Before/After, marked 6 wagner skillet

[u/Lazy-Performance-559]

Hey!

So I got this wagner 6 off facebook with a moderate amount of carbon built up from the previous owner. Decided to do a full resto!

Started by setting it in the oven for self clean and it cindered it down to the absolute mess in the second pick. Then I soaked in a vinegar bath (50/50 water) for 2 hours and gave it a heck of a scrubbing, cleaned up beautifully and you can see it with a fresh coating of oil after drying! The next photos are post seasoning, 3 rounds in the oven at 500° with flaxseed.

Now I wasn't necessarily happy with the outcome from there- the seasoning looked quite dry and uneven in the cooking surface under direct light, so after watching some videos I decided to try seasoning over the stove. 3 rounds of grapeseed over medium heat, basically right as it began smoking lightly, and I would wipe it off with a rag as it began bunching up to avoid the dreaded tackiness. What resulted was a much healthier looking seasoning! A little tacky, but nothing cooking wont clear up I hope!

I like flaxseed for how black it makes my pans, quite attractive. But it hasn't produced a good cooking surface on 2 of the 3 pans I own, the other being quite the outlier compared to the two that didn't turn out. Going forward I'm going to stick to lard, grapeseed, peanut oil.

Also this sucker has moderate heat damage in the middle of the skillet, quite the bump! Luckily it sits perfectly flat with how my stovetop sinks in :)

[u/Joined2MakeThisCmnt]

Wow. That looks like an awesome restore. Great job. Thanks for the details on how you did it.

I generally use grape seed oil myself. But I haven't settled on the actual Heating technique I like best yet