posted on Nov, 11 2019 @ 05:15 AM
The start of your journey to figure out what it is will be to get the bottom of it cleaned up very carefully. Then from there you should be looking
for a "sprue" mark, or mark from the manufacturer. It may not be letters, it may be a symbol. Next look for a long thin straight line, or "gate".
It may look like a weld (but it isn't). If it has one, it will date back to the late 1700's through 1800's.
Can you post some pictures next to a ruler to get a better idea of the size? Looks like it might be about a Size #2 pot, which would hold about 1-1/4
gallons, but I can't tell for sure.
Here are some tips on restoration. However, before you do anything with your oven you may want to go down to the local hardware store and get a kit
to test for lead. If the pot tests positive for lead you probably might want to keep it out of your oven. Lead melts at 600F, so nothing should
happen in your oven, but better safe than sorry. Also, if you get a positive test for lead definitely wear gloves and a good dust mask or respirator
for the following process.
1. Wash as much of the rust off as you can under warm water using a scrub brush. Really give it a good scrubbing. Dry thoroughly.
2. For this step you can use steel wool, but wadded up tin foil actually works better (and you might want a dust mask). Wad up some tin foil into a
ball about the size of your fist. Start dry scrubbing the pot with the tinfoil. You'll notice it takes the rust off quick, but you've really got to
scrub it. Remove as much rust as possible, both inside and outside. Periodically blow all the rust dust off of it so you can see what you're doing.
An air compressor works great for this.
3. Wash the pot under warm water with a sponge and some light soap. Scrub with a brush where necessary. Rinse thoroughly until all the soap is
removed. Then dry thoroughly.
4. Coat every surface of the rust free pot with generous coat of olive oil (not EVOO, but regular). Give it as much olive oil as it will take,
several coats if necessary. Then turn the pot upside down and put it in your cold oven. Turn your oven on to 350 F and bake the pot in your oven for
1 hour (from a cold start). Note: you don't want to put your pot in a hot oven because it may crack, you want to heat the pot up with the oven as it
heats up.
5. After one hour in the oven, turn the oven off, leave the door closed and allow the oven to cool all the way down before opening the door and
removing the pot. This will take a while, maybe a couple hours. The pot should be cool to the touch before it is removed from the oven.
Your pot will now be stabilized against further rusting, and if you've done everything right it should be a beautiful black color.