eHow To The Rescue
My grandmother gave me a tiny cast iron skillet the other day. I know that these pans are much sought after, but have never owned one. Although this one is just a baby she said you could use it for an egg or just to hang on the wall. So, I was going to do both. But, the skillet has some rust problems. I know that you can removed rust from other metals using steel wool, but how to remove it from cast iron? I looked it up on eHow. I haven’t tried it yet, but they do have instrucitons for rust removal:
1. Depending on the pan’s size, pour 2 to 4 tbsp. salt into the middle of the pan. Add an equal amount of vegetable oil.
2. Scrub the pan vigorously with a folded paper towel, concentrating on the rusted spots but covering all surfaces with the oil and salt mixture. Add more salt or oil as needed.
3. For more serious rust spots, scrub with fine steel wool.
4. Wash the pan with dishwashing liquid and rinse well with hot water. Dry completely.
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This seems easy enough. I will give it a try. eHow also had instructions for “seasoning” a cast iron skillet. This will keep it rust-free and non-stick. Who knew? I will have to do this too:
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1. A well-seasoned cast-iron pan will resist rust and create a virtually nonstick surface for cooking. To season it, brush vegetable oil lightly over all its surfaces.
2. Heat the pan in an oven at 250 degF (120 degC) for 1 hour, recoating it with more oil after 30 minutes.
3.Wipe the pan well with paper towels and let it cool completely before using it.
4. To preserve this natural, protective coating, do not use soap when cleaning a seasoned pan. Instead, scrub it with salt and oil, rinse it with hot water, then dry it completely over low heat before storing it.
The full link is here: http://www.ehow.com/how_114309_remove-rust-cast.html. Thanks eHow! I will post before and after pictures of how this process works. Here is the tiny little skillet:
Make Mine Eclectic 