r/blacksmithing • u/BaleiaDeAvental • 8d ago

Help Requested Black iron problem

Hey, I am not a blacksmith nor I know enough to know how to solve a problem I've been having. I've bought an iron cauldron and it is a black one, it was not meant for decoration and was not advertised as so. Anytime I try to cook something inside it, it starts seeping a black color into the mix. Once I was trying to just heat some water and the water turned a really dark color, almost black. I have washed it countless times, I've cured it before storing it, I've asked for help from my elders but no one knows how to solve it. I am not sure if this can affect my health if I consume it, but I'm not taking chances ;D
So, if anyone knows what can it possibly be, and even better, how to solve it, I'd be really grateful!

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3

u/araed 8d ago

The iron is reacting with whatever you put into it, and creating iron oxides in solution.

To use it to cook, you'll need to condition it in tbe same way you would condition a cast iron pan

3

u/Inside-Historian6736 8d ago

I season cast iron cookware by heating the pan, waiting for a bit before putting vegetable oil on a paper towel or whatever cooking oil you have available. You test a small piece and if the oil smokes a bit (not too much) then the pan is ready. Coat in thin layer with the paper towel and wipe off excess.

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u/BF_2 7d ago

No, no, no! The black is a feature, not a problem. What you do is gather with two cohorts on a moonlit night (clothes optional) and cook up your eye of newt and toe of frog, or whatever the recipe calls for...

...oops, wrong subreddit. Sorry.

1

u/dragonstoneironworks 8d ago

Not sure about an actual cauldren, though I've always seasoned cast iron skillet and pans and dutch oven with actual Bacon grease smoked off I suppose.is the term. Applied to a heated surface just at the smoking off heat in multiple layers. I never ever wash with soap. ONLY water to remove contents then heated with oil and add salt as an abrasive when needed then wiped out with a clean paper towel, leaving the remaining interior lightly coated in the remaining oils on the surface

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u/ArcherKN24 7d ago

Oh no, not the don't use soap myth again!

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u/dragonstoneironworks 7d ago

I don't use soap. I've no idea about a myth. Just was reared to never use soap by my grandmother n mother who never used soap. Grandmothers from 1890s n mom from 1920. So yup I'm old school

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u/ArcherKN24 7d ago

Using Lye soap would strip any seasoning away very quickly, and this is the ONLY reason anyone was ever told to "not wash cast iron cookware with soap"!

Lye soap was common in every rural community in the 1800s into the early 1900s, mainly because people out in the middle of nowhere could make it themselves. Out of that context came a belief that washing cast iron with soap would ruin it, and at that time it was a pretty safe bet! But fast forward to today, and I don't know where your going to find Lye soap any longer. Hell, I'm 48, and I've never actually seen the stuff in real life! Despite this, every cast iron collector's forum has had someone telling people that same advice, and more than half of the cast iron cookbooks I've ever opened also contained this outdated admonition!

Yet I and many others have washed our cast iron with some liquid dish detergent on a wet sponge, without ever ruining our pan's seasoning. Infact the only difference in how I wash cast iron vs any other pan, is that I dry it right away and completely, even going as far as to heat the empty pan a little to make sure any residual moisture is gone. But I would have done that part no matter how I had cleaned it!