Self cleaning oven method

[Wesley Schultz]

I just recieved my Wagner National skillet and cover. It's in pretty good shape but has some areas with pretty heavy built up burned on grease. I was considering using the self cleaning oven method and then reseasoning. Anybody have any pros or cons, do's and don'ts? Suggestions for other methods? For one pan I really don't want to set up electro or mess with a full emersion lye bath. I have heard at least a few people say that there is a risk of warpage or cracking with the self cleaning oven method. At this point that's the last thing I want.

[C. Perry Rapier]

Well Bob, not to tell you what to do, BUT, for a plastic container and a little lye, it is very very easy, and does an excellent job. Me, I'd stay plumb away from the self cleaning oven method. I'd say those that like it do so because they have not tried other methods and are satisfied with the results, so why change. Me, why heat up the house, tax your stove, risk of cracking your cast iron, waste energy, both for your stove and the airconditioning system, just to clean a pan, when you can do it for nye as nothing. AND, the lye water is good for lots more than one time. So its all positive to me as to why you should use lye instead of the oven. The only hitch to what I am saying is if you got rust. If you got rust, thats a whole nuther arena, but you didn't say you had any, and I assumed you didn't. So for what its worth, there's my nickels worth.

[Roger Barfield]

If it's not rusted put them in a trash bag and spray them down with a heavy coating of llye based oven cleaner and tie it up out in the warm sunshine and leave them in there for a couple of days.  It takes longer that a lye bath and alot longer than electro, but it will work.  

[Steve_Stephens]

Pros:  Easy, won't harm iron (how will it crack when the temperature 'only' gets to 900 deg. and the temp. rise and fall is very gradual?), fast, removes all traces of built up grease and any pure carbon that lye won't.  Probably more pros.  Good for cleaning cast aluminum.

Cons:  Will hasten the wearing out of your oven, makes the racks hard to slide (gets them too hot), stinks up your house, etc.  DO NOT put any wire handles in the self cleaning cycle or they will be permenently untempered and soft.

Add the pros and cons and you get a negative I think.  Ok for occasional use or when you are normally cleaning the oven.  If you have an oven where the racks haven't been put through the self cleaning cycle consider getting a used rack to ruin.

I've done the oven thing in my mom's oven and might use one again but there are better ways (lye or electrolysis).

Steve

[Wesley Schultz]

I do have a little rust. Just a few small spots here and there. I can probably remove them with a little sand paper and elbow grease. I think I will try the lye bath. Lye and water? How much concentration? Just leave it in until I'm satisfied with the results? Thanks for all your help!

[Sandy Glenn]

Bob, This will link you to our Cleaning & Restoring Section:
http://www.wag-society.org/Electrolysis/lye.php
Make certain you read all the precautions.  A couple or three days in the lye bath should do the trick.  You can leave it in a long time and it won't hurt the iron.  As to the few rust spots, I would use 000 or 0000 steel wool after the lye bath.  I've not ever tried sand paper, but I know steel wool will work.

[Steve_Stephens]

Use sandpaper only on ground surfaces, not as-cast surfaces.  I use wet-or-dry 80 grit paper wet.  After sanding the iron will be brighter.  Heat the pan in the oven to 450 deg. and it will darken and even out the color of the iron.  Scrape any rust off with a putty knife.  If on the inside scrape before sanding.  Maybe 1 lb lye per 2 gal of water.  Stronger solution will work faster.  Hotter solution will work faster so put the lye bucket in the sun or other warm place.

Steve

[Wesley Schultz]

Thanks for all the info. I'm assuming that lye is available at places like Home Depot or equivalent. If I don't need or want to keep the lye solution when I'm done how should I dispose of it? Will it kill anything I pour it on? Grass etc.

[Roger Barfield]

Thanks for all the info. I'm assuming that lye is available at places like Home Depot or equivalent. If I don't need or want to keep the lye solution when I'm done how should I dispose of it? Will it kill anything I pour it on? Grass etc.

If you can find it.  I used to buy it at the grocery store it was in with the drain cleaner,  but it has become unavailable here.   You can pour it down the drain.  It doesn't react with anything and that is what it is used for.  It will kill the grass though.

[Wesley Schultz]

Your right Roger, "If you can find it" Red Devil Lye was taken off the market by the manufacturer and is no longer available. All the places I've called that sound like they might carry something like that don't carry it and don't know who might. The hobby soap makers are having a hard time finding it and having to split up large quantities bought though the mail. It never fails, whatever I'm looking for is suddenly unobtainable. :-X

[Gerald Melsheimer]

It is my understanding that Red Devil was taken off the market because it was a major ingredient in making meth or some other illegal drug.

I have found Draino and another brand "RootL" (spelling?) in some grocery stores in the GA/AL area.  I will get the name for the second brand the next time I am in a grocery store.    Jerry

[Brian Vick]

Greg is on vacation or out of town but I believe he said he could order lye for us members if we got stuck without any other scorce...maybe he could confirm that when he gets back!
The other Brian ;D

[Tom Penkava]

Most ACE hardware stores carry a brand of lye in their plumbing section.  It's actually a little cheaper than the grocery stores also.
Tom

[Tom Neitzel]

I do like the self cleaning oven.  We cook enough in it that we clean it a lot anyway.  The racks do discolor and get tough to slide, but just squirt a little PAM on the runners and its fine.  Also works to clean burned on food from cookware.  I've mentioned it before, but here it is again.  My wife knows only two speeds on the stove.  Off and High.  She also likes to go and do something else while cooking - read, work outside or something else.  I keep telling her that the smoke detector going off does not mean that dinner is ready.  Always keep my good pans hidden, but she finds them sometimes.  The oven does a great job of cleaning these too.

Tom

[maloney108]

Here's a newbie perspective:

I'm fairly new to this cleaning business, so I'm trying a little of everything. First I tried the self cleaning oven & it worked quite well.  The three hour cycle worked better than two.  I fixed the sticky racks with a very thin coating of canola oil. I have a pretty good ventilator hood so it doesn't smell up the house too bad, but it still managed to set off the smoke alarm.

Next I tried the lye bath, 1 lb to about 3 gals of water.  This worked even better.  I used 2' long pieces of coat hanger wire to hang the pieces from and bent the other end over the lip of my tub, so I didn't have to reach into the solution.  I found "Rooto" Lye in my local ACE H'ware store.  It's 100% pure lye. I found the lye bath so easy to use, I'm going to pass on trying the oven cleaner/bag method.  My plastic tub has a tight cover, so it's safe in the corner of  the basement.

You are right, Gerald, lye is used to manufacture methamphetamine and so is psudoephedrine (Psudafed and similar non-drowsy cold/sinus medications) and that's why those are behind the counter now.

Drano, by the way, is mostly lye, but also has grease cutters and aluminum chips.  The chips react with the lye to make hydrogen gas (bubbles) to churn things up in your drain.  This is why you can't use lye on aluminum, it"ll eat it up!  I don't know if the aluminum would mess up my iron, but I'm not going to be the one to find out.

Neither lye or the S/C oven do anything to rust.  I've used a vinegar bath and it works, but very fine film of rust appears right before my eyes as it dries. This easily comes off with 0000 steel wool.  I'm told (here at WAGS) that electro is much better than vinegar for rust removal.

2 Questions for the "pros":  Does electro leave that thin film of rust like vinegar does?  Has anyone tried the 3M abrasive pads? If so, which color; green, blue or white? I think they might be less scratchy then sandpaper and last longer than steel wool. (I guess this is three questions - Oh well!)

I'm anxious to go on my next iron hunting trip so I can try Electro.

Cheers,

Jim Maloney

[C. Perry Rapier]

Does electro leave that thin film of rust like vinegar does?

The answer is no it does not and in my opinion neither does vinegar. I am not saying you do not get a thin film of rust after you use vinegar or electro.

I am saying it is not the vinegar or electro that makes the rust but it will appear when you use either one. When you strip a piece down to the raw naked metal, it has nothing to protect it at all from rusting, so it will virtually rust right in front of your eyes, especially if you are in a high humidity area. Thats why you quickly do something with it when it is in that raw state.

If you are gonna season it, I would suggest having your oven preheated so that after you wash it and dry it real good put it right in the oven, even then you may still get that sheen you are talking about, but after you heat in the oven and then put on your shortening to season it, the sheen will cover up and dissolve with no problem and you can proceed with seasoning.

If you are not going to season it, I wash an item off after electro, lye, or whatever, and then dry it off good, and depending, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, depending on the item, I stick it in the oven and warm it up and then I put on mineral oil. I find the mineral oil penetrates an item better and even darkens the item up some if you preheat the item a tad first. Then, if you ever want to use the item to cook with, just wash the mineral oil off with hot soapy water, rinse and then season.

[Tom Neitzel]

Does electro leave that thin film of rust like vinegar does?  Has anyone tried the 3M abrasive pads? If so, which color; green, blue or white? I think they might be less scratchy then sandpaper and last longer than steel wool.

Jim, Perry really nailed the rust answer.  That last final thin coat (that happens just as you finish cleaning) just disappears with the mineral oil or seasoning.

As far as the 3M pads, I don't use them but that may be because I have a lot of aluminum.  Those pads really scratch and mess up aluminum.  I use SOS pads for cast iron (soap and steel) and 0000 steel wool for aluminum (no SOS on aluminum, again scratches badly).  My feeling is that the pads don't get into the nooks and crannies as well as steel wool.  I've also found that the special wire brushes for cleaning waffle irons work wonderfully for getting into corners and odd places.

One other quirk I have developed is to not use power equipment like wire wheels or brushes for cleaning.  I think this comes from working with a lot of aluminum.  It leaves an unnatural bright sheen in my eyes - looks nice but unnatural.  These are just personal observations and preferences.  I'm not sure I could always tell you what method somebody used.

tom

[Jeff Friend]

After I take a piece out of the electro, I rinse it off with the hose.  Getting the sodium and carbonate ions off the iron seems to prevent some of the flash rust.  Then I dry the piece with a rag, and put it into a warm oven for a while.  I have been using brown Scotch Brite pads cut into 1 inch squares to apply the oil to the warm iron.  This removes most of the flash rust and suspends it in the oil.  Wipe down the iron to remove the excess oil and rust.  Then you can start with the higher temperature seasoning steps.

I think green Scotch Brite will work as well as brown.  Just don't waste your money on the generic and off-brand pads.  They don't last long at all.

[Wesley Schultz]

I like your idea with the Scotch Brite and oil Jeff. I finally found a heavey duty charger that I can borrow so I will be going Electro as soon as I can get a rig set up. I'm leaning toward the setup by Bob Smith. It seems simple but effective. Simple is good, effective is gooder. ::)