How to clean the old cauldron at home from soot and rust?

With prolonged use, cast-iron cookware is covered with soot, and if the storage and operating rules are not followed, it is rusted. When this happens, the hostess has a logical question: how to clean the cauldron from soot and remove rust? There are many ways to do this. Let us dwell on a few of the most simple and effective ones.

Methods for cleaning the cauldron from carbon deposits

Faithful helpers in the fight against soot are household soap and PVA glue.

1. Find a large container for boiling water, in which the cauldron will fit completely, if carbon deposits are on the outer walls. If you have it exclusively inside, you can immediately proceed to the second stage.
2. Coarse a piece of laundry soap.
3. Pour water into the vat, pour soap shavings into it, squeeze out glue (bottle of 50-65 g). If you clean the cauldron only inside, pour water into it, and reduce the amount of soap and PVA by a factor of three.
4. Put on fire. When it boils, reduce to a minimum. Rinse the cauldron for three hours, adding water if necessary.
5. Take out, pour out water and clean the hard side of the sponge - the softened carbon deposits will easily lag behind.

The second method is based on the use of acid rather than alkali. He needs the products that every housewife has: table vinegar, table rock salt and baking soda.

1. Pour 2-4 tablespoons of salt into the cauldron (depending on volume), pour 100-200 ml of vinegar into it and put on fire.
   

   Tip: Remember to open the windows and leave the room so as not to breathe harmful fumes.

2. When the vinegar begins to boil, pour 60-100 g of soda into it, reduce the heat and leave it on it until all the vinegar has evaporated. This will happen quickly enough, but it’s not dangerous to miss: it’s okay to happen to the cauldron, even if it stops on low heat for a couple of minutes.
3. Rinse the cauldron under running water. If carbon deposits are not removed by themselves, rub them with a brush and rinse again.

There is another "grandfather" way to remove carbon deposits at home: the cauldron is completely filled with sand and put on a slow fire all night. By morning, it remains only to pour out sand and rinse the dishes.

Methods for removing rust from cast iron cookware

It will be a little more difficult to remove rust, especially if the spots are old, but on the Internet there are several answers to the question of how to clean the cauldron from rye, and they work.

For the first method, all the same vinegar and salt will be required, soda is not needed, but vegetable oil is needed.

1. Dilute table vinegar with water. The amount depends on the volume of the cauldron: the solution must be above the level of rust spots. If they are outside, then much more water and vinegar will be needed - the cauldron will have to be immersed in a large vat. The ratio of water to vinegar is one to one.
2. After a few hours (at least two), the vinegar solution is drained. A tablespoon of salt is poured with 20 ml of vegetable oil. With this gruel with a hard sponge, you need to rub the rye until it falls behind.
   

   TipWhen working, use household gloves to avoid “rubbing” your nails.

3. Lubricate the cauldron with oil and put in the oven for an hour. The cauldron with oil is calcined to create a protective layer on it and prevent further oxidation of iron.
4. Remove, gently wipe with a cloth. After this, do not use household soap or metal brushes to wash, so as not to remove the protective layer.

The second method is grinding. You can polish the cauldron using Pemolux and the hard side of the sponge, sandpaper.

Tip

You can grind the cauldron without practically any effort using an electric drill using a special nozzle.

The third method is called digestion, it is the most economical and safe, but it takes a lot of time (10 hours). A concentrated saline solution (a glass of salt per liter of water) is created and poured into a cauldron, after which it is put on as low a fire as possible. Boil saline all day, constantly making sure that there is enough liquid in the dishes. If you start in the morning, then in the evening you can enjoy the purity of the renewed cauldron.

The fourth method will also require not too much effort, since it involves the use of potent agents containing oxalic or phosphoric acid. We are talking about purchased products created specifically for removing rust spots.

Tip

Having boiled Coca-Cola in a cauldron, you can easily clean the rust, since this drink contains phosphoric acid.

With slight rust, the cauldron can be peeled with raw potatoes, cut in half and treated with a rye shear.

Protection for cast iron cookware against rust stains

In order not to puzzle over how to clean the cauldron from stains of rye and soot, you need to properly store and operate it. In particular, cast iron cookware should not be stored in places with high humidity. After use and washing, you need to dry it in the oven or at least wipe it well.

The cast iron cauldron lasts longer if it is regularly calcined. With the help of salt, this is quite simple to do: it is poured inside, the cauldron is placed on the stove and heated over low heat until the salt darkens. After that, it remains only to pour out the salt and wait until the cauldron cools down.

To prevent the formation of rust, it is necessary to ensure that the cauldron always has a protective layer. How to create it with the help of oil is said above (grease and calcine in the oven).

If you wash the cauldron immediately after use, then the maximum that is required to eliminate the carbon deposit is to soak the dishes for a short time in water and rub the hard side of the sponge.

Cleaning a cauldron at home is not difficult, but it is even easier to keep it clean.