I recently got a new carbon steel wok and have had some trouble seasoning it. I used peanut oil and a combination of the stove top and oven methods described in various newsgroup posts. After a few oil/heat/cool cycles, the seasoned finish developed, but then the bottom and first inch or so of the sides developed a handful of "blisters" and it started to flake off. Subsequent seasoning efforts didn't work, with new seasoned patches forming, while old seasoned places flaked off.

I finally decided to start again and tried to remove the seasoned finish and get back to bare metal. Several scrubbings with "Bar Keeper's Friend" weren't getting very far, so I finally used a heavy duty paint stripping wheel on my drill. I have successfully removed all of the seasoning and am down to bare metal, however there are now "swirl marks" visible on the wok from the stripping wheel. I can't feel them, but they are visible and I'm confident the wok is not quite as smooth as when I bought it.

My first question has to do with why the seasoning might have flaked off. Any ideas? Could it be the quality of my wok? My second question is whether or not I need to polish or otherwise smooth out the interior of the wok before trying to season it again. Will the "micro" scratches be an issue? I'm hoping they won't be an issue, because I'm guessing that polishing it would be a tedious process.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

Regards,
Charles Goodman

I think you can just start using your wok, and cleaning it gently. It should develop a nice seasoning over time.

--
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Louis Cohen
Living la vida loca at N37° 43' 7.9" W122° 8' 42.8"


"Charles Goodman" > wrote in message news:vgr5c.18068$_w.353630@attbi_s53...
I recently got a new carbon steel wok and have had some trouble seasoning it. I used peanut oil and a combination of the stove top and oven methods described in various newsgroup posts. After a few oil/heat/cool cycles, the seasoned finish developed, but then the bottom and first inch or so of the sides developed a handful of "blisters" and it started to flake off. Subsequent seasoning efforts didn't work, with new seasoned patches forming, while old seasoned places flaked off.

I finally decided to start again and tried to remove the seasoned finish and get back to bare metal. Several scrubbings with "Bar Keeper's Friend" weren't getting very far, so I finally used a heavy duty paint stripping wheel on my drill. I have successfully removed all of the seasoning and am down to bare metal, however there are now "swirl marks" visible on the wok from the stripping wheel. I can't feel them, but they are visible and I'm confident the wok is not quite as smooth as when I bought it.

My first question has to do with why the seasoning might have flaked off. Any ideas? Could it be the quality of my wok? My second question is whether or not I need to polish or otherwise smooth out the interior of the wok before trying to season it again. Will the "micro" scratches be an issue? I'm hoping they won't be an issue, because I'm guessing that polishing it would be a tedious process.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

Regards,
Charles Goodman

On 2004-03-16, Louis Cohen > wrote:

> oil/heat/cool cycles, the seasoned finish developed, but then the bottom =
> and first inch or so of the sides developed a handful of "blisters" and =
> it started to flake off.

Sounds like you got one of them Americanized woks that have a film on them
to prevent rusting prior to sale. Toss the old one (drill a buncha holes in
it and use it in your K ...fer something and go to an old dusty Chinese
or Japanese store with plain ol' steel woks and start over. They aren't that
expensive.

nb

"Charles Goodman" > wrote in message news:vgr5c.18068$_w.353630@attbi_s53...
I recently got a new carbon steel wok and have had some trouble seasoning it. I used peanut oil and a combination of the stove top and oven methods described in various newsgroup posts. After a few oil/heat/cool cycles, the seasoned finish developed, but then the bottom and first inch or so of the sides developed a handful of "blisters" and it started to flake off. Subsequent seasoning efforts didn't work, with new seasoned patches forming, while old seasoned places flaked off.

I finally decided to start again and tried to remove the seasoned finish and get back to bare metal. Several scrubbings with "Bar Keeper's Friend" weren't getting very far, so I finally used a heavy duty paint stripping wheel on my drill. I have successfully removed all of the seasoning and am down to bare metal, however there are now "swirl marks" visible on the wok from the stripping wheel. I can't feel them, but they are visible and I'm confident the wok is not quite as smooth as when I bought it.

My first question has to do with why the seasoning might have flaked off. Any ideas? Could it be the quality of my wok? My second question is whether or not I need to polish or otherwise smooth out the interior of the wok before trying to season it again. Will the "micro" scratches be an issue? I'm hoping they won't be an issue, because I'm guessing that polishing it would be a tedious process.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

Regards,
Charles Goodman

Sounds as though the heat was not evenly distributed over the entire wok while seasoning. To season properly, you just don't add oil and heat; rather you need to twist the wok so that each portion of the surface is exposed to the heat evenly.

In reseasoning cast iron skillets, I have used solid shortening in a thin
coat, even if I have to repeat the process. I have never felt that oil has
enough "body". Just my thought.

Dora

Thanks to all for the replies. I ended up scrubbing off the first seasoning and seem to have had much better success on the second go-round.

In hindsight, I think I used too much oil and I also might have left it in the oven for too long at one point. I like using the oven or putting it upside down on my grill because it gives a more even finish over the entire surface. The stovetop method only seems to season the bottom of the wok. Anyway, on my second attempt, I used only a very thin coat of peanut oil and I kept my heating cycles to 8-10 min. I let the Wok completely cool after a heating cycle and applied another very light coat of oil.

Seems to have worked. Thanks again for the help.
"Charles Goodman" > wrote in message news:vgr5c.18068$_w.353630@attbi_s53...
I recently got a new carbon steel wok and have had some trouble seasoning it. I used peanut oil and a combination of the stove top and oven methods described in various newsgroup posts. After a few oil/heat/cool cycles, the seasoned finish developed, but then the bottom and first inch or so of the sides developed a handful of "blisters" and it started to flake off. Subsequent seasoning efforts didn't work, with new seasoned patches forming, while old seasoned places flaked off.

I finally decided to start again and tried to remove the seasoned finish and get back to bare metal. Several scrubbings with "Bar Keeper's Friend" weren't getting very far, so I finally used a heavy duty paint stripping wheel on my drill. I have successfully removed all of the seasoning and am down to bare metal, however there are now "swirl marks" visible on the wok from the stripping wheel. I can't feel them, but they are visible and I'm confident the wok is not quite as smooth as when I bought it.

My first question has to do with why the seasoning might have flaked off. Any ideas? Could it be the quality of my wok? My second question is whether or not I need to polish or otherwise smooth out the interior of the wok before trying to season it again. Will the "micro" scratches be an issue? I'm hoping they won't be an issue, because I'm guessing that polishing it would be a tedious process.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

Regards,
Charles Goodman

notbob wrote:

> On 2004-03-16, Louis Cohen > wrote:
>
> > oil/heat/cool cycles, the seasoned finish developed, but then the bottom =
> > and first inch or so of the sides developed a handful of "blisters" and =
> > it started to flake off.
>
> Sounds like you got one of them Americanized woks that have a film on them
> to prevent rusting prior to sale. Toss the old one (drill a buncha holes in
> it and use it in your K ...fer something and go to an old dusty Chinese
> or Japanese store with plain ol' steel woks and start over. They aren't that
> expensive.
>
> nb

I agree that it sounds like one of the cheap coated ones...Bought a few of them
in the 70's...
But, no need to toss them in my experience. I just sanded the surface, and
started seasoning again, and everything was fine,

Lawrence

Charles Goodman wrote:
> I recently got a new carbon steel wok and have had some trouble
> seasoning it.

Make popcorn in it a few times. I never use the lid
so I drilled holes in it and always use it for popcorn.