Tried to restore an old cast iron skillet and ended up with rust flakes in my breakfast

Picked up a rusty old skillet at a flea market for $10 last month, watched a bunch of tutorials on seasoning it with flaxseed oil. Followed every step, baked it three times in the oven. Looked great at first, dark and shiny. Then yesterday I made eggs and they came out speckled with tiny black rust chips. Guess the seasoning didn't bond right or I missed some deep rust. Anyone messed up a restore job like this and figured out a better oil or method?

2 comments

2 Comments

kelly.dylan28d ago

Used flaxseed oil once and it flaked on me too. Switch to plain vegetable oil or crisco, scrub the rust off with steel wool and a little vinegar first, then give it one good coat and bake it at 400 for an hour. Fixed my skillet right up and I've been using it daily for months now with no issues.

coran6328d ago

You said "one good coat" and I gotta say that might be part of your problem right there. Most people I've talked to say you need at least 3 to 4 THIN coats of oil, not one thick one. A thick coat will just pool up and get sticky or crack later. Also 400 is a bit low for vegetable oil, you should try 450 or even 475 to really get it to polymerize right. But hey if it worked for you then it worked, I just see a lot of folks mess up by doing one heavy coat instead of several thin ones.