Cast iron pan restoration

NC-Ratler

Four Pointer
Lastfling, 1930-39. Nice piece and def great for cooking on. I use a size 9 the most, usually along with a 12 and 6.

I think one of the reasons why many are attracted to the Griswolds beside the long history, they are lighter in mass weight Wagners and def. Lodges, both good names and quality cast iron.
 

Homebrewale

Old Mossy Horns
Lastfling, 1930-39. Nice piece and def great for cooking on. I use a size 9 the most, usually along with a 12 and 6.

I think one of the reasons why many are attracted to the Griswolds beside the long history, they are lighter in mass weight Wagners and def. Lodges, both good names and quality cast iron.

What determines quality cast iron?

It seems people favor the old cast iron due to the smooth finishes instead of the rough, pebbly finish of Lodge that is sold everywhere. Are any of the modern smooth finish cast iron skillets any good? You find them online but not in stores. There is Field, Smithey, and Butter Pat to name a few.
 

dc bigdaddy

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
What determines quality cast iron?

It seems people favor the old cast iron due to the smooth finishes instead of the rough, pebbly finish of Lodge that is sold everywhere. Are any of the modern smooth finish cast iron skillets any good? You find them online but not in stores. There is Field, Smithey, and Butter Pat to name a few.
Look up Cowboy Kent on YouTube. He does a cast iron comparisons ob the new stuff
 

NC-Ratler

Four Pointer
I'm by no means an expert, just a modest collector and user for about the past fifteen years that's done some reading both in print and online groups and ebay watching. There are some online groups, including a large Griswold FB group, about cast irons and opinions often vary, and the reason why I often state imo. I would love to know the metal contents, on a molecular breakdown, of the griswolds and other brands, esp through out the years and what properties a metal expert would think best for cast iron skillets - strength, smoothness, even heating, safety of cooking food, etc. What I can say is that USA made companies that have been doing it for a long time or did for a long time, I would definately trust more than foreign imports, esp those of Asian regions. As mentioned above by another, Lodge is heavy and rough surface, but with seaonsing build up they become smooth and their skillets have an opposite side lip from the handle for use with your second hand which women sometimes like. The only foreign company that I know of and would trust prior to doing research on is Le Creuset who produce a lot of enameled cast iron and state what materials they use to make them. I've only ever owned one and regret selling it. I own several others, some with no names, just USA made that I like. I own a McClary Dip Top Spider that I like to use every now and then. However, overall, I just like the Griswolds the best for three reasons - usually lighter in mass weight than any others which is good on the arms and faster heating, smooth inner surface, and the collectors value is only going to go up provided you take care of them - I like tangibles. That book I referenced above is the 5th addition and from 2013, and already the prices are way low compared to what selling prices are online. I've seen the Griswold market really take off esp with online collector groups forming over the past several years.
 

NC-Ratler

Four Pointer
With a piece that big, 60ls, I wonder if you put a little bit of that plumbers lye in vegetable oil and smeared it on the cast iron and maybe repeated it every day or so? Not sure how the two would react? Facebook has a good Griswold group and maybe someone there may know a good method?

Years ago when new to cast iron, I put my mother-in-laws skillet in a hot wood fire until the metal turned red, then took out. Warped it badly and changed the steel temper and was ruined. My good and old, thinner skillets esp, I baby and don't cook above Med-High (mostly medium). Some of your thicker skillets like Lodges they would be a lot harder to warp. Cowboy Kent, cool dude and liked many of his videos. Dissagree with his cleaning by getting skillet super hot then run under hot water. That thing created a lot of steam and wonder if a thinner older pans would warp, crack, or change temper? I let mine naturally cool before cleaning. To each their own and maybe ok to do, I won't take that chance however.
 

pattersonj11

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Anyone want to give this one a date? Probably run of the mill.
 

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Johnnie

Ten Pointer
I read this thread a while back and somebody was mentioning trying to find out about the different cast-iron's used to try to determine why some are better than others. I talked to one of my materials engineers at work, and he was saying the only way to really determine the difference is to cut sections and review under a metallurgical/stereo microscope. Basically, they would have to look at the grain structure of the metal to determine how the metal was formed. In addition, a sample would need to be placed in a spectral analysis machine (possibly Xray diffraction (XRD) or Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)). I have all of these in my office and will offer up for free just for the curiosity, however, I doubt anyone wants to cut small samples out of their vintage pans. Feel free to PM if you have interest.

Johnnie
 

NC-Ratler

Four Pointer
Wow that is cool and great. Myb cracked skillets or CI pieces. Would be neat to get a database esp samples throughout years. Another question is what steel or blends of steel would be ideal for a skillet? Even uniform heat, fast heat, hold heat, metal leak into food and so on.
 

Johnnie

Ten Pointer
Wow that is cool and great. Myb cracked skillets or CI pieces. Would be neat to get a database esp samples throughout years. Another question is what steel or blends of steel would be ideal for a skillet? Even uniform heat, fast heat, hold heat, metal leak into food and so on.
It's been a long time since I took the classes I would need to try to answer your questions, and even then I probably didn't know the answers. Might be a fun discussion with one of my materials engineers. If I recall correctly, the two most prominent properties you are looking for is Specific Heat of the metal (amount of energy required to change the temperature per volume) and Thermal Diffusivity (how quickly energy can travel through the material). Also, you shouldn't overlook geometry (thickness, etc...) as well. I suspect your cooking characteristics are a function of all three. We also have a cool tool (which I don't think we've used yet) that could give us some non-destructive information but we would need bare metal to scan. That will be far more limited than the other tests though.

Johnnie
 

7mm-08

Twelve Pointer
So, how about a 24v power supply? I have a few battery tender maintenance chargers, but not a dedicated charger. I do have a 24v power supply.
 

7mm-08

Twelve Pointer
It doesn’t show well in the pics, but it’s actually in really good chaps under all the crud. I soaked it overnight and scraped it a little to find nice clean rounded edges.

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ScottyB

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Get the fire pit stoked up and set it in them coals! All that stuff will burn off! Start seasoning from scratch
 

7mm-08

Twelve Pointer
Todays find:
Montgomery Ward waffle iron. Really good shape,,,,,,,except for a big hunk missing out if the side of one of the paddles. I’ve got a plan for that though. It involves a turkey fryer, a welder, bondo, and sand paper.
I took it up front and showed the folks at the counter the damaged spot. I explained that it didn’t appear that it was priced as a damaged item, and that the damage looked recent. Clean, grey, rough texture of the freshly exposed surface had never seen heat and grease, use or restoration. I offered $25, they called the seller and I left with it. The seller said it was in perfect shape when they put it in their booth. Somebody mishandled it while looking at it and probably dropped it, not knowing it’s actually three pieces that are in no way attached.
I know, I know, you can’t weld cast. Well, actually you can. This is not structural. It will see thermal changes, so different expansion rates may cause an issue with use, but I think it will be ok for normal use. Extreme, rapid temp changes is where it may be a problem. I’ll put $25 on that horse.

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pattersonj11

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
If you can get it welded up without cracking further….it will probably be fine.

Ive never welded cast….we pay a couple guys to do that. It either works….or they call and say it keeps cracking.
 

7mm-08

Twelve Pointer
A crack is different. You have to drill a hole on either end of the crack to essentially erase the crack having a direction. The turkey fryer is to heat the ever-living crap out of it, and weld it while it’s hot, and keep it hot after the weld until the welded area equalizes temps with the heated metal. At that point I’ll slowly bring it back down.
Bondo is to mold a sanding block to the outside edge to blend the contour.
Probably have to do a little dremel work to clean the inside since I don’t have any brass to mold to the interior and weld over.
 

bigten

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Cast can easily be welded with nickel rods. We have done so for years without pre, or post heating; just weld and allow to cool naturally. Have actually rewelded parts that had been repaired with the heat method that broke on reassembly, then reinstalled while still hot and to my knowledge still in operation.
 

NC-Ratler

Four Pointer
7mm-08, pretty hard to tell, but I had a broken off piece very similar to yours. Mine was broken right at the handle which is where a good amount of pressure /force is when in use flipping. So far 100+ sour dough waffles later, my crack-repaired waffle iron is still holding up. I had a local welder fix it. As what you intend on doing, he mentioned that he heated it super hot, welded, and then slowly cooled. Good luck.

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NC-Ratler

Four Pointer
big-ten, If you have a way of fool proof welding cast iron, even with nickel rods, you might have a very prosperous and valuable service? I'm not wild about Facebook or even on very often, but there is a large Griswold and Wagner group that as with all cast iron related stuff, is gaining more and more viewers/folllowers. One might possibly learn there what methods are available for best welding broken cast iron and then offer fixing services. Someone breaking an Erie Spider Logo pan for example, might cry on a $3-5k loss, or even just a favorite waffle iron or mamma's sentimental skillet, would pay $50-75 or more plus shipping for a fix just to have their pan back? Most clean break repairs fixed in under 30 mins if fast and efficient at fixing and packaging. Just a thought.

I find it somewhat interesting that some obsolete cast iron cookware manufacturers, often for a span over a few years, (griswolds, wagner, and others) included a partial cookware product line with nickel plated or aluminum lined or other silver metal finish or maybe even a blend in throughout the cast iron? I often wonder about the make up of the cast iron as I do like cast iron for several reasons - not eating peeling China made teflon or some other short term lasting plastic coating (buy once buy right), possibly adding good for you iron to your foods (once well seasoned that might be questionable - but sealed and now adding seasoning flavoring to your meal), and you're not eating aluminum or other questionable metals that have been pretty positively known or related to causing Alzheimer's and/or other metal illnesses. China made cast iron could very easily contain lead, cadmium, or other dangerous brain defecting metals? Little about the vintage cast iron metal used is even known but I feel the most comfortable with vintage American made cast iron cookware. I personally think it is some of the best cookware you can find, I also like how cast iron cooks, and cooking on 50, 60 or 120+ year old cookware, well it's neat to think back about the longer history of the item, where it's been, meals it served and such. Wagner imo is just as good as Griswold and often 30-50% or more cheaper, but all seem to just go up and up and in price. Griswolds from an investment purpose is imo a no loose purchase if bought at market price or better but same could be said about Wagner. Another ten years and pretty much guaranteed your pan is worth a good chunk more - no longer being made, some being lost/broken, and more buyers in the market.


Here's what I think is an aluminum lined Wagner 3 skillet - i won't use it for reasons mentioned above, but like it in my collection. It's my only true "silver" one but I do have another early Wagner gen 2 that looks a little possibly silverish mixed in with iron, not lined? Going back to metals, no where an expert and don't think any info is even available, but knowing what would be best for even heat distribution, fast heating, holding up to cracks, etc. etc. etc. would be neat to know - what manufacturer's products, what eras, etc - even today's modern pans, a break down of metals and what is considered best by a metal expert(s), especially by a third party, well that truly would be best imo.

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bigten

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
^ as with everything else in life, I know of very little that is absolutely "foolproof". But, I also know what has worked well for us. My Dad was a machinist and did quite a bit of cast iron repair, so naturally he shared his knowledge with me. Many years ago, one of Moms cast pans (for whatever reason) caught fire on the stove. My brother grabbed it and tossed it out the door into the yard which broke the handle completely off. To say Dad was pissed is an understatement as he really liked the pan, was frugal and had it for many years. So, off to his grinder it went, then to weldup and cleanup. That pan is still in use today, 40+ years later. I think the nickel even darkened over years of use to the point you have to look hard to see the repair. That is but one example of many, and we have NEVER pre or post heated the metal.
And, I'm not really interested in starting another business at this point in my life. Being retired, keeping all my hobbies on track and spending time with the grandbabies would not really align with that scenario.
 

ol bob

Six Pointer
Not sure hes still in business, but there use to be a fellow here in the county, that repaired cast iron engine blocks, holes you could put your fist in, motor mounts knocked off,when he finished you couldn't find the repair, if he could do that a pan would be nothing to him.
 
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