Sigh. Always test cast iron of unknown history. Any wall mounting tips lol?
I've never even considered this as a potential history for a used pan. Thanks for the post.
this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2025
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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?
Wouldn't sandblasting aerosolize the lead?
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
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Someone used it for making bullets. Selling it without disclosure was quite irresponsible of them.
It could have been an estate sale and changed hands a couple times, considering how old these are
I would still clearly mark any cast iron that I used to melt metals.
how? what methods don't just wash off?
A stamp on the cooking surface is one way I've commonly seen it done.
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that's even a thing? djeebis
Oh yeah. Bullets, fishing lures, etc. It's pretty common to have one dedicated to lead out here in the rural parts of the US.
Can confirm. Though, I picked up a cheap steel pot from goodwill for this purpose ... cast iron was too expensive for my lead melting needs ; )
Cast iron is fairly ubiquitous in Appalachia. 🙂
You should somehow permanently mark it so someone unfamiliar with your test doesn’t try to use it for food
Drill a hole in it
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A hacksaw score across the handle?
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.
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.
This is something I would expect a chemistry type content creator like codyslab, nilered/blue, or E&I to do just to demonstrate how feasible it is.
With a cost breakdown and showing what chemical waste remains after the fact, it would be super obvious it's not worth it unless you have some sentimental attachment to it, like it was your great grandparents pan or something.
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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
I'd hope they weren't cooking it until it was glowing bright white hot.
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.
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An shit, I’ve never tested my thrifted pans..
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…)
Oven cleaner will strip seasoning
a lot of lead tests are unreliable, keep that in mind
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.
Why not break it and throw it away?
The norm where I'm from is to drill a hole in the bottom so it becomes useless.
The best idea ive read.
Until someone fills the hole with a little lead. Good as new!
You can lead a horse to water
Shoot it with more lead
Sounds like a job for a paint pen.
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 😁
Dremel tool with a diamond bit. Carve "LEAD" on the bottom.
I mean.... A hammer works pretty well, too.
Make it an art piece.
Broken Dreams, 2025
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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.
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?
Can I ask where you got the lead testing swabs (brand/part number)? I’d like to test some of my cast iron.
is this common with old cast iron?
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
It was most likely lead. It was also used as weights for fishing lures and a ton of other stuff.
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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).
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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.
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