Lodge skillet fastest & best way to smooth cast iron skillet #smoothcastironlodgeskillet

hi I'm Matt and this is a lesson on how to grind out smooth out a skillet a cast-iron skillet so this is one that we bought at the store and it's kind of orange peel e roll rough you can see the finish there this is one that I already ground out and it's a lot smoother and we old it to see the difference so stuff won't stick to it basically you want to do this so stuff will not stick to it so when I first started looking into how to do this I saw different people have different methods one guy had a rock that he was doing it with and he said he had several dozen hours into it grinding it out and I thought well that's ridiculous so I went to the store and I looked for different things to do it with I saw some guys in videos using a copper wheels ones like that ones that are more pointed like that I tried some grinding stones like these I tried this thing and then I saw this and I knew when I saw this this is going to work this is by far the best way to do it this is this is the package it came in it's called a Vontae pro quick strip disc remove rust corrosion scale paint in epoxy 4000 rpms it's got a little picture of meta steel i-beam on there different things you can grind Avante pro quick strip so when I saw this I knew this was going to work out great and I brought it home and tried it it does work great so let me show you how it works where'd you buy that home depot you put it on the drill this is a little bit bigger drill than what most people have this is uh what is this anyway it's a little bit bigger a half inch I think the smaller one is 3/8 that's what most people have this is a little bit bigger a little more powerful it's got a hammer option but you don't need the hammer for this you just need the regular setting so anyway watch that mask on huh use your safety but here this will kick up a lot of dust so you should wear a mask I stand on the edge like you have to hold it still not done yet of course because how much smoother it is already down in here compared to the edge up here they have it done yet so probably about 15 minutes max you can have one of these smoothed out we got this one at Cracker Barrel it's a large brand they just you know I think a lot sells them for Cracker Barrell but anyway that's it and then if you get it smoothed out you put the oil on it you put it in the oven there's different videos on how to do that 2 or 3 hours whatever it is I really didn't do that I just put oil in and started using it and no ill effects as far as I could tell we even take these skeleton put them right in the campfire when we're barbecuing and things like that we have a campfire going on our fire pit I just set the skillet right in there and according to my laser thermometer the fire in the fire pit is close to a thousand degrees and it doesn't seem to hurt these so Avante pro quick strip that's the fastest way to do this probably 15 minutes total I'll have into this other people say it takes several hours so you do this in 15 minutes with this tool that's it bye

Channel: Matt Fletcher

Views: 660,065

Rating: 4.3975677 out of 5

Keywords: smooth season cast iron skillet, season smooth cast iron skillet, fastest way to sand a skillet smooth, smooth lodge skillet, lodge skillet sand, lodge skillet smooth, sand cast iron skillet, #smoothcastironskillet, #smooth cast iron skillet

Id: gGLV7fd0-fQ

Length: 6min 11sec (371 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 03 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/Lexam]

Obviously you are not committed to the cast iron cause.

[u/Banzertank]

People love to talk big that they can cook anything on a Lodge right out of the box with no sticking, but my experience was quite the opposite. The first year that I cooked with it, it was no good for anything but meat.

I tried seasoning mine with Lard and with Canola oil before deciding to take a grinder to them. Grinding and re-seasoning my Lodges definitely made them easier to cook on with less sticking, but it was a bit of a process, which might not be worth it to most people.

[u/cgaengineer]

His cooking skills suck, obviously much better as a machinist.

[u/drewmey]

I just did this to a griddle and have no regrets. I used the exact same abrasive tool but it was one made for a 4.5" angle grinder. Is it "necessary"? Absolutely not. Is my new 8" griddle now performing better than my 2 year old Lodge 12" skillet? Yes, without a doubt. Side Notes: Time: Notice at which point in the video he starts (3:00) and stops (4:40). That's 1 minute and 40 seconds folks. I spent longer typing this message and you will spend longer reading the remaining comments on this one singular thread. That is also all that is needed. You don't need a mirror finish. You just need to knock off the major high points and dig down into about half of the pits. Doesn't take long.

Cost: You really can find these abrasive heads for $6-10. They will easily last for several skillets. If you do not have the tools, you can generally find a friend, neighbor, family member that has a high powered drill or angle grinder to borrow one from. The cost is about a dollar or two per skillet. Probably less than you will spend on the additional oil, paper towels, electricity/gas to build up a higher seasoning in a poorly molded skillet. I would not recommend this method if you do not have a similar tool or can not find one to borrow. It just isn't worth it in my opinion. If you are patient and determined, hand sanding with a low number grit works.

Difficulty: This particular abrasive head is not going to severely gauge your skillet. It is fast enough (as mentioned) to be productive but slow enough that literally anyone can do as long as they are old enough to handle the tools. No artistic touch or skill required.

Additional time: Most people are going to wash and season a new skillet regardless of whether it has been ground or not. So the additional seasoning are a moot point in my opinion. I am going to season in the oven whether I do this or not.

Worth: The skillet, without a doubt, performs better off the bat (in 5 years, it is possible that they will be indistinguishable). If you disagree, it is because you haven't tried it. You will use less oil over the lifetime of the skillet because things just generally stick less. Can you live without it? Yes, certainly. Will a Honda and a BMW both get you to work? Yes, but does that mean that the money on the BMW was a waste? Will a ballpoint pen and a fountain pen both write a signature? Yes but does that mean the fountain pen is a useless waste of time...no. Just like any car will get you to work, any cast iron skillet can cook your food if used properly. However, some will just get there more effortlessly, in better style and will even clean up easier. The question is whether you want to spend $2/skillet and the additional 5 minutes/skillet. So much money and effort. /s

[u/silent_steve201]

No

[u/Techn0dad]

No, you don’t. Invest the time in seasoning and working on your CI cooking skills and you’ll come out ahead.

CI’s cooking properties come from a combination of thermal mass and the release/ anti stick properties of well-polymerized seasoning.

[u/DifferentiatedFez]

Yes, it will help quite a lot. You can make scrambled eggs once the cooking surface is smooth without waiting for ages till the “good seasoning “ is built up. Those who said no did you do any comparison experiments? I did on mine and I’d say it’s totally worth it.

[u/Novakaine]

No, this is a guy who obviously likes to do useless work to achieve imperceptible gains.

[u/mwb1100]

I haven't felt a need to do anything like this with any of my Lodge cookware (with one small exception - see below). I'd say just try using your skillet for a while and make sure you're not using too high of heat. If you don't have any problems then the answer that you clearly don't need to do this.

If you don't like the results, it can't hurt to give this technique a try.

The one time I have thought about sanding one of my Lodge cookware pieces is with a new griddle. Food sticking isn't a problem, but there's one bump that keeps catching my spatula. It's just occasionally an irritant when I'm trying to slide the spatula under the food. For the time being I'm going to live with the irritant - maybe it'll just wear down quickly enough that I won't have to sand it down and reseason the griddle. I'm really not interested in doing that because of this one little bump.