Enameled Favoriteware Nightmare... please help?

[James King]

So there I was getting ready to clean a batch of cast iron. My stove self cleans at 575F. (Yes, I actually checked to make sure it would not over heat the iron). I was getting ready to 'smoke' about 6 pieces of cast iron and I found one particular piece that had a familiar shape and size. This was a well used pan, as the build up was so thick that I could not tell what it was, or anything other than that it was cast iron. My normal process is after the smoke, I scrub clean in cold water with steel wool. Then, back into the oven for curing. Well.... I went to scrub this pan and to my chagrin, I discovered that I had picked up an enameled Favorite Ware pan and absolutely ruined it. There is no getting back this enamel as you can see by the picture. But, that doesn't mean that I cannot try to get the enamel off without ruining the iron pan underneath. I simply do not know how. I hesitate to try to get it sandblasted. Maybe walnut? Any ideas? If anybody out there is willing to try to recover this pan, I would be willing to send it over.

Jim

[Wes Auman]

I am under the understanding that lye will ruin enamel....I would try a LONG soak in a lye bath. If this is what you will try let us know the results as I have a few Favorites in the radar that are enamel and wondered about stripping them. Good luck!  Wes

[James King]

I have been considering doing a long lye bath. I have been told that lye etches enamel, so I am not sure how much it will eat away at the enamel. It could knock it off though. I don't have the supplies to do lye bath yet. I will probably have to go and get that stuff.

[Marge Knowles]

I left an old enameled piece of junk in the lye tank for months.   it didn't take it off.   maybe my tank wasn't "hot" enough?   it seems that I have read that others have not had luck with lye removing enamel.

[Frank Burkhead]

If lye was so tough on enamel, Drano would strip the enamel off of sinks too. Since that doesn't happen, I'd look to mechanical methods to remove it. Personally I'd try having it soda blasted. That's kinder to the metal than sand or even walnut shells. It sure takes the enamel paint off of cars without a problem!!

[Gary Salsman]

enamel paint is different from the enamel coading on cast iron. A better term for what is on cookware would be porcelain.

[James Wilson]

That is not good Jim. From my experience lye will not remove the vitreous enamel coating (glass); nor will electrolysis. Having said that, electro will assist in lifting pieces where the v.e has chipped and rust is sandwiched between.
I persisted with the above methods on an old Radiation NZ pan for some time to no avail.
I cannot imagine that any blasting methods will work either but would relish discovering a simpler method than the one described further on :)
At the end of that exercise I figured that there wasn't much to lose by heating it up slowly then keeping it an an elevated temperature until crazing developed (after-all that is how they craze in the first instance); then slowly bring the heat down and finally cooled down.
I have to tell you this... no v.e fell off; it is persistent stuff.
I collected my small cold chisel and lightest ball pein, put on my overalls, turned on the radio then sat down with the pan.
With light, sharp judicious taps of the hammer on a lightly held cold chisel I worked away at that pan for hours.
Start at a point that looks the most suspect and don't try to remove large amounts or you will likely be frustrated and wasting time/effort.
If you come to a point where the v.e wont budge, attend to another area to save your sanity.
Don't be afraid to move your area of attack around, eventually you will conquer it.
This worked for me and hopefully will again. You see, I have a number of interesting pans that have suffered from abuse. They deserve to be put back into service and will be when I have spare time and the inclination to revisit the exercise ::)
All the best. James   

P.S definitely wear eye protection

[Jerry Cermack]

It's been my understanding that places that do re-porcelain enameling sand blast the old porcelain off.  I'm not sure what they use for a blasting medium, but I would call around and ask some places that do porcelain coatings.  I was given this name a few years ago, but never contacted them.

http://www.customceramic.com/services.htm

PS.....If you ever watch American Restoration program on the History Channel, they send a lot of parts out for re-porcelain coating, and they mentioned sand blasting the old porcelain off.

[Jerry Cermack]

Here is some other stuff for cleaning porcelain that was recommended to me, but I never tried it.

http://www.rog3.com/Products.html

[Gary Salsman]

I had the exhaust manifolds for my Chevelle ceramic coated. They also do porcelain on some of the very old classic cars. I asked him once how he removed the old porcelain, and he said the only way was sandblasting, but that is a generic term for media blasting. I never asked what media he used, it very well could have been sand. He did tell me that he had covered a few Griswolds with different color porcelain to give to friends as gifts

[Jerry Cermack]

I contacted a supplier of blasting media asking what they would recommend to remove porcelain from cast iron.  This was the reply:

Jerry,

If this type of process will perform as required at all, I suspect that you will need a fairly aggressive media such as 30 Mesh Aluminum Oxide Grit to strip the porcelain.

Steven Schneider

Kramer Industries, Inc.

www.KramerIndustriesOnline.com

888-515-9443 phone  /  732-650-0556 fax

I'm not surprised that he mentioned an aggressive media for porcelain, and I still think the best source of information would be to contact businesses that actually re-porcelain cast iron items.

[James Wilson]

You are very fortunate to have access to a number of  businesses that apply vitreous enamel. Down this way the choices are very limited now. I know of only one place and the choice of colours is limited (no speckled effect) coupled with the fact that they are not interested in one off work. The other consideration is the cost/value ratio and that has to be balanced with availability of the piece that requires rework. Having said that, I have spent way over the top on something that has an emotional attachment for me; or just because I am determined to do it ;D
Whichever route you take I would be interested in seeing the end result.
I hope you find a satisfactory solution Jim.