Author Topic: "Painted" dutch oven (Read 9340 times)

llu · « **on:** January 31, 2006, 10:45:02 AM »

Bought a dutch on e-bay. Not looking for collectable, just cooking oven for my son. He wanted griswold or ware. When it arrived, obvious that it had been painted/coated with thick black substance. Put in oven and it smoked and left chemical odor when heated. Tried to remove with electrolysis and paint remover. Neither made a dent. Suggestions? Seller was contacted and disclaimed any knowledge of what or when the stuff was applied. Thanks

C. Perry Rapier · « **Reply #1 on:** January 31, 2006, 10:53:58 AM »

I have seen that very same stuff. Its a black substance, kind of rubbery, and sticks like glue. Dirty rotten dealers use it to conceal pitting in items. It goes on smooth as glass and takes a good picture. And then when you get it, SURPRISE.

Here's what I would do. I'd use about a 1 inch paint scraper to gently see if I could start it peeling, mine did. After you get that off then use a Stainless Steel scrubber with some good soap and water. It will come off. After you get it all out and off, as the case may be, then wash it real good with hot water and dish soap, I use Dawn, and then season it and you should be good to go.

miniwoodworker · « **Reply #2 on:** January 31, 2006, 06:35:15 PM »

Here's a thought that might be worth a try. Recently I tried a bottle of Dawn Power Disolver when I cleaned up an old gas stove for my shop. I does what it says it will do!!

One of the use cautions is don't use it on painted metal. It does remove paint. I used it to degrease the painted exhaust hood that went with that stove in my shop. It removed both the grease and the paint. Also used it to remove the paint overspray on the knobs of my Gris 202 stove.

Spray it on full strength and let it sit awhile. Rinse off and scrub, as needed. Re-apply, if needed. So far, it's worked on everything that I've tried with it. Glass baking dishes, aluminum cookie sheet, stove burner liner pans, etc.

Anyway, I made a note to myself to try it if I run into any painted castiron cookware, since I've seen it remove paint from other items.

If you try it and it doesn't remove the paint, you won't be out anything since it does such a good job for other things.

Hope this helps. Good luck with cleaning your DO Louis.

Lee

C. Perry Rapier · « **Reply #3 on:** January 31, 2006, 10:42:29 PM »

Lee, I hear what you are saying, but if I understand this person right, what they got ain't paint like you would think of paint normally. Rather what they have is, it looks like paint, acts like rubber, fills like body putty, and is thick. Its almost like a car tire kind of rubber, and its thick, depending on how much the seller wanted to cover up of the item to be sold and how deep the pits are. Again, that is what I had on a piece and really took a hosing on.

Duke Gilleland · « **Reply #4 on:** January 31, 2006, 11:03:29 PM »

Cleaned a Wagner skillet last week that had 2 coats of enamel on it in my electro vat... Also did a Lodge griddle. Clean as a whistle :)

C. Perry Rapier · « **Reply #5 on:** January 31, 2006, 11:09:00 PM »

Quote

Cleaned a Wagner skillet last week that had 2 coats of enamel on it in my electro vat... Also did a Lodge griddle. Clean as a whistle :)

Duke, I tried electro on the stuff here in quesiton and it loosened it up some, so I could pull it off, but I wouldn't say it did a good job at all.

Duke Gilleland · « **Reply #6 on:** February 01, 2006, 05:48:42 AM »

Perry, some of that stuff takes a while. How long did you leave it in?

C. Perry Rapier · « **Reply #7 on:** February 01, 2006, 07:16:18 AM »

Quote

Perry, some of that stuff takes a while. How long did you leave it in?

Off and on for two days. Evidently it wasn't long enough though. I just don't think that electrolysis was as good for this situation as it normally is for most others. That stuff was a bear for sure.

Jerry Cermack · « **Reply #8 on:** February 02, 2006, 02:06:39 PM »

If I encounter painted cast iron that electro wont remove to suit me, I use furniture stripper and it wont hurt the cast iron at all. Strippers with MC (Methylene Chloride) in them work a little faster and better on tough finishes, but is mean to you if you get it on your skin. There are many Non-MC strippers on the market now. The secret to most any stripper is to keep the piece wet with it. They main solvents in them will evaporate so the piece has to be re-wet with the stripper......or coat it with the stripper and wrap it up in plastic so the stripper doesnt evaporate so fast. The stripper will not affect most heavy plastics, like visqueen

moosejaw · « **Reply #9 on:** February 06, 2006, 02:30:23 AM »

I hope Louis lets us know how he made out. I'm curious.

Jeff Friend · « **Reply #10 on:** February 08, 2006, 12:54:34 PM »

Perry is right about that stuff being a bear. I have a pan that had some in it. Electro didn't work, even after a week. The lye bath didn't touch it. Aircraft-type paint stripper was ineffective. Automotive gasket remover failed. B-12 Chemtool was a waste of time. A wire brush in the drill was useless.

The only thing that worked was a razor blade followed by elbow grease with a scotch-brite pad.

Good luck!

Jeff

C. Perry Rapier · « **Reply #11 on:** February 08, 2006, 01:36:22 PM »

Quote

Perry is right about that stuff being a bear. I have a pan that had some in it. Electro didn't work, even after a week. The lye bath didn't touch it. Aircraft-type paint stripper was ineffective. Automotive gasket remover failed. B-12 Chemtool was a waste of time. A wire brush in the drill was useless.

The only thing that worked was a razor blade followed by elbow grease with a scotch-brite pad.

Good luck!

Jeff

Jeff, you are right on the money. That stuff is terrible and until you have experienced working with the stuff, one can only guess how difficult it is to remove.

Steve_Stephens · « **Reply #12 on:** February 09, 2006, 12:29:04 PM »

Maybe carburetor cleaner would remove the stuff?

Steve

Jeff Friend · « **Reply #13 on:** February 11, 2006, 11:22:30 PM »

Steve,

B-12 Chemtool is a type of carb cleaner. And it will take paint off just about anything in no time flat. It contains toluene, acetone, methanol, MEK, and a few other flammable solvents "known to the State of California to cause birth defects and other reproductive harm." But it didn't do anything to whatever that black, sort of hard but rubbery stuff was that was in my pan.

Jeff

P. S. Fortunately for me, those solvents are harmless here in the Carolinas. If I lived in California, I would probably be pretty messed up by now.

Steve_Stephens · « **Reply #14 on:** February 11, 2006, 11:36:50 PM »

Wow, that must be some kind of NASA spaceship coating you got on your pan. I've never found anything that didn't come off but some coatings can be a little hard to remove. Did you have some kind of stove or high temp paint on the pot?

Steve

Mark Ritter · « **Reply #15 on:** February 12, 2006, 08:07:31 AM »

I don't know what this coating is either but I have experienced it also. Nothing I found or did had much effect on it. I went through all the steps that Jeff did and it didn't work. It is like a polymer varnish tar which nothing cuts. You can get it to soften but then it becomes very sticky. What I ended up doing is scraping it off with a stiff putty knife and scrubbing with a scotch brite until it plugged. I ended up using two boxes of scotch brites before I was done. I would like to know what this stuff is. I'll bet it isn't healthy to be putting on a cooking surface.

Tom Neitzel · « **Reply #16 on:** February 12, 2006, 10:43:23 AM »

I'm curious if this coating is the result of long term PAM use and not cleaning it off after each use. I know I've read (maybe from the John Wright foundry) or heard on TV to make sure to not let PAM build up on your pans as it will eventually make a plastic-like, indestructible black coating that is near impossible to remove. I also know that baking sheets that I use for general heating in the oven and don't scour after use get the blackest, toughest coating you can imagine. Soap won't touch it, steel wool will just barely touch it. All the items I have that have this coating are aluminum so I can't try the lye to see if it will cut it, but I bet it won't.

We've seen in an earlier thread that it will make a pan look black and seasoned while filling in minor pits.

So many of you have commented about running in to it. It seems to be more widespread than some dealer finding a product to "pretty up" a few pieces to sell.

Just some thoughts.

Tom

gt · « **Reply #17 on:** February 12, 2006, 11:49:30 AM »

Tom,

I use PAM on my waffle iron and it also gets on the base. I've cleaned them both a couple of times with either or both (can't remember) the lye bath or electro and they cleaned up easy. The buildup in my case was from months and not years.

I do use PAM now for seasoning and heat it to 450-500F and I like the results.

Gary

Tom Neitzel · « **Reply #18 on:** February 12, 2006, 12:50:07 PM »

I know the coating you are talking about. It normally is an amber or dark brownish color and does come off pretty well if you do it regularly. What I was mentioning was the thick black plastic-like coating that happens over a very long time. It's like an epoxy resin - can hardly scratch or scrape it.

C. Perry Rapier · « **Reply #19 on:** February 12, 2006, 05:18:05 PM »

Well Tom, the stuff that I am talking about, and obviously some of the others as well, is definitely not from cooking. I got shafted on a dutch oven with that stuff in it. In a picture the bottom looked good. When I got it and finally got the stuff out of it the bottom of the dutch oven looked like the surface of the moon.

News:

Author Topic: "Painted" dutch oven (Read 9340 times)

llu

miniwoodworker

moosejaw

Steve_Stephens

Steve_Stephens

gt