Did someone on here post about finding a way to strip the seasoning off of an old cast iron without lye or using the oven cleaning cycle or am I imagining that?
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Or just scrub the shit out of it…. The self-cleaning oven trick was a good one when I figured that out. Or you could do a hybrid approach, if you feel like going to the trouble to get down opening a self-cleaning oven mid-cycle.
A friend of mine just did that at home on a 40-year old cast iron with a ton of buildup on it. Worked really well - but also was a lot of work to put together.
I've heard of tossing cast iron in a campfire or on a really hot grill, which basically accomplishes the same thing as the self-clean cycle but outdoors.
Camp fires can get too hot and oxidise the outside of the pan, ruining it. It turns pinkish and won’t hold seasoning more. You need to get them _really_ hot for this, but it’s not like you can know or control the heat a campfire is putting out…
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If you want to do it that way the best is a copper scrubby and sand.
But if you want all of it (not just the bottom), go with self-clean; and all the windows open; while fans are cross-ventilating.
(Source: many damaged pans on r/castiron)