I use a stainless steel scrub pad. After it is clean and dry, coat with Crisco, lard, or canola in a thin layer and bake in oven at 200 degrees. Remove and let cool naturally. Wash to remove anything sticky. Repeat if needed.

I had to sand a pan with sand paper once. It is as good as new.

This is pretty much what’s worked for me. Hope the link works. I’ve been having trouble here with copying/pasting.

https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-restore-a-rusty-cast-iron-skillet-cleaning-lessons-from-the-kitchn-203086

I dont think its rusty, it just has goo on it that needs to come off. Ill try your suggestions.

Aziline, thanks thanks. Ill try it tomorrow.

You'll find lots of YouTube videos to help. I recall the first step most suggest for removing yuck from long unused cast iron is steel wool.

I cant imagine what happened here but cook some bacon in your pan-you can toss the bacon when you are done. Wipe with paper towel. Lard is really efficient for sealing a cast iron pan. It bakes in nicely sealing the pores. With good seasoning you can wash one with hot water and soap if you have to with no problems. Normally it is acidic food that destroys seasoning. Maybe it was way over heated?

I do as aziline describes when my skillets get crusty from cooking burgers.

It is basically deglazing, and if you use just a small amount of water, it makes a good gravy

Pumice stone should do it. I haven't used it on cast, I use something better but I've used it on the bottom of my stock pans and they end up looking brand new.

What I've used on cast Iron is a DA sander (dual action orbital sander) with 220 grit and then 320 grit quality sanding disks made for metal. I've taken very rusty cheap (lodge) cast iron pans and made them way better than new with a smooth high polished finish. Then I seasoned the pans a couple of times.

Someone said use 200 degrees but it's not how you do it. Give the entire pan and not just the bottom a thin layer of oil and pop into a smokin hot 450 degree oven for 30 minutes. It's going to smoke, it needs to for the oil to carbonize to actually be non stick and seasoned.

There is nothing wrong with Lodge but they're not polished and why the price is low. Cast Iron can be ground, sanded and polished to mirror finish if you have the time.

And don't fret if it doesn't look like when you got it. The first cast iron pan I got was a Wagner that was hung up outside a shop and very rusty. I got it for $5 or so and excitedly took it home, stripped it, and seasoned it. I used it exactly 1 time and then put it in the back of the cupboard. Non-stick my bum! Few years later it came out and stayed in my cookware rotation. Now I have a few pieces and they all have the pretty black patina.

There are cast iron FB groups. Your pan will get back to what it was. I once checked out a book from the library, Cast Iron For Dummies. Taught me alot, plus it had a bunch of recipes.

I use chainmail, as in this video, but only after I've boiled water in the pan, as Aziline suggested.

I've always heard (and there's a reason it's called hearsay), never use anything like steel wool, scouring pads, etc. on cast iron. So, what I use is... kosher salt. It's great to scrub off icky stuff.

yep, like this

A real bad rusty pan can be cleaned by putting it in a plastic bag and spraying with Easy off oven cleaner. Put the bag in the sun for a day and it will come clean.

When seasoning cast iron, the higher the heat the better. Baking it at 200° does nothing. It will make it sticky. 450° is better. You want it to polymerize onto the steel.

If you don't want to use the Easy Off method. Put vinegar and water in and let soak for 30 minutes. That's what you do with a bit of rust.

A green scrubbie with water. Once the rust is gone...season hot with cooking oil. I don't own chain mail....that is the coolest method! Love the ingenuity & creativity of that idea! But...I have these on hand....or Dollar Tree sells packs of them.

It's not rust, it's goo, according to the OP. I wouldn't boil anything in it; if I remember correctly that will remove the seasoning. I would use a Brillo pad, wet it in warm water and scrub gently to remove the goo, wash with dish soap and water, rinse well, dry and then cook a pound of bacon in it, as someone suggested. You are so blessed to have your grandmother's Griswold skillet. Please learn how to take care of it properly.

Like woodrose said, it is not rust. It is just baked on goo.

Baking soda works well too - I use it on my pans.

Who else stores their cast iron in the oven? I do and just returned them there after baking something a little while ago.

My pans are pretty old - none were new when I got them.

Just a note: once it is clean, you should re-season it. Coat with a thin layer of oil, put in oven upside down (put foil on bottome of oven to catch drips), heat for one hour at 450°, let cool in oven. I never use soap on mine, just rinse with hot hot water, dry and sometimes put another thin amount of oil and reheat and let dry.

ETA: And yes, I agree with FOAS that you should repeat the seasoning process several times in a row the first time..

Baking soda has worked well for me everywhere that grease has been allowed to build up or burn on, without harming finishes. Sprinkle it on, dampen, allow to sit for a while, then use a non-scratch scrubbie to clean off the burned on grease.

Scrub it with an SOS pad. Rinse and dry well. Then fry bacon in it and wipe out. Grew up with cast iron. Have some well over 50 years old. Doesn't need to be babied. Just needs to kept dry. Fry in it. that means using a bit of fat. If you use it to grill without fat, that's where the build up comes from. And avoid cooking spray at all costs.

Oh and the best way to strip an old cast iron pan if the need ever arises is to just throw the whole thing into a nice wood fire.

I gave it a scrub with a green scrubbie and it looks better. I think it could use another scrub, though though. I havent seasoned it yet.

Coincidentally ,I heard a great story on The Moth podcast about a fellow who lost his family’s cast iron skillet. It had been in the family for generations If you want to,listen the episode is called Objects of Desire.

Heres the current state of my pan.

Anytime, after I wash my skillet, I always put it on the burner(medium heat) until it's dry of any water, about 5 minutes. Water is what will cause the rust. Then, after it's cooled down, I will put a little bit of oil on it and smear it around with a paper towel.

Do you eat any fried food? Bacon, Fried chicken, etc? If so just fry in it. That will season it just fine.

Also, I do not like to cook anything in mine with tomatoes or vineagar. I can taste the iron fron the pan and it WILL make it rust.

I do not think you had rust, just leftover from the hamburgers.

I haven’t read the advice you‘ve been given thus far but here’s mine, a combination of advice I’ve read here and elsewhere and what I’ve found has worked best for me:

It looks like it’s nicely cleaned up. wash it one more time then wipe it dry, then as you’re drying it rub it hard with paper towels. If there’s a bit of black that’s ok but if there’s any brown then there’s more rust to scrub.

After you’re done with cleaning and drying well, coat with oil. Flaxseed - pure flaxseed, found refrigerated - is supposedly the best but I don’t bother as it’s expensive and I have no other use for it. I use avocado oil, and have used grapeseed in the past. I do NOT like to use vegetable oil though many instructions include that.

Once oiled, take clean paper towels to wipe off as much of the oil as you can. Anything more than that left behind can become gummy.

Put upside down in an oven. Heat to 350, let it bake for a bit then shut off the oven. A couple hours later when it’s all cooled, repeat. And repeat. If at any time you find the pan feels gummy, you left too much oil. Scrub the gummy sections clean and start over, as it won’t go away on its own. Oil and bake three times and you should have a nice shiny skillet to cook with.