Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[svk]

I suggest to use white vinegar. Mix vinegar and water 50/50 and drop the pan in. Let set overnite or longer depending on how bad it is, and the use a SOS or Brillo pad to give it a good scrubbing. Throw on some baking soda to scrub with, that will neutralize the vinegar. Then re season. I usually set my pan in the oven and heat around 400 degrees. I will pour some oil on a paper towel and rub it on the pan while hot and stick back in the oven. I will do that several times until the pan starts turning black.

Vinegar is great for stripping rust but lye based cleaner (like yellow can of easy off) is what you want for stripping gunk.

 

[muddstopper]

My grandmaw used to make lye soap, I have taken baths with lye soap. I have used oven cleaner to clean grease off engine blocks, no doubt it works, I just dont like the ideal of using lye on something I eat off of.

 

[svk]

My grandmaw used to make lye soap, I have taken baths with lye soap. I have used oven cleaner to clean grease off engine blocks, no doubt it works, I just dont like the ideal of using lye on something I eat off of.

Lye is very harsh for sure, but it washes off completely with soap and water.

When I pull iron out of my lye tank I need to wash my hands immediately or my skin starts to burn.

 

[Brufab]

I restored a whole chain that was mostly rusted solid with vinegar. Chain works good now and the bar cleaned up great aswell. My guy sharpened it and he couldn't tell it was froze up from rust. Couldn't believe the power vinegar has.

 

[svk]

Vinegar is amazing.

Full strength vinegar will actually dissolve cast iron. If you leave a piece in it for a few months it will crumble.

 

[Philbert]

I just dont like the ideal of using lye on something I eat off of.

Lye is sodium hydroxide, and will be cleaned off with water, like many other harsh detergents. There is even food grade lye (!) used in the preservation and preparation of things that people eat!

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/trav...fisk) preserved,Sweden, and parts of Finland.
Philbert

 

[MustangMike]

We had snow on the ground here since Jan 1, then last week it started to melt down is spots, then is snowed again and it was 10*F and very windy this morning ... and I have Robins in the backyard ... with temps in the teens and complete snow cover!

I don't know what is going on! Maybe they got used to the prior warmer years?

 

[svk]

For those who haven't had lutefisk (which I am assuming is most of you), it is actually quite tasty! You can dip it in drawn butter or cover it with cream sauce.

Stinks the whole building to high hell when it is being cooked and that is enough to turn many folks off. You just about have to plug your nose.

Out local lutefisk feed (properly pronounced lute-fisk, not luda-fisk) has been cancelled due to covid for the past two winters but I will definitely go when they reopen. They also offer Swedish meatballs and many other Scandinavian foods.

 

[Brufab]

Just scrounged 2pk of chains off ebay for 1.25$ plus 10$ shipping.

 

[Philbert]

For those who haven't had lutefisk (which I am assuming is most of you), it is actually quite tasty!

The church next to my house has a lutefisk feed every year for a fundraiser. Somehow, I have found myself ’too busy’ every time, for the last 30+ years, or so, to attend.


Philbert

 

[Woodsman_26]

Got a new work truck. It should be alot more efficient at hauling since I built this removable firewood box for it.

 

[husqvarna257]

Do not throw it into the owb! If it overheats it will never take seasoning again.

Best advice is to get a yellow can of oven cleaner. Spray it with the oven cleaner and throw it in the garbage bag for a couple days. Then scrub it real good with steel wool, wash with soap and water and dry it immediately on the stove. Wipe it down with your choice of oil and season at 450 for an hour.

Yea I'll try that I was afraid of the OWB I've seen it eat nails from a skid. I've used it to dispose of Dead birds and a racoon the dog got. Not to mention what it did to 2 old hard drives we had. I got the griddle at a tag sale so when i was scrubbing it I could see letters trying to come up. They did and it was "made in China" oh well.

Can you sand through this layer?

Philbert

I was thinking that or sandblasting never knew it changed it altogether.

 

[svk]

Just scrounged 2pk of chains off ebay for 1.25$ plus 10$ shipping.View attachment 964880

Nice! Always cool to find a deal.

 

[muddstopper]

Lye is sodium hydroxide, and will be cleaned off with water, like many other harsh detergents. There is even food grade lye (!) used in the preservation and preparation of things that people eat!

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/trav...fisk) preserved,Sweden, and parts of Finland.
Philbert

Todays lye is sodium hydroxide, commonly called caustic soda and is made from a salt. Take a engine block to a machine shop and have it vatted and caustic soda is whats used to clean it. Traditional lye was made from wood ash and was potassium hydroxide. And yes, it is used, I presume both types, in the preservation and preparing of food.

 

[SS396driver]

No, if cast iron is heated too hot it will get what’s called “red scale” and will never hold seasoning again. I don’t know what temp that is, but it’s definitely a risk if put into a fire.

This is a common problem when people recover skillets that went through a house fire…50/50 chance of them being salvageable.

This happend to my last stove . The cast iron around the cat all turned to red crumbling powder. Noticed it cleaning out ash and the cat was in the firebox.

 

[sundance]

We had snow on the ground here since Jan 1, then last week it started to melt down is spots, then is snowed again and it was 10*F and very windy this morning ... and I have Robins in the backyard ... with temps in the teens and complete snow cover!

I don't know what is going on! Maybe they got used to the prior warmer years?

We've had at least one robin pretty much all winter. And they've stuck around occasionally in past winters. Our share of cold and snow as well.

 

[Philbert]

Traditional lye was made from wood ash

I did that once, when I was down in my rust removal rabbit hole. I believe that oak ashes were preferred (?). But I just took a few scoops from our fireplace insert, mixed it with a random amount of water, and dropped in a greasy chain.

An oil slick formed at the top, but it did not get the chain as clean as the commercial degreaser. I have no idea what the ph or effective concentration of my solution was: just ‘proof of concept’ experimentation.

I also bought a container of ‘Pure Lye’ from the drain cleaning aisle of a local home center. Hard to dissolve the flakes in room temperature water.

Never tried the old ‘Red Devil’ lye that used to be sold at hardware stores.

I spoke to a chemist at ZEP, via their 1-800 consumer help line, and he convinced me that the commercial degreasers are a better choice for chains, because they contain a variety of cleaners, surfactants, etc., for different types of dirt. And they are reasonably affordable. I still prefer the ones that list ‘sodium hydroxide’ on the label.

Philbert

 

[Philbert]

“In Soap Making: Lye is mixed with water to create a lye solution. Lye solution, when mixed with fats and oils, will cause a chemical reaction called saponification (fancy for soap). The result of saponification is beautiful handmade soap.

Food uses of sodium hydroxide include washing or chemical peeling of fruits and vegetables, chocolate and cocoa processing, caramel coloring production, poultry scalding, soft drink processing, and thickening ice cream. Olives are often soaked in sodium hydroxide for softening; Pretzels and German lye rolls are glazed with a sodium hydroxide solution before baking to make them crisp.“

Philbert

 

[calamari]

I give up. I know once I find out what OWB means I'll slap my head for being stupid but the internet gives "Over the Waist Band" a type of gun holster and "Old White Bastard" meaning me I guess as the best meanings. So what is it.

 

[Lionsfan]

For those who haven't had lutefisk (which I am assuming is most of you), it is actually quite tasty! You can dip it in drawn butter or cover it with cream sauce.

Stinks the whole building to high hell when it is being cooked and that is enough to turn many folks off. You just about have to plug your nose.

Out local lutefisk feed (properly pronounced lute-fisk, not luda-fisk) has been cancelled due to covid for the past two winters but I will definitely go when they reopen. They also offer Swedish meatballs and many other Scandinavian foods.

I lived in a Norwegian community for a couple years. I know what it is, I've ate it, and it would take an act of congress to get me to endorse it!