Really Disappointing

I am new to cast iron and am learning good stuff. Bless you for sharing His Word my brother!

When I was young, when we were cooking outside, we would sometimes use river sand to clean up.

my left ear loved this

Others have suggested media blasting. I think that might be a good place to start. My second shot would be an air scaler designed to take large rust off of metal. But you would have to be careful to push it down in sand before you do it so you don't crack the cast.
However if it was mine since it's already ruined I would probably take it to a machine shop and have them just Mill the surface down correctly. Sanding the metal down closest the pores and just moves it across the surface. Whereas Machining like you would find in a finex cut the metal down properly and leaves it porous to absorb your seasoning

I love this channel. My father loved cast iron and saved a few pieces. I don't know what will happen to this stuff when I'm gone.
On to this video; I have this pan minus the stamp on the bottom. I used it as a child. I often cooked fried cabbage, fried eggs, scrambled eggs, taters and onions, and many others. I recently found it in the bottom of my mother's stove while cleaning out her home. I felt like a kid at Christmas. after all these years the pan was ready to use.
My pan doesn't have the dark finish I like. It is nonstick and the inside and bottom are black but the side is rusty colored. I cleaned most off and used Easy Beezy like always. One thing to note, my pan bottom inside is very shiny and slick. It's about 55-60 years old. Wish I could add pictures here.

I agree with you 100%. It's a shame people don't know what they are doing when it comes to cast iron cookware.

I like the media blasting idea. Along with letting it rust. Also thought of putting it briefly in E Tank with power leads reversed making the pan the sacrificial piece.

If you think the piece has been ruined by wire wheeling. I would suggest sandblasting, but use walnut shells instead of sand. It is not as abrasive. It might put enough bite on it for the seasoning to adhere to it. Just my opinion.

I have 2 BSRs. An 8J and a smaller one. I love cooking with the BSR.

I have bought Smithy cast iron. It come VERY smooth. I have had some of the same problems. However after about 6 months of using it and seasoning it after every cook it is now very good.

i have cleaned several C.I. Pans..using a wire wheel/ brush... no issues with any of them. i would and have sanded on them to put scratches in them to hold seasoning.... 220 grit was perfect...
i use grapeseed oil and bake it on.... good luck.

I haven't tried it, but I've seen another cast iron guru, restore a pan that had been polished like that. He left it outside in the rain for a week or so and let it surface rust somewhat. And then proceeded with a light thirty minute fifty fifty vinegar solution. It solved the problem.

That's terrible! I have one that doesn't have that chef mark so I'm thinking it might be an early model but I absolutely love it. I hope you can find another to replace it if you can't fix it up.

Media Blast it, it will be a game changer for you! I have used BROWNELLS SILICON CARBIDE ABRASIVE GRIT 600 it is a very fine powder and produces a mat finish.

One thing you could do to rough up the surface is to try soda or sand blast not to remove but to rough up the surface

I miss seeing you on RUclips you dont show up enough

GOD BLESS YOU WITH THIS CAST-IRON SKILLET !!!

Try sanding it with 80 grit to rough up the surface.

I have an old Wagner with a similar problem. It had a lot of build up, so I used oven cleaner on it. Now I cant get seasoning to stick at all. It just beads up and will not cover. Maybe I contaminated it.

I have had this problem for 1,5 yrs. 50-60 oven cycles with 3 pans. Comes off when washing. Tried your vinegar method with STRONG vinegar. Even citric acid in a bucket för 24 hrs. Stripped the pan but new seasoning didn't stay on.
Had tried almost every way, oil, heating procedure and washing method. Had to send them to the foundry (Skeppshult, Sweden) who were kind to sand blast them and reseason them.
They use organic canola oil with high smoke point. 330 degrees C for 15-20 min. Pans came back like new.
My experience is that you can't fix a damaged seasoning. The pan is too smooth from wear and the seasoning don't adhere.

I was wondering if you could remove the seasoning and let it rust when I saw that several others had the same thought. Good luck!

I was gifted a stargazer skillet that does the same thing, can you do a video on how to season the modern smooth skillets?

I’m wondering if sand blasting would rough it up enough to get seasoning to stick? I’ve sand blasted some iron stakes and it roughs it up.

Since it already has issues, the would suggest taking it to a machine shops that does medial blasting. But instead of sand as a media, ask if they can use walnut shells instead of sand. Walnut will leave a texture unlike sand that will leave a smooth finish.
Another option is to use glass beads as the media. Same effect as walnut but more aggressive. The machine shops should have examples of what each media is capable of
Good luck!!

How about a coarse wire wheel to rough up the bottom? Once you disrupt the smoothness, you'll have a rougher surface to take seasoning.

How is the now slick surface any different than a carbon steel pan surface? Just recieved my eezy beezy! Also, please record in stereo instead of mono 🙂👍.

Leave it outside for a couple of weeks and intentionally let it rust. Then I would recommend getting “mechanical” with it as you said you do not like doing and put it in an electrolysis tank to remove the rust, then re-season it. Intentionally allowing it to rust and removing it will bring back some of the microscopic roughness/pouressness to allow the seasoning to adhere better.

use circular motions if you're using sandpaper

I fix those wire wheeled and polished pieces by rusting them down with wet paper towels. Then, run a cycle in my e-tank to remove the rust. Then re-season. It has a dark black patina and holds a seasoning great.

My had a whole set of wagner when she my brother took them he never really used them he left damp porch well they rusted !! He passed his oldest son took them and had them sandblasted im still ticked off

90,001 as of now, I feel like rather than throwing cast iron pans in the trash or scrap yard, they make very good hanging targets for small arms. I have yet to see a 9mm or a 380 that can shoot through or break a solid cast iron pan. on another subject now I did not see a time allotted for how long to leave the pan in the electrolysis tank.

A light grit sandblast would restore the non-shiny surface I would think.

Try stripping off the layer of seasoning, then soak in vinegar for a while until the inside starts to rust. That will produce a surface that is not as smooth. I think if you then clean it up, and season it again, as if right from scratch you'll end up with a prized pan again. I did this by accident and the rusting process undid the smoothing attempt, still using the pan to this day. Shame to retire a nice little pan like that.

This is kind of weird, because I have a Finex skillet, pre-Lodge, that holds the seasoning just fine. And it has a smooth surface!

Before you make permanent changes to the skillet, I would strip it down to metal and give the seasoning technique of the cooking culture channel a go.
Low temperature seasoning, well below smoke point and cooling it off slowly in the closed oven. To me, this method has fixed flaking off seasoning on super smooth pans.

I would suggest media blasting but be careful as some medias can become imbedded in the pan only to come out into your food. Perhaps blasting then rusting followed by the electrolysis tank. 🤷‍♂️ Good luck, it has a nice profile, would be a shame if it had to live on a wall.

sandblast it that should leave a finish close to the original sand cast finish

what about sandblasting it

Sandblast it. It’s already been polished. Sandblasting will restore some texture.

And u will get over the humb🙏🏾

Yes, strip the pan and use sandpaper. You'll love it again.

sandblasting can restore a profile

It will start putting a non-stick surface on it

Why did lodge go China on some of their pota and dutch ovens

Instead of a full bath why not just fill it with vinegar and let it sit until the visual shows a look like the new lodge. Or what about a light sand blasting on inside.

Sounds like your cast iron pan is working like a carbon steel pan.

Scuff it up, it doesn’t have to be rough to take seasoning

So many idiots on the Facebook cast iron groups that spread misinformation about using grinders and ect.... Such a stupid idea to ruin a piece of cast iron by doing that. Even the people who do this to modern Lodge. It's the dumbest idea ever and its scary to think how many people tell newbies to do this. Insanity

Try to sandblast it

Why did you buy it if you knew it was wire wheeled?

Break all the rules. To the diswasher it goes. get it rusty. might take some time, but will cause pitting an roughness.

aye scarification may help

Shot peening comes to mind. Followed by a strong acid bath on the cooking surface.

Do you want to use your pan if you want a non-stick if you want to do it spray cook pan on it and wipe it and put it in your stove and heat it up

Media blasting. Go to the business that sells media and talk to them.
OR Salt it down and let it rust them remove?

If you don’t have another BSR chef skillet. I’ll send you one. I have a few. Are you into trading?

Sand blaster

And keep doing it about three times

Use a different seasoning buddy. Cast iron is porous no matter how polished.My stuff is so non-stick, I feel guilty

I cleaned up my mother inlaws with 120 sand paper it took me a while but I fry some taters in and they didn't stick a bit

No machinal tools or fire to clean cast iron both are bad.

Don't do nothing but this

Nothing wrong with it. Carbon steel or polished cast are both difficult when they’re bare and slick. You can let it oxidize or do a heat oxidation (bluing or just past) and things will turn around, I guarantee. I never had any luck roughing the surface up. Ive heat oxidized six or eight pieces (CI/CS) and the difference is night and day.

If this is a vintage piece, why not contact a manufacturer such as Lodge for advice or if they could restore the surface and at what cost. Perhaps, they would do it for free as a shout out on your channel. Maybe worth a try. Love cast iron myself!