New steel arrived rusted

[QuakerWildcat]

Longtime pizza stone user here -- I decided to try my first baking steel and ordered the 14"x16"x1/4" "Original Pizza Stone" based on Amazon reviews.

The bad news: It arrived covered in rust, and also had huge markings across it that suggested it was used.

The good news: They refunded the purchase price and did not ask me to send it back.

I decided to put in some elbow grease to try to restore it to a usable state and wow  . This was not easy. I used a baking soda paste and steel wool and after multiple passes, the obvious surface rust is gone and it feels smooth, but it's still a very marked-up steel.

My question #1: Have I gotten the rust off or do I need to keep scrubbing or doing something else? Please see photo attached.

Question #2:Having discovered this forum, I see recommendations for bigger and thicker steels for my 30" oven and even bigger grill (I didn't know bigger was a thing but I hadn't looked very hard). Should I just give this one away and go for bigger/thicker?

[Howitzer21]

My question #1: Have I gotten the rust off or do I need to keep scrubbing or doing something else? Please see photo attached.

Question #2:Having discovered this forum, I see recommendations for bigger and thicker steels for my 30" oven and even bigger grill (I didn't know bigger was a thing but I hadn't looked very hard). Should I just give this one away and go for bigger/thicker?

#1: You at least need to re-season it. https://bakingsteel.com/blogs/recipes/using-cleaning-re-seasoning-your-baking-steel

#2: Season it and try using first before giving it away. A thicker steel will effect your pizza differently, and that may not be the preferred outcome depending on your desired results. No sense in paying for another bigger/thicker steel when this one may perform exactly how you desire. And if it doesn't, you'll still have a steel to give away, or use a secondary steel to use as a heat sink/deflector in your oven.

[Pizza_Not_War]

I like to soak metal with any hint of rust in a Citric acid bath for a few hours. Simple and it doesn't start to rust again when you take it out unlike some other methods. Then season it.

[Timpanogos Slim]

It looks better than my steel, and i haven't had issues with rust flavors on my crust.

This is what mine looked like after seasoning with avocado oil until the rag stopped coming away rusty and baking half a dozen pizzas on it.

You can soak it in vinegar, or citric acid solution, or diet coke if you want.

But you don't *have to. I just ground off the loose rust, scrubbed it with bar keeper's friend a bit, and seasoned it.

[QuakerWildcat]

Thank you, everybody. These are the answers I expected and hoped for. I have seasoned it and look forward to giving it a try soon.

[TXCraig1]

As for your question #2 - steel is way too thermally conductive to use on a grill. There is no way to get enough top heat to balance the bake.

[QuakerWildcat]

As for your question #2 - steel is way too thermally conductive to use on a grill. There is no way to get enough top heat to balance the bake.

Oh, that's good to know. My oven hits 550 but I a wondering if I could do better on my gas grill that gets over 650. It is a 6-burner, which means I could do all indirect heat, but opening the lid probably drops the temperature in half.

[TXCraig1]

It's really hard to get high top heat in a grill. They can work OK with indirect heat from below as you noted if you use a normal pizza stone, but you'll be baking pretty much the same pizza you would in your home oven.