Cast iron seasoning not taking?

Hey guys recently refurbished my not so fancy Chinese brand 12 in skillet by removing the seasoning and sanding it smooth. For the past month I have been trying to season this ***** yet every time I try to clean it with nothing more than a bit of soap and a sponge yet the seasoning comes right off.

I have been seasoning it with the flax oil method, applying thin layers and baking at 500 to no avail. I thought it was due to me cooking with it after only a few lagers but I put around 7 or 8 this weekend and cooking one thing in it and it stuck and the seasoning came right off.

Any ideas? Thinking of just buying a preseasoned lodge at this point.

Just keep using itand don't bother forcing the seasoning. It'll happen. My cheap not so fancy carbon steel had the same issue and it got much better after some usage.

Sanded it smooth? With a power sander? How fine did you go?

The grit may have a factor, on the "Cast Iron Cooking" FB group a member does this and he ends in the 100-180 range IIRC.

Also how'd you clean it before you started seasoning? Any flash rust could be problematic.

I bought the preseasoned Lodge and stripped the seasoning. I used sodium hydroxide (lye bath) then neutralized by washing with dilute vinegar and steel wool then with fragrance free soap (from the same shop where I bought the pure NaOH), dry immediately then put in oven at 225°F for ~20min. I take out and oil while still 225° start around 400° for ~20min then usually up to 450-500 for another ~40min.

I've used the flax seed oil method for seasoning too without many issues but have read that the Wagner and Griswold Society tested it and found it inferior to other methods. Don't exactly remember the technical rationale although it may be because it polymerized well to itself but not the pan.

Also check out Jeff Rogers "The Culinary Fanatic" YouTube channel, he has some decent videos, there's a start to finish one as well. I didn't follow 100% but still found it helpful.

You may be overthinking it. Once you have put a coat of oil on the stripped surface, just use it frequently and it will take care of itself. The cooking oil will polymerize as you use it. There are dozens of methods (okay likely hundreds) on the web that include elements like burning off the factory coating, applying a thin layer of oil, heating, and then cooking some ingredients. I think the multiple thin layers of flaxseed oil at precise temperatures are unnecessary for a wok. I get the sense that Chinese chefs have not been doing anything that complex over the last thousand years and they get great results. I just went through seasoning an $18 wok from our local Asian market few weeks ago, inspired by an earlier wok thread. Things are going fine. Of course I am not a pro, just my own experience.

Don't buy a Lodge pre-seasoned pan unless your plan is to strip that factory gunk off and start over. I could write a short novel on this subject. Ack!


For the problem of the flax oil not taking, I can't say what the deal is there, never tried it. I have used just about everything else at one point or another though and they all share some similar traits/problems. I've found that sometimes the temp can have the biggest effect on the end result. For instance, when I go high temp 475-500F the surface looks better (is more black and shiny smooth) but this coating comes off easy, maybe too carbonized? When I go less temp 400F the surface remains dark brown and somewhat tacky and thick (even when it's applied thin) but this makes a great base coat that stays put once you get past the first few crappy cooks with it. So I've come to do a lower temp seasoning that doesn't look so good but over time seasons the best and eventually darkens up.

BTW, the slickest cast iron pan I have is a USA made no name'r I purchased in 1986 at the base PX in England. I didn't know squat about seasoning CI back then so I just cooked in it. I can remember tasting iron sometimes and seeing rust other times but that went away and it's now got that Teflon smooth black shiny finish we all covet and it's never ever been seasoned properly. Go figure?

So the moral of the thread is there is no shortcut to good seasoning. The best way to season is to cook a lot on the pan and let time and repetition do it's thing.

WingKKF said:

So the moral of the thread is there is no shortcut to good seasoning. The best way to season is to cook a lot on the pan and let time and repetition do it's thing.

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Yup, that's my take on it.

I get the gist of seasoning and seasoned this pan before it was refinished. But like ive said you can't really get any buildup even with using the pan. It may have been refinished to too high of a grit? I didn't do the final finishing as I don't really have any power tools at my student house I'm thinking of bringing down the grit and restarting.

WingKKF said:

So the moral of the thread is there is no shortcut to good seasoning. The best way to season is to cook a lot on the pan and let time and repetition do it's thing.

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Yes. I like the flaxseed method with about 5-8 layers as a starting point...but know that some of it will flake off and you'll just have to let cooking with it fix that.

Zwiefel said:

Yes. I like the flaxseed method with about 5-8 layers as a starting point...but know that some of it will flake off and you'll just have to let cooking with it fix that.

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That's my experience as well

+1 on the flaxseed. I've done (and redone) many carbon, cast iron and paella pans this way. I've found that if I use too much oil that I'll get almost immediate flaking. For best results the pan has to be warm when oil goes in and wiped clean so it looks almost dry prior to heat.

After several applications I borrow a page from "Breath of a Wok" and rough chop about a qt of onions then caramelize them to black in a couple batches. Something about seasoning with onions (book cites Chinese chives) helps set it.

daveb said:

+1 on the flaxseed. I've done (and redone) many carbon, cast iron and paella pans this way. I've found that if I use too much oil that I'll get almost immediate flaking. For best results the pan has to be warm when oil goes in and wiped clean so it looks almost dry prior to heat.

After several applications I borrow a page from "Breath of a Wok" and rough chop about a qt of onions then caramelize them to black in a couple batches. Something about seasoning with onions (book cites Chinese chives) helps set it.

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I'm going to try this on the next one I season. I really want to get the results that I think you're talking about here.

daveb said:

+1 on the flaxseed. I've done (and redone) many carbon, cast iron and paella pans this way. I've found that if I use too much oil that I'll get almost immediate flaking. For best results the pan has to be warm when oil goes in and wiped clean so it looks almost dry prior to heat.

After several applications I borrow a page from "Breath of a Wok" and rough chop about a qt of onions then caramelize them to black in a couple batches. Something about seasoning with onions (book cites Chinese chives) helps set it.

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Might you have a picture or two of pans done like this? Every one I've seen with flaxseed seasoning has a mottled effect. Thanks----

From my experience: flaxseed based seasoning gets off if you are like myself used to drying the pan on fire before storing away after washing and accidentally overheat it.

rick_english said:

Might you have a picture or two of pans done like this? Every one I've seen with flaxseed seasoning has a mottled effect. Thanks----

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There's a thread here discussing this, with photos. I'm on my phone so I can't access it right now.

I think 2-3 layers is good enough to start cooking on. Too many layers and it will just flake off. It'll continue to season every time you use it. I use regular vegetable oil on my CI and CS pans and haven't had any flaking this way. I also use the stove top method instead of the oven.

My problem with flax seed oil is the whole house ends up smelling like linseed oil. My wife was not at all happy with me.

I really like the smell of seasoning with flaxseed oil, rather pleasant compared to some others.

tjangula said:

I really like the smell of seasoning with flaxseed oil, rather pleasant compared to some others.

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Canola gets a stale fishy odor in my experience. Who doesn't love that?

Yes, my wife too hates the smell of flaxseed oil. I typically wait for her to visit our kids in So Cal for a week and that's when I break out all my pans that need seasoning. My most used cast iron pan is a Griswold 9 that I picked up off of e-bay. The seller cleaned with lye and then seasoned in the oven with two cycles of flaxseed and then two with grapeseed oil. Not sure if that was some sort of "magic recipe" but from there I've been just doing a lot of cooking with fats such as butter, olive oil, and bacon. It has become my favorite pan by far for searing and browning with very little sticking. I think the key has been just to use it with lots of fat over the last few months.

oil toasting seeds or nuts has produced a really great patina on one of my 140 woks at the restaurant lol. 500 seems to hot and will burn off, try low and slow, 375 1 hour coatings. keep the pan upside down to avoid big globs. only do like 3 layers then fry some scallions or what have you.

i like the flaxseed oil.

i use my outdoor weber grill. the house stink isnt worth it to me.

single coat. wipe it on, and use a clean paper towel to wipe it off. what remains is enough. pop it in the Weber unside down, so any extra can "drain". get it hot hot for about 15 mins, and shut it off and let it cool down naturally in the hot grill.

start using it. it wont be perfect, but it also wont have those ridges the chips leave behind like tiny shallow craters.

to clean off seasoning..i use the self-clean function of my oven.

I use peanut oil on my carbon steel pans. Wipe it all over the pan, then wipe it off until it looks dry - so there is just a super thin layer left. Bake at highest oven temp, upside down for an hour. Repeat a few times, then cook away.

If the seasoning gets stripped - which happens more easily with carbon steel than cast iron, as I understand it, I just wipe a thin layer of peanut oil when I'm heating the pan to dry it.

For a fresh seasoning, I fry potato skins in a ton of rock salt and oil. Same thing that America's Test Kitchen does.

[video=youtube;-suTmUX4Vbk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-suTmUX4Vbk[/video]

Has been working fine so far.

I've tried many different oils for seasoning, but peanut oil seems to work the best, at least for me.
Like others said, don't overthink it. Just wipe the pan dry and oil it after every use and you should be all set. Avoiding acidic food also helps.

I very, very rarely ever use a sponge to clean out cast iron. Usually, if it's pretty messy I like to get it real hot and put it under water. The water boils and help left some of the chunkier stuff. This also leaves a good amount of oil/seasoning on the skillet. Very hot water, and a little dabbing with a paper towel. Soap and sponge is a no no.

I do steel pans and cast the same way. With steel, clean any coatings off and put it on the burner and let it heat up slowly. Keep increecing the heat until it's HOT!.... Turn on a good hood vent. Roll up two sheets of paper towel and soak with out of choice. I use refined avacado. Squeeze out the paper towel so it's as dry as you can get it. Grab some tongs and start wiping it all around the pan and don't stop for 10 min. Turn off the heat and keep wiping until it stops smoking. Now you can go and take the battery out of you smoke detector. It should be nice and dark on the bottom of the pan. Now use as normal. I do the same with cast iron as well .. Works super.

Bill

The irony of all these seasoning attempts is the best seasoning happens on the outside and bottom of these pans when you happen to get get oil to spill over the side. Notice how bloody hard it is to clean up the hardened oil stains on the sides and bottoms of pans. Yeah.

WingKKF said:

The irony of all these seasoning attempts is the best seasoning happens on the outside and bottom of these pans when you happen to get get oil to spill over the side. Notice how bloody hard it is to clean up the hardened oil stains on the sides and bottoms of pans. Yeah.

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LOL, I have noticed the same. Smooth, rock hard, sticks to the skillet like it is a part of the metal.

I also "season" my skillets (carbon steel and cast iron) just by using them. The best method I have found so far is making fried potatoes. Just cut some boiled firm potatoes into thick slices and fry them in a generous amount of oil (I use rapeseed) at moderate temps (below the smoking point of the oil) so they get a nice brown crust on both sides. Do two or three batches like this and your seasoning is well on the way. When I want to give my seasoning a "tune up", I make French crepes in my skillet. Half a dozen of those and it is so slick afterwards that a fried egg will slide right off, as easily or even more easily than off Teflon.