The Wild Ewt of the Plains of Canada ([personal profile] ewt) wrote2008-05-31 07:33 pm

Non-Stick

I have a Le Creuset frying pan. It is small-ish (20cm diameter) and completely made of cast-iron; I got it in a charity shop for about a fiver, which is pretty good for something that costs considerably more in shops.

It has non-stick coating on it, and the coating was starting to come off which I assume is why it was in the charity shop.

I have been trying to remove the rest of the non-stick, using a variety of scouring brushes and so on. Being Le Creuset, it's not been giving up easily; I don't know what they must have done to it to get it to the state it was in when I bought it.

Today I tried sandpaper, and that seems to work best so far, but it's going to take a very long time and an awful lot of sandpaper to get anywhere with this.

I've considered some sort of electric sander, but this would be no good for the curved edges of the pan, and these make up more area than the flat bottom.

Is there a chemical thing that can do this? Should I buy a can of Brasso and give it a try, or will it not work on iron? Now I've got through some of it, is it worth leaving it wet somewhere to see if I can rust the surface a little, or will that just wreck it entirely? Is there possibly some sort of tool that can just, I don't know, blast sand at a surface until all the non-stick comes off, and does anyone have one I can borrow?

[identity profile] 403.livejournal.com 2008-05-31 07:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Cast iron can be stripped back to solid metal once it starts to rust, but getting it smooth again (before you season it) might be a challenge.

[identity profile] ewtikins.livejournal.com 2008-05-31 07:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Hmm. Okay, rust bad idea then.

I wonder if something like a drill with an appropriate sanding attachment might work. It'd take ages but still be better than doing it by hand, which is going to wreck my wrists (which I don't want as they are harder to replace than pans).

[identity profile] 403.livejournal.com 2008-05-31 09:30 pm (UTC)(link)
What you probably want is a dremmel. They're basically hand-held grinders, and most will come with a set of assorted shapes and grades of tips.

[identity profile] ewtikins.livejournal.com 2008-05-31 09:32 pm (UTC)(link)
We have Dremels over here; I can probably borrow one, but will need to take advice from the owner on which attachments to use.