Cooking iron in the oven

[pa plateau hiker]

Over the years on Treasurenet I have read where people cook iron in the oven to get rid of moisture, after electrolysis. From several hours, up to 8 hours. Correct me if I'm wrong, but iron isn't porous like wood and any water would not saturate into it. I use a propane torch to evaporate water. Just the other day I was using a torch on 3/8" iron and by the time I got to the other side, the moisture was gone, but I still hit it with the torch. I have done axes with wood still inside the head. Water would bubble out of the wood and start smoking, it got so hot. My reasoning is, it't not necessary to cook iron for hours in an oven. I may be wrong, but just being curious.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Cast iron is porous.

 

[pa plateau hiker]

Cast iron is porous.

True, the only cast iron I clean are old cast iron stove parts. Everything else is old rusty iron.