That pan looks like it has seen some cooking on open fires and the outside neglected and not getting cleaned. I have one in the same shape. Interior smooth and seasoned while the outside has a build up. I heated it up on the stove top then took a wire brush to it and knocked off some of it. I didn't want to do the self cleaning oven trick so I emailed Kent Rollins cowboy cooking chef and cast iron guru and asked for his advice. He advised if the inside is seasoned and cooks well just leave it alone.

quote:

Originally posted by Sailor1911:

At what temp does foil melt?

1220 deg F.

quote:

Originally posted by Sailor1911:


At what temp does foil melt?

I put the foil in the bottom when I did my self cleaning and it stayed like new, it also was clean as a whistle. I’m assuming all the gunk gets burned up.

Another vote on the self clean cycle. I have a small collection of vintage pans, some were so covered in the same gunk as yours that the interior was actually smaller in diameter! Just be sure to season it immediately after or it will flash rust.

For seasoning, nothing works better than crisco. Wipe that sucker down and put back into the oven at 250 or so for 10 minutes. Remove the pan and wipe again. You want as little oil as possible. Put back in oven at 400 or so for two hours. "Seasoning" is actually polymerization of the oil. If you have sticky spots or pools after the process, you left too much on.

Do not have self-cleaning with our gas stove ... so clean by hand if necessary. If I pick up a cast iron skillet with outside gung like vthoky's then I warm it up really good in the oven to soften up the gung then do the initial cleaning with a putty knife followed by a wire brush.

Good morning vthoky,

I have posted this video in every thread pertainig to iron skillets. I just wish I had some iron skillets on which to test it. Hope it helps!!

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Originally posted by Rev. A. J. Forsyth:
For seasoning, nothing works better than crisco. {snip}

That seems easy enough; thank you!

Thank you, erj_pilot, for the additional video.

I would caution those using the oven self clean mode for cleaning cast iron. My manual was very specific about not leaving pans or anything else in the oven during the self cleaning mode due to possible fire hazard. They didn't specify but I'm sure things left in the oven stop any heat circulation and creates extreme hot spots creating a possible fire hazard. Another method is to throw the pan in a hot bed of coals if you have outdoor camp fires.

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Originally posted by lastmanstanding:
Another method is to throw the pan in a hot bed of coals if you have outdoor camp fires.

That's certainly doable.

Given the temperatures and the durations of self-cleaning oven modes, IMO you're just cooking your oven's electronics. I never use the self-cleaning function.