Sigh. Always test cast iron of unknown history. Any wall mounting tips lol?
Thrifted Griswald is contaminated with lead :(
a year ago by capybeby to c/castiron
Zedd_Prophecy 18 points a year ago
Yeah this one is a heads up - I've always thrifted and sourced my pans at flea markets. I would imagine that sandblasting the pan and re seasoning might mitigate?
acockworkorange 14 points a year ago
Wouldn't sandblasting aerosolize the lead?
piecat 10 points a year ago
Probably, but you should be wearing PPE anyway. And washing your hands like it has lead, even if it doesnt.
Generally microscopic particles of silica, metals, paints, oxides, etc. aren't good for you
acockworkorange 4 points a year ago
My point is it would spread the contamination around. RIP sandblasting place, no? All the objects around, would all receive a thin veneer of lead.
dream_weasel 4 points a year ago
I think no, but I'm not an expert here. I can find no articles with a statement for or against that aren't opinion pieces or reddit threads.
Zedd_Prophecy 3 points a year ago
I'd err on the side of caution but this would be a good experiment and follow up video on YT
Wrufieotnak 1 point a year ago
Depends if the lead is just a later contamination on the surface or is already in the material since the beginning. For first one your idea might work, second one definitely not.
jws_shadotak 44 points a year ago
It could have been an estate sale and changed hands a couple times, considering how old these are
jumping_redditor 7 points a year ago
how? what methods don't just wash off?
Big_Boss_77 7 points a year ago
A stamp on the cooking surface is one way I've commonly seen it done.
Welt 5 points a year ago
I imagine at a high enough temperature, alloys of lead and iron are formed. Little crystals of lead may sit within the iron, which likely doesn't melt but might allow some lead in. Still, it'd probably be metallic lead rather than the much more bioavailable ionic (salt) form, but I still wouldn't use it for cooking. Props to OP for testing it.
stoicmaverick 5 points a year ago
LASERS!!!
witty_username 31 points a year ago path: 0 17859196 17860440, hotness: undefined, score: 31, children: 6
Onomatopoeia 12 points a year ago
Oof, that's commitment.
Cast is some hard shit... Drilling it sucks.
caseyweederman 8 points a year ago
Just put it in the dishwasher then.
lemming741 2 points a year ago
Low speed
High feed
Get those chips outta there!
jumping_redditor 4 points a year ago
then how would you use it for melting more metal?
lemming741 6 points a year ago
A hacksaw score across the handle?
Onomatopoeia 43 points a year ago
Is there no way to get rid of the lead?
My question is really academic - literally. I'm curious about the physics/chemistry of what happens when lead is melted in cast iron.
If a pan tests positive, seems safer bet to retire it - pans are cheap compared to your health.
RvTV95XBeo 34 points a year ago
I'd wager it's mostly surface contamination, so maybe but it's not worth it - assuming you can even safely remove the lead without contaminating everything around you, you now have a bunch of lead to dispose of.
Once that's done and you have a pan with "undetectable levels" of lead do you even trust it knowing the pan's history?
Its a lot of tools, time, and testing, when you could just go buy an uncontaminated pan and move on.
Cataphract 6 points a year ago
oh god, don't tell Nilered. He'll end up melting down hundreds of cast iron trying to get enough lead to make something with lol.
seriously though, whoever does it I hope they find some older ones to test as well and not just trying to replicate it with melting metals. Might be like trying to find a 4-leaf clover and they would be getting tons of people just shipping pans but I think it would be important to see the effects time had. Full testing including cutting open and seeing the results in the layers below the surface if they're trying to remove it.
NielsBohron 25 points a year ago
Chemistry instructor here. It depends on how hot you get the pan. For the most part, the lead is going to stay in the seasoning, like someone mentioned above. However, if it got anywhere close to the melting point of the iron, you could wind up incorporating some of the lead into the iron itself. This seems pretty unlikely, as lead melts at about 325^o^C and iron melts above 1,500^o^C, but it's possible as natural gas and propane burners can get up to above 1,900^o^C
SocialMediaRefugee 10 points a year ago
I'd hope they weren't cooking it until it was glowing bright white hot.
NielsBohron 12 points a year ago
Me too, but since we don't know exactly why they were melting lead or what other metals might have been mixed it, it's impossible to say for sure.
Mpatch 4 points a year ago
Lol I'd would love to see home attempts to even try to get it to that temperature. But I would also like to be far far away. Because at those temps if the sounding area isn't sufficiently prepared for metal casting. Anything is a bomb. Even the dirt and concrete.
NielsBohron 4 points a year ago
In my experience, people get really creative when it comes to kitchen/garage chemistry, so all I'm saying is I wouldn't rule out anything that is physically possible.
Especially if we're talking about one's personal health.
Edit: since it's relevant, I literally just taught a lab section that has a research project component, and one group did their project on metallurgy. They were able to use butane Bunsen burner attachments and cinder blocks to make a furnace that was able to melt iron and make some mediocre steel alloys using only stuff you can buy at Home Depot.
Mpatch 1 point a year ago
Cinderblocks? At those temps? That's very dangerous. Cinderblocks can explode at those temperatures due to trapped moisture in the pores. Also, it can crumble apart and spill whatever is in the pot, granted if you guys are using cinderblocks for this... i doubt that the area is prepared accordingly. So when the hot liquid metal hits the ground, it will cause it to also explode from moisture, launching blobs of hot metal everywhere.
glizzyguzzler 30 points a year ago
Holy shot never thought to test used cast iron of unknown provenance.
You can def strip it, the lead contamination is in the seasoning but it’s not gonna get into the iron. Buuuut sanding that down will be a hazmat zone. I’d bunny suit/sealed goggles/P100/sand on plastic sheet cause that’s gonna be the worst case for lead dust. Idk if it’s worth it.
Check flurospec if you have some extra disposable cash for better lead tests https://www.detectlead.com/, I wonder if the types of tests you used turned red due to interacting with iron or something (unlikely but possible, they incorrectly react sometimes and it’s red so monk brain wonders…)
hedge_lord 27 points a year ago
If you use a test on a pan that is known to have not have been exposed to lead, is it still positive? I've heard that some of these tests are designed to give false positives so that they do not give false negatives, but I do not have a source for that and it would be bad to assume it to be true without evidence.
hedge_lord 2 points a year ago
My condolences...
HeyJoe 25 points a year ago
Just be sure to put a label on the back stating it should not be used and contains lead. You never know who may attempt to use it someday for whatever reason. Also, in case something happens to you and someone cleans out your place, they will know its deadly and should discard it instead of keeping it.
usualsuspect191 14 points a year ago
Why not break it and throw it away?
ObviouslyNotBanana 32 points a year ago
The norm where I'm from is to drill a hole in the bottom so it becomes useless.
lolrightythen 23 points a year ago
The best idea ive read.
Until someone fills the hole with a little lead. Good as new!
ObviouslyNotBanana 8 points a year ago
You can lead a horse to water
SocialMediaRefugee 5 points a year ago
Shoot it with more lead
Onomatopoeia 6 points a year ago
Sounds like a job for a paint pen.
riskable 10 points a year ago
Melt some PET water/soda bottles (e.g. with a heat gun) so the plastic drips on to the bottom side and scratch out a huge ass warning into it with a hobby knife (or any knife, really... It's just PET). Also write another warning with a sharpie in multiple locations.
Why this method? Because that plastic will stick pretty good to the bottom of a cast iron pan—making anyone thinking of using it think twice, "How TF am I going to get that off without making a gross burning plastic stink?" Or a fool will try and quickly get annoyed that it won't sit flat on their stovetop and it'll be too far away from an induction heater to work. Make the plastic nice and uneven 👍
Also, if you're just hanging it up on the wall no one will see the bottom so it won't uglify your pretty hanging pan.
Melting a water bottle with a heat gun happens pretty fast and the iron pan will absorb the heat in the plastic quickly too. So the whole process will take less than a minute. Then scratching out a warning label will take a few minutes 😁
SocialMediaRefugee 10 points a year ago
Dremel tool with a diamond bit. Carve "LEAD" on the bottom.
Onomatopoeia 5 points a year ago
Have you tried to break a cast iron pan with a "hammer"?
At a minimum it'll take a sledge, and that will still take a bit of effort.
Besides, it's just no longer useful for food. Still fine as decoration, door stop, anchor - whatever you can think up.
A big painted "Not food safe" on the back would be a good reminder.
Onomatopoeia 2 points a year ago
I like the way you think!
bizarroland 22 points a year ago
I wonder if you tried the electrolysis trick to remove all of the coating and then tested the bare metal if it would still have lead contamination.
If the coating contains lead and you get rid of it, and then the bare metal doesn't, then you could just re-season the pan and it would be fine, right?
blattrules 9 points a year ago
I got a similar kit on Amazon a while back Webetop lead testing kit
nickwitha_k 13 points a year ago
Oh no! I will have to test the ones that I have, especially the inherited one.
Wall mounting tip: Hooks on a sturdy board (maybe hardwood like oak) that spans several studs should be sufficient.
AA5B 29 points a year ago
Cast iron can be used for melting lead to form shot and fishing weights. That’s rare now but did happen
Actually when I was a kid, one year my Dad melted metal for weighting my pinewood derby - I do wonder now what he melted and how. Not many easily obtained metals are heavy and have a low melting point
spankmonkey 12 points a year ago
It was most likely lead. It was also used as weights for fishing lures and a ton of other stuff.
Kirp123 9 points a year ago
Not really. Though sometimes people do use the pans for weird shit and they can get contaminated that way. One example I heard was of people melting lead for fishing weights and bullets (though your cast pan would have to be really old if it was used for that).
codexarcanum 5 points a year ago
Not that it's a cast iron level of this issue, but I knew a guy who paid for college (this woud have been about 10 years ago now) by purchasing scavenged and derelict boats, then chopping\melting the lead ballast out of them to resell as raw metal. Never underestimate the value of scrap metal or people's willingness to gather it up for money.
MehBlah 2 points 8 months ago
You know those test kits have a high false positive history.
capybeby 2 points 8 months ago
Indeed, thank you for the info! But alas I also tested a pan that I knew was not contaminated and the tests came back negative. It’s of course still possible the positives were false, but I figure it’s not really worth the risk.
MehBlah 2 points 8 months ago
I don't disagree but I have a pan from a 60's camping trailer that tested positive. The person who originally bought it assured me it had never been used to melt led. I stripped with lye and rechecked it. It tested negative after that. The difference here being that I was told the pan I was checking was clean by the person who bought it new.
SplashJackson 0 points a year ago
Well, what can I do for ye?
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castiron
@lemmy.world
2704
128
2
A community for cast iron cookware. Recipes, care, restoration, identification, etc.
Rules: Be helpful when you can, be respectful always, and keep cooking bacon.
More rules may come as the community grows, but for now, I'll remove spam or anything obviously mean-spirited, and leave it at that.
Related Communities: !forgediron@lemmy.world !sourdough@lemmy.world !cooking@lemmy.world
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I've never even considered this as a potential history for a used pan. Thanks for the post.
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