Sanding a cast iron griddle

tod0987

tod0987

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I bought a grill griddle from Agri supply here in Gville a few months ago. I've tried to season it like my normal cast iron (BTW a former scoutmaster with a load of cast iron in the garage) and cooked all the normal seasoning foods (bacon, refried beans, burnt beans, commercial seasoning, oven method, etc) to try to make it close to non-stick, but no luck, its sticky. I've come to the conclusion that due to the really rough sand cast surface I'm not going to be able to get it be close to non-stick. It's like a leg trap right now. I've never had this problem before.

At this point I've been thinking about taking a grinding "sanding" wheel to it to smooth it some or possibly to a slick surface. From there begin the seasoning process over.

I'm wondering what yall think about taking it to a slick surface? or... any other thoughts? I'm not looking for a pancake maker. Plan to cook taco meats, burgers, steaks, fish, etc on it and able to move it around without it gluing down to the surface.
 
I bought some new, very cheap Cabelas pans and used an orbital sander to get them down to a somewhat smooth, shiney surface. Then I seasoned about 3 times. I have cooked bacon, burgers etc about a half dozen times. They are getting better. Not 60 years old awesome iron yet, but decent. Really no downside to a good sanding other than the work. Just make sure you season well aftewards and cook some good greasy foods. Then keep seasoning and cooking.
 
Buy better cast iron. Chinese cast is hard to season and I've avoided it like the plague! Lodge is a decent cast iron, but anything made in the US is probably pretty good.
 
Diablos said:
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That dude is nuts. I sanded mine pretty good, but he takes it to another level. Mine wasn't perfectly shiney everywhere, but after cooking enough bacon and burgers it is starting to get very nice. Evenna light sanding seems to speed up the process a little.
 
Thanks guys for the input I'll give it a shot.

Yea I agree on the Lodge stuff being better quality, but I wasn't able to find a Lodge in the big griddle size that had sides. This one is 12x20". Been happy with my lodge and Cajun cast iron thus far. Brought back to life a large ~20" dutch oven that had had water sitting in it for years and rusted badly a few years back.
 
I bought a 16" skillet from Agri-supply, Carolina Cooker brand. It was ROUGH but seemed well made. I used my grinder to initially smooth it followed by lots of sanding with 3M roloc discs and then a jitterbug sander. It is now slick as snot and is seasoned with lard the way God intended.
 
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