restoring a cast iron skillet

i collect cast iron skillets, dutch ovens. trivets etc...
i did not start out collecting..just hapened
last week i found a old 8" skillet under a fish camp shed....half burried, mud...looked ruint
i took it home, got my 4 1/2 grinder out with a steel brush, and cleaned it up...
the i put it in the oven for an hour on 400 degrees...took it out and whipped it off
gave it a good coating of crisco lard put it back in the oven for half an hour\that skillet is hanging on the wall with the others..looks beautiful
looking for a 9" skillet anybody?

I found two old corn bread pans that smell rancid. What is the best way to renew them? I'd like to get the old thick, sticky layer of oil off and the smell.

Denise, I would do what Brian suggested:

Brian said, "the i put it in the oven for an hour on 400 degrees...took it out and whipped it off

Or you might find some good information here:

https://permies.com/wiki/150054/pep-food-prep-preservation/Restart-Cast-Iron-Skillet-food

While you are doing this take some pictures to share and get a PEP BB (Badge Bit)!

Denise Cares wrote:I found two old corn bread pans that smell rancid. What is the best way to renew them? I'd like to get the old thick, sticky layer of oil off and the smell.

I've always just built a fire and burnt it off.  Then wash, dry, and re-season immediately.

DA, welcome to the forum!

That is a great idea!

Anne Miller wrote:DA, welcome to the forum!

That is a great idea!

Thank you.  Happy to be here.

Denise Cares wrote:I found two old corn bread pans that smell rancid. What is the best way to renew them? I'd like to get the old thick, sticky layer of oil off and the smell.

Whatever you choose, do it *outside*.  I don't want to know what a thick sticky smelly layer of oil smells like at 400 degrees in my kitchen.  Much better to surround the pan within some 800 degree burning logs away from the house!

Anne, thank you for the comments.  I don't understand how to upload/post pictures on this site and am tech challenged, but thank you for suggesting !  I should explain that the pans have tiny indentations inside which are to make the baked batter look like little ears of corn.  Well, I put the pans in the oven at 400 deg and it started smoking badly and stinking up the kitchen. I turned off the oven and took out the pans, wiping off what was able to come off before it cooled down. I scrubbed some more with baking soda paste and wire brush which did little but made the brush stained.  I also put the pans in a bigger pot of water and boiled for a time and tried to wipe/scrape off, but not much came off either in the water or by hand.  Then I thought to try some hand cleaner/degreaser that I had in the laundry room. To my delight the label said it was made with orange oil and contained no petroleum derivatives! So I put a tiny amount of the paste in each section of the pans and using my finger and a fine wire brush worked it in. Then I washed it off well.  The pans came out quite clean! They are not sticky and gummy and still looked like they had some "cure" left to them, so I put them into the oven to dry off so they wouldn't rust.  I preheated the oven to 400 deg again as I wanted to bake what I had prepared. Before adding the batter, I sprayed a little bit of Avocado oil inside and wiped with paper towel, added batter and baked.  I didn't remove them immediately from the oven or from the pans and so they stuck tight (but not burnt) and need to be worked out in pieces, but the pans are looking good and should wash clean easily. Next time I might spray the oil without wiping. The batter is a gluten free recipe with no shortening or leavening which is more challenging to achieve a good 'bread' so I'm still working on that, but at least I have the clean pans I needed.  Thank you all for your interest and help!

I just knew that the pans you were talking about were the ones that look like corn on the cob.  Thanks for the memories.

I had a really great person help me learn how to post pictures.

These threads might help you or others:

https://permies.com/wiki/61133/Post-Image-Permies

https://permies.com/t/25828/post-pictures-permies#256136

Paul's technique to remove rust and nastiness:

Denise Cares wrote:I found two old corn bread pans that smell rancid. What is the best way to renew them? I'd like to get the old thick, sticky layer of oil off and the smell.

Don’t do what I did. I put two pans in a really hot fire outside and ended up warping them.