Sigh. Always test cast iron of unknown history. Any wall mounting tips lol?
a lot of lead tests are unreliable, keep that in mind
this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2025
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An shit, I’ve never tested my thrifted pans..
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.
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.
Gouge It with a steel tool.
LASERS!!!
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.
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. 🙂
I've never even considered this as a potential history for a used pan. Thanks for the post.
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
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.
not all sandblasting is ghost busters style though. Plenty of smaller units in use that have some pretty extensive filtration add'ons for just this type of situation (think sci-fi medical glass-box with glove inserts you stick you hands into and where the alien eventually breaks out of).
Thank you for the explanation and the mental imagery. I'm a big Alien fan.
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.
I'd err on the side of caution but this would be a good experiment and follow up video on YT
You should somehow permanently mark it so someone unfamiliar with your test doesn’t try to use it for food
A hacksaw score across the handle?
Drill a hole in it
then how would you use it for melting more metal?
Oof, that's commitment.
Cast is some hard shit... Drilling it sucks.
Cast is brittle. It drills super easy. I've had 2x4 from homedepot give me a harder time. Just lean on drill to give it that umph.
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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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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…)
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Can I ask where you got the lead testing swabs (brand/part number)? I’d like to test some of my cast iron.
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?
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