I inherited a genuine iron Chinese wok.

[no_hypocrisy]

Unfortunately it's been in the basement for more than a decade and has some significant rust inside.

What's the best way to remove the rust? Baking soda? Scouring pad without soap? Fine sand paper?

Thanks in advance.

[NJCher]

1. wow, that is so cool

That is a major find. Lucky you. Do you do pics? Would love to see this wok.

Heat the wok up and pour salt in it. Keep scraping and stirring it.

The salt gets the impurities out. Should take the rust out, too.

Then, of course, you know the drill....oil, etc.




Cher

[OffWithTheirHeads]

2. Couldn't have advised better. My Cast iron wok is one of my most cherished pieces of cookware.

[Warpy]

3. If there's a lot of rust, I'd use a wire brush on an electric drill

unless I had access to a sandblasting booth.

Then I'd season it with Crisco and leave it in low oven for a couple of hours. Then I'd repeat it the next day and so on until it had a nice, black layer built up.

Cast iron isn't terribly fussy once you take the rust off.

[JayhawkSD]

4. Good advice above.

if you use abrasive, use fine grit. Season with solid Crisco in low oven for several hours.

I have, and treasure greatly, an iron wok my parents gave me almost 40 years ago.

[lamp_shade]

5. Anthony Bourdain did a show from China last night on CNN. His meal was

cooked in several woks... some of which were HUNDREDS of years old. I thought that was interesting.