cast iron cookware

[Expatriated]

Perhaps, but many of the other older American brands are close enough for someone now wanting to pay the inflated price for vintage Griswold.


I buy brand new lodge and "convert" it to vintage. That means a ton of time with an angle grinder and sandpaper, smoothing the awfully rough factory surface. It's not a good return on time investment-- I have several hours in each piece. But the result is that I have some Lodge pieces less than 2 years old that are slick smooth and can fry eggs without sticking.


Most factory cast iron is super rough now because the surface must have "tooth" for the factory pre-season process to work. Otherwise they get runs and drips in the surface.

Seasoning process is important, but surface finish more than seasoning will determine the non-stick quality. That's why the vintage Griswold, BSR, Erie, etc are so desirable.


If you want REALLY good cast iron that is heirloom, you have to look outside the Lodge or Vintage options.

The best ones around now are:
-- FINEX, made in USA and absolutely stunning quality.
-- SOLIDSTEKNICS-- made by picky Aussies to be as good as it can be.


Both are very expensive, but truly lifetime-grade pans that come out of the box with both good surface finish AND good seasoning.


I'm basically set on cast iron now, but I'd love to have a 12" FINEX!!

i do the same thing with new lodges but i certainly dont have hours in each one. I use a palm sander. First with 80 grit and then 200 grit. 10 min tops. Smooth as glass. I only do the insides though. No reason to do the outside.


I havent bought any finex. I dont like all the angles. I did waste some money on borough furnace. That thing came rough as a cob. I like the company and i love the long handle but i had to use the palm sander on it. It's slick now but i shouldnt have to do that to a several hundred dollar pan!

 

[Thor]

Picked up these skillets this afternoon at a garage sale. $10 for the pair. One appears to be a pre-60's Lodge and the other a BSR Red Mountain Series from the 30's and 40's. I can't wait to get them cleaned up and use them.

Nice finds and good price. I picked up a Griswold #8 chicken fryer with lid about a month ago...not at a garage sale though.

 

[Thor]

i do the same thing with new lodges but i certainly dont have hours in each one. I use a palm sander. First with 80 grit and then 200 grit. 10 min tops. Smooth as glass. I only do the insides though. No reason to do the outside.


I havent bought any finex. I dont like all the angles. I did waste some money on borough furnace. That thing came rough as a cob. I like the company and i love the long handle but i had to use the palm sander on it. It's slick now but i shouldnt have to do that to a several hundred dollar pan!

Good tip!

 

[Thor]

i do the same thing with new lodges but i certainly dont have hours in each one. I use a palm sander. First with 80 grit and then 200 grit. 10 min tops. Smooth as glass. I only do the insides though. No reason to do the outside.


I havent bought any finex. I dont like all the angles. I did waste some money on borough furnace. That thing came rough as a cob. I like the company and i love the long handle but i had to use the palm sander on it. It's slick now but i shouldnt have to do that to a several hundred dollar pan!

And, no, for hundreds per pan it should be exquisite. However, what I'm paying for groceries and about everything else now maybe we need to recalibrate our reference points.

 

[HamsterStyle]

Talked to the boss and got the Ok to go back this morning and pick up the last piece of cast iron at the garage sale. It is a square skillet and the only marking on it is a 2 stamped on the handle. Got home and gave all 3 "new" pieces a bath in oven cleaner and wrapped them each up in a heavy plastic bag. I will check on them Monday or Tuesday evening and see what they are looking like. Probably rinse them off and recoat them with the oven cleaner.

 

[HamsterStyle]

I have a new production Lodge skillet that the wife and I bought a couple years ago and I listened to a couple people that weren't 100% sure what they were talking about when I got it. I threw it right in the fire to burn off the factory seasoning and season it on my own. It did get cleaned off. I was able to season it with Ok success, but I warped it somethin fierce. Most things cooked in there quite well. I couldn't do an egg though. It was never quite that good. I took that skillet to work last week and decided to test drive the angle grinder theory. I ground the cooking surface with a 36 grit pad and then followed it up with an 80 grit pad. Got it all cleaned up and seasoned it again. Ran it through the oven 2 times with crisco to season it. It came out with a very slight golden tint to it. I used it for the first time this morning. I dropped some butter in it and fried up some cornmeal mush. That stuff is good. It fried up so perfect that I had to gamble and fry an egg in it. It fried up perfect. My son, the difficult one that he can be, wanted scrambled eggs. I threw an egg in the pan and half fried, half scrambled it. Perfection. Not a single piece stuck to it. Fried up 2 more eggs and had an amazing breakfast. I am now sold 100% on the smooth finish for cast iron and can't wait to try out my vintage pieces. Next time I strip the lodge piece, I will take the palm Sander to it and make it a little smoother and nicer looking.





















After all the cooking

 

[Expatriated]

Alot of people use the fire method for burning off old scale and i always recommend against it for the reason you stated: excessive heat can warp the pan.

I have a rubbermaid tupperware tote thing that has had lye in it for about 5 years now. Thats my preferred method. Throw a piece in, come back a week or two later (or whenever you remember it ) and just rinse it off. I lost count how many pieces that same lye solution has done. But its a lot

Cant beat cast iron. The main problem with them is that before you know it, youve got 30 pieces and you only use about 4 regularly but for some reason, you keep buying them!!!!

 

[HamsterStyle]

Yeah. I'm trying to figure out where I can build a rack to hang/display my cast iron. I know where I want it, but the boss says no. We will figure something out.

 

[IndyDave1776]

Cant beat cast iron. The main problem with them is that before you know it, youve got 30 pieces and you only use about 4 regularly but for some reason, you keep buying them!!!!

This is so true! It is an addiction unlike anything else with the exception of guns!

 

[SmileDocHill]

My son's scout troop has over 100 kids in it and they use cast iron dutch ovens all the time. They have a metal tray they set on the ground, a couple chimneys to get charcoal going and then stack the dutch ovens on top of each other. I've never had better desserts. The cobblers and stews.... the adults that have done this for some years now know exactly how many charcoal briquettes to place on top and below the dutch ovens and how long to cook each item now. Often they are stacked 6-7 dutch ovens high depending on how many patrol grub-masters planned meals that use the ovens. I'll have to get pictures next time.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

Alot of people use the fire method for burning off old scale and i always recommend against it for the reason you stated: excessive heat can warp the pan.

I have a rubbermaid tupperware tote thing that has had lye in it for about 5 years now. Thats my preferred method. Throw a piece in, come back a week or two later (or whenever you remember it ) and just rinse it off. I lost count how many pieces that same lye solution has done. But its a lot

Cant beat cast iron. The main problem with them is that before you know it, youve got 30 pieces and you only use about 4 regularly but for some reason, you keep buying them!!!!

I got some lye last fall to soak some flea market finds in myself, after I warped one in a fire. I'm a firm believer in lye now. It gets everything off the skillet, and after rinsing and a quick scrub with an SOS pad, they're ready to re-season. One old Wagoner that I soaked in lye turned out to be nickel plated, and the lye took off all the crust and didn't harm the nickel plating.

 

[rhino]

How do you dispose of the lye after you clean the pan? Down the drain?

 

[JettaKnight]

How do you dispose of the lye after you clean the pan? Down the drain?

Make pretzels



Is your DWV plumbing PVC, copper or cast iron?

 

[trucker777]

Another vote for Lodge Logic! My wife and I we were given a set when we got married 12 yrs. ago. We literally use them almost everyday. The large pan is always on the stove on standby, ready to go!

 

[HamsterStyle]

How do you dispose of the lye after you clean the pan? Down the drain?

From what I have seen, dilute and wash down thedrain. That is what most drain cleaners are made of

 

[Bill of Rights]

How do you dispose of the lye after you clean the pan? Down the drain?

I recall when I was quite young going to a "farm experience" of some type, where we made our own soap of lye and animal fat. It was horrible soap, but it did work. I wonder if this could be done with the solution of which the Purple Pachyderm speaks?

 

[rhino]

From what I have seen, dilute and wash down thedrain. That is what most drain cleaners are made of

Correct, srir.

I recall when I was quite young going to a "farm experience" of some type, where we made our own soap of lye and animal fat. It was horrible soap, but it did work. I wonder if this could be done with the solution of which the Purple Pachyderm speaks?

Hmmm . . . that could be a gnarly bar of soap with all of the old crud in there!

 

[IndyDave1776]

How do you dispose of the lye after you clean the pan? Down the drain?

Tell the truth!

 

[Expatriated]

Yeah, pour it down the drain. Thats what mine is anyway. Drain cleaner from Lowes. I get the 100% lye drain cleaner.

Although ive kept the same batch for years. It's pitch black. But I dont see any degredation in its cleaning properties.

 

[guns and groceries]

I run my Lye bath a bit "hot". Typical bath calls for 5 gallons of water to 1 pound of pure Lye. I tend to go with 1.5 pounds to 5 gallons of water. I have used the same bath for almost a year and have run around 50 pieces though it and it is still going strong. It tends to slow down in the winter with the cold basement and cleans faster in the summer months. I will be moving soon so I need to think about dumping it. It always amazes me how clean it gets them. 100+ years of use/crud/gunk is gone in about 2 days with no hassle then a quick scrub with steel wool and Bar Keepers Friend and start seasoning.