Wagner Cast Iron Pan Restoration

Maintain a cast iron pan and it will last you a lifetime. Then, pass it on and keep the heirloom alive and kicking. However, sometimes life gets in the way and these old tools lose their luster.

When I found this old Wagner 1058 cast iron pan, it was in rough shape. I picked it up for $5 and with a little TLC, I am happy to say, got this pan back to life.

In this Instructable, I will show you how I took this cast iron pan from grody to gorgeous.

Old rusty pan

Sink or basin

Enough distilled white vinegar (5% acidity) to submerge the pan entirely

Scrubbing pad (I use a steel wool and green scouring pads)

Non-abrasive dish soap

Rubber gloves

Oven

Neutral Oil

Lint-free rags

Time to kill

Here is a video of my restoration / seasoning process.

Doing some research on this particular pan, the Wagner 1058 was cast sometime between 1935 - 1959 in Sydney, OH, USA. This doesn't have the heat ring and is actually lighter in weight compared to the modern day Lodge of the same diameter. I am unsure as to whether or not this pan was made with a coating. It seemed to me after some reading that Wagner dabbled in nickel, chrome, and hybrid coatings to inhibit corrosion and make it to where you could use the cast iron with acidic sauces, i.e., tomato based sauces. Seems cool.

My original thought after researching this was the potential to strip the protective coating off. In hindsight, I don't believe this to be the case and the only "layer" stripped, besides rust, was carbon, as depicted in later photos.

The level of restoration came with three soaks in vinegar listed:

1. A diluted (50:50) vinegar:tap water mix for ~3 hours
2. A straight undiluted vinegar soak overnight, ~8 hours
3. Using the same mix as #2, a scrub & flip of the pan to soak an additional ~4 hours

The first soak for a few hours removed more of the superficial rust than I originally thought it would, especially given the "short duration."

Scrub the pan with some non-abrasive dish soap and the steel wool pad to get most of the rust off.

Dry the pan between each phase to minimize the potential to re-induce corrosion. This is then followed by heating to evaporate any residual water that may adhere to the iron.

Unsatisfied with the diluted soak results, I basically filled a small basin with straight 5% white vinegar to soak overnight. The next day, the amount of bubbles on the surface of the liquid actually made me happy.

Another scrub proved that I was removing the old rust / carbon buildup and getting back down to the base metal. Seeing less red (rust) and more black (carbon) on the "inner layer" of corrosion isn't necessarily a bad thing and depending on your pan, you may be able to remove this by leaving your cast iron in the oven on a Self-Cleaning cycle. I decided to simply flip the pan over in the basin after the scrub and let the vinegar go back to work to loosen the carbon build-up.

Four hours later after the third soak and subsequent scrub, I was satisfied with the level of base metal I was seeing.

Troublesome carbon build-up spots were gone from the inner cooking surface and mostly were on the outside. With that in mind, swap from steel wool to the green scouring pad, like a Scotch Brite, along with dish soap to remove any other iron and deposits removed by the vinegar. Go ample on the water here, too, to help dilute / neutralize the acidity remaining in the cast iron. You could also throw baking soda in there to neutralize the acid.

Scrub until the carbon is removed and the water runs clear. The water, in the meantime, may still appear grey / black / cloudy. Prior to seasoning, you want to get any and all of this removed and cleaned.

Place the cast iron in a cold oven. Preheat your oven to 250F (120C) and let the cast iron come to temperature to "open the pores" and evaporate any residual water, ~30 - 60 minutes.

Once warmed, heat your oven to 500-550F (260-290C). Place a little (and I stress little) bit of oil on your cast iron and rub it into ALL of the surfaces: the front, back, handle, rim, everything.

Then, take a lint free rag or an old [clean] t-shirt and wipe it all away. Wipe it until you feel like all the oil is gone. This is going to be your first layer of seasoning. When people try seasoning and their pan comes out sticky, chances are they left too much oil on the surface prior to placing the pan in the hot oven.

I used a neutral oil for this. You don't want to use something like olive oil or coconut oil. A canola or rice bran oil should be good. I even used to advocate Flax oil but ... nah, not anymore. That used to give me some many headaches with sticking after a few real cooks so I steer clear of it nowadays.

Place the pan back in the preheated oven and leave it for at least an hour. Your kitchen will get a little smoky so open a window or run ventilation.

After an hour passes, turn the oven off, leave the pan inside, and wait until the oven and pan are cooled back to room temperature.

Repeat the seasoning cycle again. I went with 4 total seasonings before I started cooking but you can do more.

Once you got a good seasoning on there, it is time to get cooking! The best thing for your cast iron is to use it regularly. By all means marvel at it but give that bad boy some flame time for your nightly meals.

Most folks will tell you to fry bacon as your maiden voyage. I had some beef fat from skirt steak trimmings so I used that followed by the actual beef.

Satisfied, I got a little nuts: 2nd ever cook was with fish.

I got a good sear on the skin, flipped, and crossed my fingers. The flesh side of my salmon slid like a dream.

Third day, pan pizza and behold, it slid out no problem.

There you go! New life to this old skillet and I couldn't be happier. I will be honest, I almost gave up and considered selling the thing online after the first 50/50 soak but, and this goes without saying, I am glad that I stuck with it.

My buddy later on was telling me to go full electrolysis on it to better remove the carbon build-up but hey, I will hold on to that if/when another cast iron needs rescuing.

I hope you try this out and that it is helpful. If you do rescue a cast iron pan, leave me a comment or any other tips and tricks you may have. See you on the next one.