That looks great Dave. I used to cook steamers in wine and garlic in the mud oven. Home made stuffed clams too.
I think it’s a neat idea to re purpose a cracked pan, but people are bidding more for it that the pan itself was worth in good condition, aren’t they? If so, what’s to keep an enterprising individual from sacrificing good Griswolds to make more $$$ this way?
I think is all about the "Name" on the bottom! Thats what people are buying... I know I'm never gonna do that! I did find a pan made in China once I used for target pratice at 100 yards. It was a fun shoot for $2.00
Meche_03 ...does the lye bath only remove organic material, or does it also help with rust. I have a couple neglected pans and a dutch oven that I need to get right. Before, i have used some steel wool. But thinking about a bristle wheel for the drill or grinder.... Where do you get lye? And can you explain the electrolytic rust removal tank?
Go back into this thread. I showed how to make a complete system in here... I used mine as an example. Go to thread # 32 and begin from there about mid way down the thread.
The lye bath is mainly to remove old seasoning and built up grease. It will soften up some rust just because it's soaking in liquid. The lye makes the water basic and will stop further rust from forming. I get lye from hardware stores and Walmart. It's sold as a drain cleaner. At Walmart it is usually over by the paint supplies, not with the drain cleaners next to other household cleaners. You need it to say 100% lye or you can have unwanted reactions. Rust removal by electrolysis Is a good link on how to set up a simple system. I use a cheap LED/stepper motor power supply because I can not find a small manual battery charger. Any charger with automatic trickle or turns off will not work. Stepper Motor Power Supplies | Stepper Motors this is the type of power supply I use. Very cheap on eBay and Amazon. You only need 12v and 10 or less amps. I used 2 power cords off of junk appliances. One for power supply power cord. Second for leads to e tank. I used old lawnmower blades because they were free. The reaction is line of sight and limited by surface area. Larger, flatter electrodes will expose more metal. More surface area will allow you to use more amps. The system will limit the amps usually because skillets are usually small compared to engine blocks..etc. You can push more amps with a big battery charger but you basically waste the energy making extra hydrogen and heat.
If all you want to do is get the heavy "Crud grease" off, use oven cleaner! I've used that a lot. Spray it on and let it sit a couple days in a plastic container, scrape and repeat if needed.
I haven't had great success with oven cleaner. After three goes in 2 weeks, I'm still waiting for the heavy stuff to come off. Crud is really thick. This is the worst one I've seen, but even some others I've cleaned with much less crud were still slow going with Oven cleaner.
Oven cleaner is lye, sodium hydroxide. Elevated temperatures help the reaction happen faster. A 5 gallon bucket of hot water with 1 pound of lye dissolved works well. That much build up will take a few days of soaking unless you have a way to heat the lye solution safely. Small number 3 covered in crud.
Ok, after stripping the Erie with oven cleaner recently, I noticed the sides are indeed cracked next to the handle, one side worse that the other. So, can it still be used?
Ok, "My Opinion here Brian"... Yes and no! If Hot, "DO NOT" grab it by the handle of you will have what ever your cooking on your feet! "I" don't recommend using and cast with a crack because when you least expect it it will break and give way. Many times you may forget it's cracked. "I" won't use a broken pan except for target practice, as much as I want to. Make it a wall hanger of such. Can you use it, thats entirely up to you...
