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] feanelwa.livejournal.com 2008-06-01 12:48 am (UTC)(link)
Give up, it's not worth it. The amount of time it would take for a music teacher and good brass player to remove non-stick from a Le Creuset pan, is worth more than the amount of money you would pay for a pan that is not non-sticked.

[identity profile] feanelwa.livejournal.com 2008-06-01 12:50 am (UTC)(link)
Alternatively you could lend it to [livejournal.com profile] the_lady_lily for a few days. She has a good record of de-non-sticking my pans. I believe her chosen implement is a fork, and a panful of tomato pasta ;)
Edited 2008-06-01 00:50 (UTC)

[identity profile] ewtikins.livejournal.com 2008-06-01 05:15 am (UTC)(link)
I've never seen a not non-stick cast-iron frying pan in this country (or not in a shop, anyway: I know someone who has one but she's certainly not going to give it to me.)
juliet: (Default)

[personal profile] juliet 2008-06-01 08:02 am (UTC)(link)
We have one, I think - it probably came from Pages or Jaeggis near Cambridge Circus. I can check with Pete.

[identity profile] doseybat.livejournal.com 2008-06-01 01:16 pm (UTC)(link)
yes!