Seasoning Cast Iron in a Gas Oven

[Jack19]

We moved recently and this is my first chance to season my small cast iron collection in the new house.

Here we have a gas oven, where we had electric previously. Are there any things I should do differently seasoning with gas heat? Any water vapor issues?

Here's my small collection....

Modern Wagners from the early 90s
Vintage Griswold from the 30s
Best Made Griddle from the 20s. (Griswold made these for the Sears Best Made brand.)

 

[dpm802]

That's some nice looking iron.

I don't think that a gas oven would be any different than an electric one, at least for seasoning purposes. If it has a convection fan, of course you want to turn that on so the pan heats up evenly.

One good tip I learned here on B&B was to put your pans in upside-down for seasoning. This way, the excess oil drips off, and you wind up with several light coats of oil rather than one heavy glob.

I haven't tried it yet, but next time I strip my pans down to bare metal, that's the way I'll do it.

 

[redrako]

I think that in general, you'll find gas burners on the stove top to be much more responsive to temperature changes than electric burners.

I can't think of any differences in pre-heated ovens as far as cast iron cookware goes. I do recall reading an instruction for gas ovens at one time, that if you are going to use the oven cleaning mode to burn off old seasoning and gunk, that you should pre-heat the oven first to remove any water vapor in the oven. To my mind, this would hold true for electric ovens also.

Good luck, with some fine looking vintage cast iron.

 

[mikewood]

Nothing special. Heat it heat. You can even season on a bbq pit or wood fire. All you need is oil and time.

 

[BSAGuy]

This is the answer. Nice iron by the way. Enjoy your new abode.

Nothing special. Heat it heat. You can even season on a bbq pit or wood fire. All you need is oil and time.

 

[Donnchadh_Sempill]

The only difference that I can imagine that you'll find is that you'll want to pre-heat the oven. Condensation does build up in the gas lines, making the heat damp for a little bit.

I usually wash the cast iron good in hot water before reseasoning, so I set the oven to 150-200 F before I start scrubbing. I then pop the iron in the oven for 15-30 mins to dry thoroughly. This also opens the pores in the iron so it will absorb more oil/shortening. Meanwhile, bring the oven up to the polymerization heat. This is plenty of time/heat to get rid of moisture problems within the oven itself.

 

[VerbaVolant]

I too heat up the pan/pot (at around 200°F) before applying a thin coat of oil. Season it upside down, as mentioned before.