Cast iron frying pans - painted over?

**Spirit Deer** · 12-08-2011, 04:58 PM

I wasn't referring to grit when I was talking about casting. I was talking about the bumpy finish most new CI has now. The old pieces usually are smooth. There shouldn't be any grit from the sand casting as that's all cleaned off after the pans are cast, then they're either seasoned at the factory so they're ready to cook with out of the box, or they're sprayed with a food-safe wax coating to prevent rust, in which case they have to be seasoned before cooking with them. Lodge and Camp Chef which are the two leading brands in the US are all pre-seasoned now. Other brands may or may not be.

I've seen painted cast iron cookware. I even own a piece. Usually it's painted because people want to use it for something decorative. I've seen people try to use old cast iron pots for planters outside, so they paint them in hopes of keeping them from rusting. It never works.

The painted piece I have is a tortilla press. It's painted a nice shiny silver. Of course, that never gets heated up or even comes in contact with food. It never really gets washed either, just wiped with a damp cloth, so rusting and sticking isn't a real issue in its case.

**low-1** · 12-08-2011, 05:24 PM

Originally Posted by Spirit Deer

I wasn't referring to grit when I was talking about casting. I was talking about the bumpy finish most new CI has now.

I know that, the original poster mentioned "gravelly", so I suggested it could either be cooked-on grit, as it kind of appears to be in some of the original pictures posted, or the rough finish that you mentioned.

**marlas1too** · 12-09-2011, 06:33 AM

there is an old way to clean a old or new ci pan or pot -build a good log fire in fireplace or outside and before lighting fire put ci on top inside down and let fire burn till it goes out then wait till it cool then scrub with water only then dry and coat with seasoning and bake in oven at 250 for an hour or more -long process but it always worked for my mom and grand mom-ps nice finds

**Spirit Deer** · 12-09-2011, 09:22 AM

That's essentially the same technique as burning off the old seasoning in your home oven during a cleaning cycle.

**akis** · 12-12-2011, 02:46 AM

SO if my pan is covered with some sort of paint and not the seasoning as you have described, I can put it over a hot fire until it reaches 400 C and leave it there for a few hours and that should remove the paint and anything else?

The only way to achieve 400 C is to leave it on the gas stove I think, my electric oven goes up to 250 C.

**Spirit Deer** · 12-12-2011, 08:53 AM

The pan you pictured is not painted. It doesn't need to be stripped and re-seasoned. It looks like it's in great shape. It looks exactly like my well-seasoned CI that I know has never been anywhere near any paint. The deep black, shiny patina means it has multiple coats of seasoning on it, which you do not want to get rid of. If it had only one or two coats of seasoning on it, it would be the brownish color of the Dutchie I pictured on the first page of this thread. That beautiful black patina is the purpose of seasoning and it either has to be built up over time with use and proper care, or you have to go to a lot of bother repeatedly seasoning it and baking each layer to get to where it is right now. That would be pointless when it's already in great shape.

I would have to convert to C to know how hot 400 C is. I think my stove's cleaning cycle heats to about 800 F. I wouldn't burn paint off in my oven because I would be concerned about toxic fumes and fire hazard from burning paint.

I fire seasoning at around 400 F when I re-season pans or add seasoning. It's very smoky because the oil used for seasoning actually burns onto the pan. The smoke is how I know when the process is done, because once the oil is all carbonized and hardened, it quits smoking.

I cooked with a friend once who decided to dry his Dutch oven over a bed of hot coals on the campfire ring's cooking rack. I told him he was going to damage the seasoning on the pot and he didn't believe me. Sure enough, he burned the seasoning off half the interior of the pot. So yes, under the right conditions, you can definitely remove seasoning by burning it off. And it might only take a few minutes, not hours. If you want to use heat to do so, you could just put the pan right into the coals, not on the rack above the fire pit.

I've run dozens of cast iron and cast aluminum pieces through the self-clean cycle on my oven without a problem, but be aware you can damage something by doing so. I did have a vintage cast iron griddle crack during the process. So it's not likely to happen, but it can. So just be aware and take this advice at your own risk. For rust removal I prefer electrolysis but I'm not sure that would remove paint.