Saturday, January 18, 2025

Cast Iron. The cat's meow, it is.

 


Above, a nice new looking Griswold


My old family heirloom Griswold.  Supposedly this is the logo Griswold pounded into the bottom of their skillets in the 20's / 30's.
I use this skillet multiple times a week.  Still as good as it was new, and better than some made today.


Someone's nice collection from the internet.

29 comments:

  1. I have a Griswold no. 8 Dutch oven in chrome. Love that thing.

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  2. Well cared for and seasoned cast iron skillets are a thing of joy to those who know how to cook.

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  3. The logo is part of the mold core the casting green sand is pounded around.

    Spin

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    1. So there’s a guy at the factory that pounds sand all day?

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    2. Actually, they use a sand slinger as it is faster but the final steps are pounded. Family friend was a pattern maker (the top step of being a wood worker as you have to think in inverse spatial relationships that can be assembled and disassembled quickly). Now they use foam cores mostly but early prototypes use old school patterns.

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  4. That is actual treasure, if you have children make sure they keep it, use it, pass it down to their children. The older cast Iron is a far better product that what is made today.

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    1. Virtually ANYTHING made yesteryear is better than what it produced today.

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  5. Got a batch of cast iron in the electrolysis tub cleaning up now. Don't put them in the fireplace or the oven on clean to get the crud off. I have a pan just like that with a crack right through it from my nephew putting it in the fireplace & it cooled off too fast & cracked.

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  6. My best cast iron skillet is an unmarked Wagner chicken fryer that was probably sold at some place like Montgomery Ward. It is thin and light as a feather, smooth as a baby's bottom. I have a bunch of Wagner and Griswold too, but keep you eyes peeled for the unmarked pans, they can be outstanding.

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    1. Often the thin stuff is made in China or Taiwan. I haunt places here in the valley for gold, er, good cast iron stuff and occasionally fine a great find. Lots is very high priced, though, as folks are now seeing great grannie's old "caskarn" skillet for the treasure it is.

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  7. I love to use my cast iron fry pan on a campfire because the next few uses in the house give off that odor…

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    1. "Aroma" would sound much more appetizing than "odor", me thinks.

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  8. I have the 10-marked pan, chromed. The rest of the markings are the same. Use it several times a week.

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  9. The only thing I don’t like about cast iron pans is the fact that the handle gets so hot. So I looked at an online video and wrapped it with 550 paracord. Problem solved, except I probably can’t put it in the oven or the paracord could melt (I should probably test that).

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    Replies
    1. They say that you cannot have your cake and eat it too.

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    2. ANNOUNCEMENT! GREAT NEWS! A new invention called an "oven mit!" Kind like a mitten or glove, but real fluffy like. Works really well keeping ya from burnin' yer digits.

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  10. Of all my skillets, the old Griswold is the lightest and best made.

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  11. Sad but true. My grandmother was a superb (German) cook, baker and had three daughters who survived to adult hood none of which could cook. When grandma died I was thousands of miles away and never made it back to pay my respects until months later. By then my mother had discarded the entire cooking and baking armamentarium grandmother had assembled over her lifetime including a battery of flawless cast iron pans and one deep frier, a small caldron made of cast iron. I couldn't believe what she had done but non cooks are unlikely to appreciate cooking tools.

    Dan Kurt

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    1. Folks should make important decisions while they're grieving

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    2. Aak! Folks shouldn't....

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  12. For nearly 25 years, I was a housewares buyer for several different major department stores. Then I was a sales manager for one of the largest cookware manufacturers in the world. My kitchen is pretty darn complete. For the "Annie" whose mother got rid of his granny's kitchen, how about visiting Goodwill or another thrift store where daughters tend to take their mother's kitchens to dump them.

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    1. Since the several years (at least) that old CI cookware has been a topic of lively discussion topic here, I have seen exactly one Lodge frypan at the local 2nd hand. And the they new what they had. Wanted 3x+ the price of the aluminum junk.

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  13. I have a 10 inch 'Stargazer' bronze fry pan. I can't get it to keep a non-stick surface and have seasoned it at least 10 times. Even bacon sticks to it. So I don't use it much anymore after about a year of experimenting.

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    1. I got suckered into buying one of those... Used it once. Hamburgers stuck to it.

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  14. New ones are much too rough of a casting. Have even tried to sand them, but they are just too rough. The slick finish on the old skillets just can't be improved on if they are properly seasoned.
    Bubbarust

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  15. Surface coarseness is a function of the type and pounding of the sand and the quality of the molten iron. Garbage in - Garbage out!

    Spin

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  16. I even have a small cast ash tray from the Gris family. Next up is one the size of one for an egg. Years of poking around small towns in my Dodge Vans, before I had to grow up and get a "Real" job.

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