Oh, Noooooooesss!

[Prairie_Gal]

So, I get this luscious new gas stove (not a Viking or anything, mind you, but adequate) with (one of the selling points) heavy, continuous cast iron grates--not enamel-coated ones, either.

Yay, right?  Oh, no!  IT'S SCRATCHING THE HELL OUT OF MY SMOOTH BOTTOMED GRISWOLDS!   [smiley=furious3.gif] [smiley=furious3.gif] [smiley=furious3.gif] [smiley=furious3.gif]  As I shift them around on the (heavy, scratchy, modern cast iron) grates, the lovely, smooth, shiny bottoms are getting scratches all over them!  

  Even if I stop taking advantage of the continuous grate aspect of the stove--which really is useful, otherwise--I STILL will get scratches just from the minute adjustments it takes to shift a pan back and forth over the burner, to get the flame centered.

  I'm really, really bummed.  :(  Do you think these scrapes and scratches (none are deep, but they are VERY visible and almost silvery) will disappear with time and use of the pans, or will I have to reseason and even sand them down a bit, when I finally rennovate my kitchen enough to display them all from racks?

  I'm beginning to see another use for all those heat rings: one could slide their skillets around on their cast iron stove with the MAJORITY of the bottom slightly raised above the grates and scratchy surface.  It's no wonder that JUST as enameled gas stoves were coming into real popularity (the late 20's and 30's ) Griswold suddenly switched over to the smooth bottom design.  Dang.

[Jeff Seago]

Becky you might be able to sand the cast iron grates on the stove??  If that does not work you will probably have to go with the enamel coated ones just like you didn't want in the first place.   :( :(

[C. B. Williams]

Becky: Your new cast iron grates, if they are usual, are a very grainy casting, which means they are ruff. This is a very abrasive surface to be sliding your skillets over. I agree with Jeff that a good sanding of the grates will greatly help.
I had an old friend, a master machinist, who once told me "you don't ever polish anything, you just make smaller and smaller scratches." That said, my suggestion is to make your grates as smooth as possible. I don't think you need porcelon coated grates, you just need smooth grates to minimize the abrasiveness. I hope this will help. C B

[Prairie_Gal]

Thank you so much for consoling me!   :)  It does help to know others have this problem, for one thing....and I think I could try the sanding, as well. Do you recommend *regular* sand paper or that special black stuff, designed for metal?  I bet I'll need a LOT to sand away metal.  The only sanding I've ever done much of was in refinishing furniture.

Then I'll just season the grates, like I season the pans and so forth.  Boy, my #10 sure looks sad, right now, though. I yelled a bit when I picked it up earlier today and really SAW the mess. Ack.

[Jeff Seago]

Becky I would recommend that you use the black sandpaper.  I think it would be easier if you used a sander if you have one.  Start with a coarser grain, maybe 100??, and then go up from there.  We will see what the others have to say about it.

On a side note I do not think that it is actually scratching your skillet, at least it makes sense that it is not??  I think that it is only scratching your seasoning off.

Don't throw a skillet at me because this is just a suggestion but you might think about painting it with that Heat spray paint.  I am sure that they have a color that is very very close to seasoned iron and it should help to protect your skillets even more??

[C. B. Williams]

While I agreed with jeff the first time, I have to disagree this time. I would not use any high temp. paint on my grills. I would simply resort to a smooth cast iron surface which would be a minimum abrasiveness. Just my opinion. Think about it, slick against slick doesn't scratch, or doesn't scratch much.

[Chuck Rogers]

I'm with CB on this one also. Those grates could be sanded, or even polished to get them smooth. Of course sanding would be the first step to polishing. Smooth on smooth would be a much happier situation.

[Jeff Seago]

You guys are probably right with the fact that if you smooth it out it should not scratch the skillets (or not as bad).  The paint was just a suggestion to ensure that it would not scratch the pans.  So I guess I would just try to get it really smooth, polished like Chuck said, and if that didn't work I would try the Paint.

The reason that I threw the paint out there was the direct contact with the fire and how well the seasoning would hold up??  If you have the hottest part of the flame coming in contact with the seasoned grate would it burn off the carbon??

[Scott Owens]

Hi Becky, I would get a new file that has a very fine cut to it. I steady even pull across the grate will remove all the high spots and it only take a fre strokes to smooth things out. Then some fine emery cloth and you should be happy. Good luck, " Apron "

[Kenny Davis]

Another thought, I am not so sure that the grate is scratching my pans as much as I wonder if the grate is removing the seasoning from the bottom of the pan when it is over the fire.  I used PAM for seasoning, could it be that the PAM seasoning is not holding?
 :-/ :-/ :-/

I bet Ron is right.  The skillet and grate are both cast iron.  For one metal to really scratch another, one has to be harder than the other.  That is why files are hardened like they are.  Just my guess.  I don't have a gas stove.

[Duke Gilleland]

Everything I used the PAM method on has shown a certain amout of "flaking" after a few uses. Back to the Crisco to stay [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

[Daniel McDowell]

You might take the grates and have them blasted with a fine abrasive to get the ruff edges taken off?????

[mississippi_slim]

hi  just a note on the types of sand paper.as i do both metal and wood work....the light brown sand paper like you buy at wal mart or lowes is made for wood mostly..if used on harder surfaces the grit comes off the paper and scratches the surface you are sanding.always use the dark grey or black paper for metal...another note..if using a air powered D.A . sander and 80 grit paper a body man could polish each grate on your stove as smooth as glass in 5 minutes or less..around this area..maybe 5 bucks each...

[Mark Ritter]

I'll have to agree with Jimmy's second piece of advice. Most any body shop would do this for you and it would be very quick and nice. Don't be afraid to ask about it being done as they do some pretty strange projects there.  Voice of experience. Just be sure of the cost before you start and if not happy with how much they want go to another place and ask. I think that Jimmy's right on this one and it shouldn't cost you very much at all.

[Prairie_Gal]

Yeah, but first I have to get up the nerve to go in there and get the Middle Aged Woman treatment from The Guys.  ;D :( >:(

They sure LOOK like scratches: many, many fine lines around the edges (especially) bunched tightly together, silvery, won't  go away when I oil or spray the bottom.  Silvery spotting, too, across the bottom, in general.  

 Is there any chance that this industrial cast iron--modern and heavy--is HARDER (and thus can scratch) than old-style iron?  

I was looking more closely at the grates and they look suspiciously pre-finished with something, already...almost shiny and that's not par for the course, at all. So if I sand, I'm going to lose that and thus will probably have to season the entire set of grates. BUT I know how to do that, now. Easy peasy.  :)

  Jeff, one concern I'd have about paint is the fumes.  They may stink when I turn that front burner up to its full 17,000 btu's...or at least off-gas toxins into my kitchen.  Ack!

  I really appreciate all the help and concern. My husband and daughters essentially just laughed at me when I showed them my sad tale of woe. I don't think they "get it" and understand how hard I worked to season all these puppies in the first place, nor do they consider them as beautiful as do I, the fools.  :o