"Oz Revival"

When I first glanced at 'Ozpig', after leaving him alone and unattended in the shed for 12 months, was not a pretty sight.  Queensland's high humidity had left a thin film of rust all over his belly as well as quite a thick, heavy helping on the cooking plates.  Poor fella.................he was in trouble.

I had to do something.   'Oz' is a great mate who cooks our meals when the power goes out and he also keeps us warm when we hang out on the verandah on a cold Winters day.  I also won't mention the quite substantial amount of my hard earned cash that he cost me in the first place.

A wire brush, two large bits of wet and dry paper and lots of elbow grease later, Oz is now ready for a coat of pot belly black.  The same cannot be said for the cooking plates which have been soaking in some white vinegar as we speak.    A good friend, Hutchy, passed on to me that she had read about the virtues of vinegar as a rust removal aid, on the internet, at some stage.   I was willing to try anything that may help.

A few hours later I hit the plates with a solid effort of steel wool treatment.  All the rust has now gone but the plates have been left pitted, and of course, not the prettiest looking things to be cooking on.  There is no other answer.  It's POWER TOOL TIME!!!  (This happens to be the grinder with an emery attachment)

Yep!  Worked like a treat........................two shiny clean hot plates, ready to go

So, two coats of pot belly black paint and two days later - Oz is looking his old self again,  positioned nicely back on the verandah.  

And when Summer comes again I need to remember to 'slip, slop, slap'.  Slip Oz into the shed, slop some oil on his cooking plates and slap on a cover.   I am off now to forward plan that in the diary so I will remember.