What is the best way to restore cast iron cookware?

my mamaw had a full set with a bunch of peices 3 skillets all dif sizes a dutch oven a biscuit pan a flat grill pan that you can use on both sides grill or flat,cornbread pans you know the ones that are flower or corn cob shaped several pans with lids and she gave them to my dad before she died and he wouldn't use them they reminded him to much of her since thats all she would cook with they've been in storage under the house for years and my dad left them to me when he died 2 years ago and i finaly went and got them and they're in bad shape,if its not rusty then they're covered with stuck on shiney black stuff,i found several suggestions on how to do this,i tried the one where you put it in a covered container with water/amonia and leave it for days then scrub and season,it doesn't work,i tried the same method but with water and vinegar,3/4 water 1/4 vinegar and i left it for 1 week then scrubbed with steel wool and got alot of it off but when i seasoned it with the method i found (heat it up warm enough to melt couple tbs of grease or lard and add couple tbs of course salt and rub in all over then turn upside down in 400 deg oven for 2 hours then cut off til cool or put in a charcoal grill with a good fire till the fire dies) the oven method smoked up my house to bad when i did the first peice so i tried the grill method and stuck all of it in there at the same time now the salt mixture is like welded to them and i have to start over to get it off,i know once i get them clean and seasoned not to wash them with soap and to hand dry them and stick them in the oven a minute to be sure its dry so it doesn't rust,if it weren't my mamaws set i'd probably throw them out and just buy new ones,but they don't make them the same anymore and they belonged to her mother before her so they are really old and i have alot of memories of her that almost all include one of them,she loved to cook so do i but i don't want to ruin them i really want to restore them and reseason them so i can use them and continue passing them down,i don't mind spending money to do it or putting in the time effort and work to do it either please help,sorry was so longWhat is the best way to restore cast iron cookware?
put your cast iron through the self cleaning cycle in your oven to strip off all the seasoning to bare metal then follow the directions from my book below.



Cast Iron Basics

(Some of the most important things you need to know!)

';Cast Iron Covered Wagon Cookin''; by David Herzog



Seasoning: Cast iron may be heavy, but with a proper seasoning, is the greatest type of metal to cook in. But, you need to keep your cast iron free from rust and well seasoned to make it “stick free”.

When someone buys cast iron from the store, the foundry (manufacturer) coats the pot or pan with a coating of some sort to keep the item from rusting. This is done by spraying with a type of varnish or dipping it into hot paraffin wax. This protective coating must be cleaned off before seasoning your cast iron.

If your Dutch oven is made by LODGE, the protective coating is a sprayed varnish coating, which must be scrubbed off. Heat the Dutch oven inside your home oven to 225oF. then with a hot pad, lower the oven into hot soapy water, and scrub the Dutch oven with a S.O.S. pad. Scrub the inside and outside of the Dutch oven very well, rinse well, and towel dry. Then place the Dutch oven back into your oven at 225° to dry for about 10 to 15 minutes. The only way to dry cast iron is to dry it completely. I do mine in the oven because; the heat is not concentrated in one spot, as it is on the stove top, which can cause minute cracks.

If your Dutch oven is made by any of the other companies that make outdoor Dutch ovens, the protective coating is dipped paraffin wax, which can be burned off. Do this outdoors in your gas B.B.Q. or, a kettle type charcoal B.B.Q. like a Webber. In a charcoal B.B.Q., use Mesquite charcoal for fuel because it burns much hotter than briquettes. Start the charcoal or light the gas B.B.Q., set on high and pre-heat the B.B.Q. When the charcoal is white, spread it out a little so that is not to close to the cooking grate. Place the oven onto the cooking grate, upside down, and close the lid on the B.B.Q.

Heat the oven to 500° to 550° for 15 minutes. Close the B.B.Q. and cook the Dutch oven for about 1 hour at 500° to 550°, or until the oven stops smoking. Cool the scrub the oven and dry as directed above.

To season the Dutch oven, place the oven upside down on the cooking grate and warm the oven for 10 to 15 minutes at 500° to 550°. With hot pads, remove the D.O. and rub a light coat of lard, bacon grease, white Crisco, or vegetable oil, using a paper towel

Coat the inside and outside of the D.O. and lid. You only need a light coat of oil; you don’t want the grease to be dripping off the oven. Place the Dutch oven back onto the cooking grate and cook the Dutch oven for about 1 hour at 450° to 500°, or until the oven stops smoking. Remove the oven from the B.B.Q. with hot pads to cool. If the D.O. is a glossy brown color, not black, return to B.B.Q. to cook about thirty more minutes. By doing this outside in the B.B.Q., you don’t have to fill the house with smoke and set off the smoke detectors.



Cleaning: Cleaning cast iron is really quite easy and simple. As the same principal with seasoning, there are as many opinions as there are cooks. The methods I have found to work for me are written hereto share with you. However, as you cook more with cast iron and outdoor Dutch ovens, you will find a method that works best for you and your style of cooking.

Right after I am finished cooking in my Dutch ovens, I like to a spray bottle filled with a solution of 4 parts of water to 1 part of apple cider vinegar to clean and sanitize with. Scrape out all the extra bits of food with a spatula then spray the solution into the hot Dutch oven and wipe it out with paper towels. Sometimes, I need to spray and wipe out the oven several times to get it clean. But, it works well and the vinegar has other uses as well.

Many people will tell you to never clean cast iron with soap and water. I have found this to be an excellent way to clean cast iron and use soap and water frequently myself. Be sure that cast iron is warm, to free the food from the pores easily, and to rinse the cast iron with hot water very well to remove all of the soap.

The last and most important thing to do after cleaning your cast iron is not applying more oil to the iron. But, is to dry it completely over or in a heat source, to keep it from rusting. When drying cast iron, don’t get it to hot. It only needs to be about 225o for the moisture to evaporate and dry out. Once the pot, pan, or Dutch oven is cleaned and dried, place a paper towel inside with a little of the paper towel going to the outside to “wick” out any moisture from inside the pot and lid. Be sure to store your cast iron dry, without oil to keep it from turning rancid.



Storing: As mentioned before, cast iron needs to be stored absolutely dry, free of any water, or oil. The water will rust the cast iron. The oil may turn rancid, especially if stored for a long period of tiWhat is the best way to restore cast iron cookware?
The easiest and best way is to burn them off, if the outsides are real bad. Keep in mind iron skillets are not suppose to be perfect so some on the outside is normal. If it's just rust oil the heck out of them. heat them oil them heat them. Oil heavily and let them set up for a couple weeks. then do it again. Fry some onions and some potatoes just to season but don't eat them..



I've had to do the same thing with my mamaws and some yard sale ones I bought..

We have a gas fish cooker with a good flame. And we heated the skillets till smoking hot and just let them burn.. It's a nasty job but if you've got that many it's going to be your best bet. After they burn a bit take it off and peck the sides, it will knock the stuff off. Rotate them around as you heat them up. Heat one and peck/scrape on one, reheat ect.... BE CAREFUL

Make sure to oil the insides down, rub them with oil and heat the skillets several times to reseason them. After a while you won't have to do that they will be well seasoned. Do not over clean them each time. Or they will rust. Dry them thoroughly before you put them away.

That's about all I ever cook in. I have several size skillets, kettles, corn sticks %26amp; dutch ovens.
ok, so I would go back to the steel wool and srub whatever you can get off. Maybe try boiling water in the pans to loosen some of the material, then srubbing. I usually do wash mine with soap and water, then dry well by hand, and rub all over the inside (not the part that actually gets hit with flame) with a paper towel that has a little olive oil on it. It keeps it from rusting, and in great shape. (however, I know that this is NOT recommended by cast iron companies. it does work for me though.)

For seasoning, I just put it in the oven on 350 for about an hour with a nice thin coating of oil all over it (you can use lard if you prefer, but I'd use a liquid form to wipe it down after you clean it for every use). Honestly, I don't know how else I would wash it, and I can't see myself popping it in the oven every time I use it (to dry it out as you said). My method seems to work ok. I use mine all the time and I've had no rusting, warping, cracking or anything...

check out http://www.lodgemfg.com/ for more help
You have to burn them in a real fire, not a charcoal grill. When cool, wash thoroughly with soapy water. grease each piece, or spray with non stick spray and rub it in good with a soft cloth. Store with paper towels between pot and lid, and if you stack them, put paper towel between each piece.
You can put the cast iron in some good hot coals and keep the fire going until all the old crud is burned off. You can also take it to any place that does sand blasting and they should be able clean it very well (I've done that). Some auto parts stores and auto body shops do sand blasting and it's usually cheap and easy. After it's clean you will need to re-season it.
when you wash, heat the pans on the stove. then a light coat of oil.
I'm not an expert at this as I've never had mine rust or deteriorate that much (I've gotten by with good scrubbings and reseasonings), but I'll try to help. Anyway, a friend of mine took his parents' skillets to a sandblaster friend and they took off the rust and grime easily with their equipment. I've never used anything other than some form of oil or grease to season my pans. I'm sorry to say I think the salt may have done more harm than good. It's also enough to just use the oven for about 1/2 hour at 400 F then turn off until cool.



Good luck in your quest to get the pans cleaned up. For the corn muffins, I have 3 different sizes that look like corn cobs and 1 that just looks like small loaves. We love those pans! And I use my dutch oven and skillets all the time...including with acidic foods, etc. and only get an occasional rust spot since they're so well seasoned.



Once you have your cast iron working for you, try to put them upside down in your oven to finish drying after washing. You can just use the residual heat so you're not wasting any energy. Just don't forget to get them back out of the oven before you preheat it again for something else!
Use coarse steel wool or even emery cloth, along with plain ol' elbow grease, to get the bad rust and build-up off. Sand blasting, as mentioned in other answers, should work as well though I've not tried it.



If a little rust is left, that's fine. The oil from seasoning will take care of it. I don't use salt when seasoning cast iron, just oil. Try using peanut oil when seasoning them in the oven, as it has a higher smoke point. Put a cookie sheet or some foil under the skillet to catch oil that drips off while in the oven.



What you end up with eventually is a black shiny surface that is almost as non-stick as teflon and a heckuva lot more durable.



Just be patient with it. Almost any cast iron cookware is salvageable, providing it isn't cracked or too badly warped.
Here's a link to a blog I wrote about properly caring for cast iron cookware: http://www.missionrs.com/blog/?p=20

I hope this helps!