaker9781]

@@averagecamper695 Any grocery store should have it

[@averagecamper695]

@@pjbaker9781 Thank you, maybe i'll do a follow up video and try this method out.

[@luisj.castironcooking]

I would recommend a little bit of butter and your eggs will be sliding out of the pan. Great job though your cast iron skillet looks good. The more you cook on it the better the seasoning will develop

[@averagecamper695]

Thanks for watching, I'll be checking out your channel to learn more.

[@cynthiawesley8470]

Nice guy. Alwazzz willing to lend a helping hand.

[@jkdbuck7670]

The best thing you can do with your cast iron is to use it. I've had a 10.5" pan for about a month and food I've eaten all my life tastes way better in cast iron . Keep on cooking!

[@averagecamper695]

Yeah, I need to cook with it more often. Unfortunately, I'm working nights and I don't get up and cook breakfast in it anymore. Although bacon and eggs are good anytime. Thank you for the comment

[@TonyWatchesClosely]

I don't know if anyone has already suggested this but allow the eggs to warm up a little before cracking them open or maybe if you crack the open already allow them to come up to room temperature before putting them in a hot skillet so they won't stick. Hot skillet with cold eggs will cause them to stick

[@averagecamper695]

Thanks for the suggestion. I've never heard that before.

[@rstumbaugh43]

Great job!!! Just need to use it daily to improve the non stick surface, maybe do some frying, chicken, potato, and you will have it perfected😃

[@averagecamper695]

Thanks for the tips!

[@BigManAlaska]

Seems like electric cook stoves of any kind can do some serious damage to cast iron cookware. My last home had a glass top electric stove and I hated it because you have no control over the temperature. It even had a setting for rapid boil which would shoot water all over the place as soon as I turned my back. Long story short, I only use gas cook tips now. 😑

[@averagecamper695]

Yep. Electric cooktops seem to get pretty hot, pretty fast.

[@EnjoyLivingPHAM]

Looks very good.👍

[@averagecamper695]

Thank you

[@velvetbees]

After you power sanded it, I would have used a fine grit sandpaper and go over any stray spots of old seasoning to clean it up a bit. Otherwise, great job.

[@averagecamper695]

The discs I used were polishing discs. They are capable creating a very smooth surface. But I didn't smooth it out as much as I could have. Looking back on it, maybe is should have taken the time to smooth it out more. Thank you for the comment.

[@johncassani4610]

I put my oven on clean and put the pan in while it's cleaning and all the seasoning will come off then just re season the pan like a new pan. I had great luck using this method?

[@averagecamper695]

Great idea!!

[@kevinspahr6632]

A lot of people will do what you did with a brand new lodge skillet to get the roughness off the bottom. It will work better than before!!

[@averagecamper695]

I would consider doing that if I had a brand new pan.

[@RichardBrown-xe8zm]

Crack your eggs on flat surface to avoid shell fragments .

[@averagecamper695]

Thank you

[@louisethomas8074]

I just did the same thing. Can I use steel wool? So far I just rinsed it and went over it with crisco a couple times. No oven yet

[@averagecamper695]

Sorry I completely missed this comment. But yeah, you could even it out with stool wool and then try to season the bottom of the skillet on a cooktop. Best thing for a cast iron skillet is to cook with it.

[@reneekaczynski1425]

You did good 👍. You thought you destroyed. Cast iron is pretty indestructible.

[@averagecamper695]

Thank You

[@kuuipo823]

Yeah im wondering how to fix mine too,i did the same as you did,i thought i turned the stove off but it was on high,i was gone for a while [doing the laundry and cleaning up other rooms and such] i didnt notice until i came to the kitchen to get a drink to notice it was still on. I turned it off. The bottom of the pan looks cracked honestly and i dont know what to do,i dont have any drills or any tools like you have so im not sure what to do with my pan other than just buying another one.

[@averagecamper695]

I don't think you need to sand it down with power tools. you should be able to scrub it with an S.O.S. pad or some steel wool and then bake on a few layers of seasoning. Then the more you cook with it, the more non stick it will be. I don't know about a crack though. may not be able to fix a crack. Good luck . Thank you for taking the time to comment.

[@luzgalvez3002]

Great job.

[@averagecamper695]

Thanks!

[@bharathvishwanatham148]

thank goodness, this is exactly what I needed right now

[@averagecamper695]

I hope this helped in some way. The follow up video explains what happened next.

[@gbmarie836]

I have a very old, probably sometime in the 60's Wagner Griddle and on the back is seasoning instructions which say in the oven at 300 degrees for one hour. "interesting". I have always seasoned mine with crisco and it has worked great.

[@averagecamper695]

Interesting! I'm still learning about cast iron. I started cooking with this pan because I thought it would make a great addition to the "Camping" channel that i'm working on. although the channel is anything but a "camping" channel at this point. I'm planning a follow up video to this. It seems to have generated a lot of comments.

[@gbmarie836]

they say glass top stoves will break if you use cast iron. Is that true?. I have several of my cast iron packed away since I bought a glass top and very unhappy that I am not using them.

[@averagecamper695]

haven't had any trouble. My wife has been using this Cast Iron pan to cook almost everyday. I do worry about someone dropping it on the cooktop and breaking it. I'm always careful how I set it down. even dropping it from a short distance could probably break the cooktop.

[@kohort1]

I just did this with my griddle. I heated it up to evaporate water off it before a maintenance coat. But i fell asleep. So it was on the stove for an hour and now burnt off 3/4 of the seasoning. Do you think all the grinding was necessary? Do you think i can just season over it and tolerate the uneveness?

[@averagecamper695]

I don't know if the sanding did any good. But It did even out the color. At certain angles I could still see the burn spot.

[@doghousedon1]

I break these things in by cooking French fries a couple of times.

[@averagecamper695]

For some reason, cooking potatoes seems to help season a cast iron pan. A viewer even suggested leaving the skins on and frying them up crispy.

[@darcylea2993]

I just did this now hahaha I'm so sad. I left the stove on and was eating and then I went back to the stove and seen this in mypan

[@averagecamper695]

It happens to the best of us.

[@CreachterZ]

You really should have started over. It’s no big deal. You’re basically applying a patch where it is much better to start over and build the polymer chains all over. They will link better that way.

[@averagecamper695]

I basically started over. I tried to even out the entire bottom of the skillet. Then coated the entire inside surface with Flax seed oil. Do you think I should have taken it a step further?

[@stevenlennaman2073]

How TO RESET YOUR CAST IRON PAN: WARNING: ONLY DO THIS OUTSIDE, not in the house, garage, or shed (OUTSIDE.). You need a plastic bucket large enough to hold the pan. CoverCould you the pan with hot water? Eye covering/gloves needed: add 2 LB of pure Lye Drain cleaner. After 12 to 24 hours, remove the pan from the lye bath and wash with soap and water to remove the last lye. (NOTE: will start to rust 5 min after getting dry) Heat the pan to 150 to 200 degrees F, add oil, and bake in the oven at around 500 degrees F for one hour. Let cool in the oven. Repeat the oil 3 times. I say reset and not wire wheel because sanding/wire brushing leaves scratches that the meaning needs to overcome to make it nonstick again.

[@averagecamper695]

Ok thank you. I'll consider using that method on another old pan that was my grandmothers. It has a lot of built up crud on it.

[@ScottCarlson1965]

When you have a pan that bad use a 3" wire wheel on your grinder that will get everything off the pan ,,,,then take a 150 grit o n a orbital sander for the bottom of the pan then go to 220 grit and call it done ,,,, then you can season the pan !!!!! I pre hear ar 200 degrees then pull it out then put your flax seed on it,,,,for a hour ,,,, let cool and then pre heat to 400 degrees for 2 hours then let it set in oven over night ,,,,,then so on !!!!!!! I do my pans 3 times the best thing to do is to deep fry o onion rings ,,,,,the take them out ,,,,then let your oil in over night ,,, then heat pan till oil is hot and drain oil and then wipe it out and done!!!!!! 😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉

[@averagecamper695]

Onion rings sound really good right now. But I hope I don't have to do this again. Things didn't work out like I thought they would with this pan, but it is working well. I did a follow up video on it.

[@williamhurt8512]

@13:01, love it when i get a double yolker............

[@averagecamper695]

I didn't even notice until you said something. I had to go back and watch it again. lol

[@Real_g.s.]

Too much work. Stick it upside down in a self cleaning oven, run it on a cycle or two, then start the seasoning process. Someone gave me a cast iron pan that had been laying in their yard for months. I got it looking like brand new and have cooked many delicious meals with it using that method to restore it.

[@averagecamper695]

Ok, thanks

[@Dionisio181]

Sticking because it was not pre-heated enough

[@averagecamper695]

Yeah, I've been told that a few times. I'm getting better at using cast iron on a campfire. Thank you for the comment.

[@patidee7852]

There are literally hundreds of videos on KZbin on how to clean, season & store cast iron, at your fingertips ... i'm not an expert by ANY stretch of the imagination, but i do know that certain oils are *NOT RECOMMENDED*: the experts say to *never use olive oil, butter, coconut or palm oil to season your cast-iron pan* - they're great to cook with, just not for initial seasoning. (fyi, every *Lancaster Cast Iron skillet comes pre-seasoned with two coats grape seed oil* and is ready for immediate use ... that's what I've always used). Make sure you *REMOVE as much of the lubricant* as possible before placing it in the oven *UPSIDE DOWN* on the top rack of the oven and bake for 1 hour @ 500 deg. Turn off the oven, leaving the pan in the oven to cool completely as the oven cools down. All in all, you'll want to do this *oiling-and-heating process three to four times*, to set down a good initial layer of your own seasoning.

[@averagecamper695]

Thank you. And thank you for watching, also.

[@marinafoglietti9351]

My cast iron pan is black and it is very heavy, 2,200 kg. Yours looks brown, I don't know if American cast iron pans are different.

[@BURTONizAjerK]

Brown?

[@averagecamper695]

This is a modern lodge pan. It's black and pretty heavy. although I've never weighed it.

[@zone4garlicfarm]

2,200 kg? That's over 2 tons. You wouldn't be able to lift it.

[@pullingthestrings5233]

Flax seed is actually not the best to season a pan since it has a low boiling point.

[@BURTONizAjerK]

Boiling point?

[@averagecamper695]

I think I was just using what I had on hand at the time. If you watch the follow up video, You'll see the seasoning didn't last.

[@pullingthestrings5233]

@@BURTONizAjerK meant to say smoke point 😂

[@pullingthestrings5233]

@@averagecamper695 I'll have to watch that video

[@chuckarnold4834]

The skillet wasn't hot enough to cook eggs.

[@averagecamper695]

Thank you. I have learned a lot from the comments section. I never used cast iron much until I ran across this pan. It was in the cabinet and I thought it would be good to take it camping.

[@gilbertorojas5157]

Use 🥓 oil

[@averagecamper695]

Yes sir. My wife tends to cook with Olive Oil. I use a lot of bacon grease.