Removing Rust from an Iron Skillet

By

poppajohn

Put the skillet in the oven on a sheet of foil and run the oven cleaner. Then reseason.

By

duckie-do

First make a paste of baking soda and water. Rub over the rust and rinse. Repeat and allow the paste to dry. Scrub again, and make a new paste of baking soda and water. Scrub more rust off and pour baking soda on the rusty area. Use white vinegar and pour a small amount on the soda. Use only enough to cause it to bubble a little and allow to sit awhile (an hour or two). Follow up with a good scrub with more baking soda. Do this as many times as necessary to remove layers of rust. For the final rinse, use hot water and flame dry. Place vegetable oil in the hot pan and take off the burner. Pour table salt in the small amount of oil and scrub to polish the pan. The outside of the pan needs to be cleaned the same way as the inside. Wipe dry with paper towels.

By

Ginnywest

I heard on Martha Stewart's radio show on Sirius, that if you put an old cast iron pan into a campfire (I guess a bonfire would also work), it will burn off everything and leave the pan like new. You'll of course have to re-season it, but it's worth a shot. Great idea for cleaning old cast iron pans found in antique shops too that might need a good cleaning.

By

WildIrish

I just read this on another site today! It said to use a paste of salt and vegetable oil. If a skillet has been cured, which I assume yours has, the site also said never to use soap, because that will strip the oil "seasoning" from the surface of the skillet. I don't know how well the salt works, as I don't have a cast-iron skillet, but since I read this online today, I thought I'd share. Hope it helps!

How can I remove rust from cast iron skillet. My mom used to use sauerkraut, ever heard of such a thing?

My neighbor gave me a stack of cast iron cookware. They had been outdoors and were covered in rust. I knew I could get the rust off with white vinegar and baking soda. It works nicely.

Use enough baking soda to make a paste with the white vinegar and apply it to the rusty area. Leave until dry then apply a bit more white vinegar and use some elbow grease to get every bit of rust off. The cookware looked like new!

It does take some effort, but well worth the results. After cleaning the rust off, apply vegetable oil to wipe off the remainder of the rust and use some table salt to polish up the cast iron.

Source: My grandparents had told me how to clean cast iron more than thirty years ago.

By Monica from Cortez, CO