I had lost hope with my electric cooking plates. The white circles where completely hidden under a layer of diamond-grade burn residue that no amount of scrubbing with chemicals could even begin to remove. I found this 3€ scrapping tool and it's amazing !!! Sorry, but I don't have the before picture, believe me after 6 years of usage, it was bad.
That said, everyone should know the different ways of cleaning the things.
Bar keepers Friend, for the equivalent oxalic acid/ddbsa cleaner in your area will remove dark carbon from most surfaces, especially when used with a magic eraser/melamine sponge
If you have a pot or a pan or something movable that is very burnt on, soaking it in an extremely dangerous solution of potassium hydroxide (lye) well absolutely remove all the organics. You just have to be sure to wear gloves and splash protection because it will blind you in a hot second.
Soaking rusty items in vinegar for a prolonged period of time will remove the rust, but you'll have to treat it pretty quickly to keep the rusr from coming back.
Yeah that actually is another good point to it if you use it on aluminum it will erode the surface. If my quarter sheet pans get out of control I'll do it to them a couple of times and sand them back down before I recycle them.
yes, don't fuck around with corrosive chemicals. Strong acids or bases will destroy tissues with ease, especially if they're not protected by skin (which also gets dissolved but more slowly)
Is it? I just throw it in the oven on high for a bit. Sometimes if I'm lazy I'll just oil it and cook on high without seasoning. Just using it seasons it some. Even if the season is incomplete, just being oiled will prevent rust until next time and that seasoning builds up. Some people make a hobby of doing things the "right way" though, who am I to judge?
Idk, I gave away an almost new set of cast iron, but for the Dutch over and skillet. Skillet was preseasoned, used Dutch oven for deep frying/stews/casseroles,, so it happened quickly enough. The rest of it wasn’t worth it since it’s heavy enough to be more hindrance and time than I actively used regularly.
My most used, first and second favorite cast iron skillets are a no-brand $5 rusty garage sale find. A strip and reseason and these things are the best.
My third favorite is the $50 Lodge we got as a wedding gift.
Bar keepers Friend, for the equivalent oxalic acid/ddbsa cleaner in your area will remove dark carbon from most surfaces, especially when used with a magic eraser/melamine sponge
I had no idea! Thank you! I keep this to clean my ceramic cast iron sink but had no idea that I could use this on my glass top stove and the burnt bottom of my pans!
I used vinegar to get the rust off of a bunch of (Pogs) Slammers that had gotten wet in my parents basement. It worked reasonably well on most of them.
If we're not talking about food safe applications crc evaporust is absolutely magical. But it will leave the surface dark which you then would need to buff back off.
Barkeeper’s Friend is a miracle, but people should know it’s incredibly abrasive and can debride enamelware. I ruined a pan’s outer finish because that didn’t occur to me, using it to get carbonisation off the bottom.
It’s brilliant for raw metal and glass cooktops, though. When I bought my house, the previous owners left a kit for the glass cooktop including the razor tool in your OP. I’m so grateful they did because I wouldn’t have known.