I was at a house doing some work today and the home owner had these sitting outside. I asked them what they were doing with them and they said they were his great grandmother's/ grandmas and he was pitching them since they were junk and rusted up!! I tried to tell him they could be restored and he wanted nothing to do with it, ended up telling me to take them if I wanted to mess with them. He didn't have to tell me twice!! Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
This one intrigues me..... It's a Wagner 8 but it is super thin cast iron and has National stamped on it. I have a few Wagner's but non of them look like this. Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
Nice find Certified106. Any info on the underside or on the handle? I think fishingpol and WeldrDave may have to evaluate them.
That is a nice score! I just did a quick search and this was the economy line of Wagner. Still decent pans from what I read. I'm sure Dave can tell you a lot more. Nice additions.
I was doing some research also and found the same thing. 4 of the other ones are Wagner's and are much thicker. A few of them I am going to have to clean up to tell what they are. I am.now officially a cast iron hoarder. I already had to many and now I am going to have to move some to storage lol. Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
Wow!!! What a cash! ! If you want to see how nice they'll clean up, Get a big tub/container and throw some warm/hot "light soap" and water, wash one at a time, rinse, and as soon as they come out dry them quickly so you don't loose any patina and create rust. Spray them with pam and go from there. The National is a "fine" pan!!! It was like a grocery store pan and was sold in many different stores, Quite old! I see you got a #8 deep chicken cooker in the mix! Excellent for the fried chicken and veal dishes. I do baked beans in mine. "VERY NICE"! Lucky dog!
Thanks for the info! I will probably be on here asking for some cleanup advice. Some of them have been used so much that the grease on the sides and bottom is thick, really hard, and almost crystallized so what would you do with that? I started cleaning up one of the smaller skillets and now you can see the numbers on the bottom of it. Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
I If you want to clean most of the crud off them, Go get a 10 gallon or so rubber made tub with a lid, Go get ya some "cheap" oven cleaner because it can be about $4.00 a can, spray the crap out of them and let them sit for a few days, scrape with a putty knife and repeat till clean. "Be patient" I've had them sitting for a month or more. Try to avoid "scraping" the inside cooking surface to hard, let the oven cleaner do it's job. After the pan is to where you want it, Wash real well with good soap and water, "rinse, rinse, rinse" well, towel dry well and spray with "pam". Throw it in the oven upside down at 375 to 400 and bake for about an hour. You should be ready to use them . If they have rust, go back to the start and scrub with a brill or SOS pad first.
I worked on a few of them today and then sprayed two more of them with oven cleaner and will let them sit over night. I could probably season and use two of them but I am going to see how good I can get them first. Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
I've been seasoning my pans on the gas stove top. I wash them out lightly first. They rarely need scrubbing since I wash them before food dries. I set them on a burner on low until the water evaporates. They get a quick wipe with a paper towel with a little vegetable oil away from the burner. Back on the stove top at medium heat until it starts to smoke. This temperature always seems to be around 400 degrees measured with the laser thermometer. The veg oil goes from slick and shiny to a dull coating. I shut the burner off and let them cool to room temp.
That works well too, I found it a pain in the @$$ dealing with a slippery bag full of gunk, thats why I started using a rubbermade tote. Plus, I can hose it out and re use it.
Here's a couple I did a while back took about a month! They were "REALLY BAD" I also have a electrolysis unit I built to deal with real rusty ones.
A lye bath works really well. You can buy sodium hydroxide at Ace, under the Rooto brand drain opener. Mix the one pound bottle with five gallons of water. Always add lye to the full quantity of water, not the other way around. I've heard it's a pretty nasty reaction. I keep it in a covered tote in the garage. I wear long gloves when putting pans in or taking them out. A week or two later and that crud rinses right off. I've left pans in it for 6-8 weeks before with no ill effects. It is nasty stuff. You definitely don't want children or pets getting into it. But it works. My tote actually has a bunch of other stuff on top of it, and is tucked in a corner. And then it is clearly marked for when my wife goes rummaging around, so she remembers what's in it.
Yes it does work! But your right about nasty, that's why "I" don't use it . In my opinion, the ultimate way is the electrolysis bath with the battery charger. They come out beautiful when I do them. Biggest thing is you can't be in a hurry People have a few units posted on you tube.
It's really not hard to set up! If you have a battery charger that'll put out 10 amps and some old steel or stainless junk metal lying around, you can build one easy. Last component is washing soda you get from the hardware or grocery store.
I've gone through most of this thread and am amazed at all the great info and wisdom. I've only got a 12" lodge pan I got a few years ago and a couple cheap chinese ones. I love cooking with them. Then a couple years ago I got a #8 Griswold Dutch oven for 10 bucks at a garage sale. My first true gem of a find. I want to find more. I might post some pics as some of my stuff needs to be cleaned up or re-seasoned. I noticed that this summer when we rented a place in Maine and they had these amazingly well seasoned old Griswolds (I think) that were so smooth.
To bad that guy didn't know what he had! That looks like an awesome cast iron set. You make me jealous!
