I finally got yelled at by an old timer at a garage sale over my cast iron cleanup method

So I'm at this garage sale last Saturday in Eugene, picking through a pile of old pans, and this guy probably 70 years old sees me about to use a wire brush on a rusty skillet. He walks right up and goes "you're gonna ruin that pan, son." I told him I've done it before and it worked fine, but he just shook his head and grabbed the pan from me. He spent 15 minutes explaining how the wire brush scratches the seasoning layer deeper than you think, and that I should use coarse salt and oil instead. I was honestly pretty annoyed at first, but then he showed me his own pan he brought from his truck, looked like glass. Has anyone else run into someone who got really intense about their cast iron methods?

2 comments

2 Comments

alicem296d ago

Wait, isn't the whole point of a wire brush that you're stripping it down to bare metal anyway before you re-season it? I've done it dozens of times and my pans turn out perfectly smooth after a couple rounds of oven seasoning, sounds like that guy was just gatekeeping. Honestly the salt and oil method is way slower and doesn't get as much crud off in my experience, especially if you have a really crusty old pan.

brooke_walker236d ago

Brooke Walker ugh sorry wrong person but like, have you checked the bristles on that wire brush you're using? I've seen too many horror stories where a tiny bristle gets stuck in the pan and then someone eats it. A buddy of mine spent a weekend in the ER because one got lodged in his throat from a supposedly clean pan. Plus stripping down to bare metal every time seems like overkill if you're just dealing with some stuck on gunk, you know? The salt method is a pain but at least you're not gambling with your health for a quicker clean. So what kind of brush are you using that you trust that much?