The Wagner looks like a dutch oven minus lid and the Griswold is a very good pan too. The unmarked pan with the heat ring I believe is a Birmingham Stove and Range (BSR) pan. I have one and it is a great pan. Ill look for more of the BSR pans. Unmarked pans can be great pans. Once you get familiar recognizing them, you'll snatched them. They don't always have a big price like the stamped ones. Nice grab overall.
Thank you fishingpol I figured the wagners weren't old. The one is a Dutch oven, you are correct. What makes a pan a good pan as you said?
The 1891's are good pans, just not old. Sweet old # 8 Lodge!!! And the Griswold is a sweetie!!! To the dutch oven, did you get the lid? In street value, your Lodge and Griswold are about $25.00 a piece, E-bay value your Griswold is about $55.00 and the Lodge about $40.00. Every Dutch oven is worth grabbing! "With lid", and a #8 will get you $35.00 but it's just worth having! . "SUPER" find bocefus78! You have some real nice stuff there!
No problem! I cook beans in mine a lot, if you go to a flea market or even on line you can fine a "glass" lid that will work. Corel wear glass lids fit almost perfectly! Find the set up at a flea, good will, salvation army or any junk shop and toss the bottom away and you got a sweet lid that works great. "Experience" speaking here...
I like the slightly heavier pans. I have a Griswold "Iron Mountain" line which is the budget line of pans. The are a bit thinner and lighter. I think the thicker pans cook nicer with an even heat. Iron Mountain on the right, Wagner on the left. Quite a difference in wall thickness. The Wagner does not have a ground cooking surface, but the Griswold does. I believe the Wagner is an earlier pan. There is quite a heft difference. Here is a Griswold #7 on the right and a Calphalon on the left. The Griswold had nice castings and ground cook surface. The Calphalon has a rough cast. Just subtle differences.
Very nice score. I also have an unmarked #8 with the fire ring and I can say it's a really good pan. Good that I now learned who possibly made it.
Nice score, Chris! The 1891 series arent real valuable or collectable, but they're nice and heavy and cook just fine. The more you use your cast iron, the better they get
If you get an un-marked pan with a heat ring on the bottom with "three notches", one at 9, 12 and 3 o'clock, that is an un-marked Lodge. The solid heat ring with a heavy handle with a diamond type shape on the underside is "usually" a BSR, Birmingham stove and range. Years back, they used to advertise a "lighter cooking pan" that was easier for the ladies to handle, thats why cast iron went by the way side for so many years because women didn't like them and their weight. When Aluminum and Stainless hit the scene after WW2 it was "much lighter" And so many cast pans went to the junk yard. Here we are 70+ years later and who's looking for all the cast?... "US".... A bunch of grow men and ladies. Funny how history repeats itself... Anyway, thats the reason why some pans were very heavy vs. lighter. Griswold was one who "lightened" up their pans, The Iron mountain series were "great pans" thats why I'm very careful about not putting to much heat on them. (Absolutely nothing) over 500 degrees, yes contrary to belief they will warp and crack! You just about can't kill a BSR, those are the best for heat in my opinion but were the heavy weights. "SUPER" for oven casseroles etc. As I said before, there is really no bad USA cast stuff. If you are a camper, the "new" Cabela's stuff is fine for that if you want to use cast, and the new Lodge is super, Leave the old antique stuff home. There are many others out there like Martha Stewart, E-meril, Rachel Ray stuff which is (ok) for camping but I wouldn't bring it home... If you camp, go find some junk cast because camp fire heat is all over the place and you don't want to subject your "nice" stuff to that. Again, I highly recommend Cabela's and Lodge stuff for that. Cabela's Outfitter Series™ Cast-Iron Skillets : Cabela's
Anytime! There is a "HUGE" amount of info posted in this whole thread, This thread was started by savemoney and it has exploded since 2014. If you have a 12 pack and wanna read for a bit, you'll see and read some neat stuff through the thread!
So is this pan salvageable? I'm no expert and I don't know if the smooth bottom is a good sign or a bad one. You can see in the top pic there are smooth parts in light grey and darker parts that to me look more cast iron-ish. Any advice? I paid 20 bucks (Canadian) and not sure if it was worth it. I wanted to add a Wagner to the collection.
That looks like a good Wagner. If there are no cracks, then you did well. The darker color is the seasoning over the lighter cast iron. A good cleaning and re-seasoning will get it back in order. Is the bottom cooking surface machine ground? It will look fine circles like it was spun on a center point.
I thought this pan would interest a few of you here. I saw this at a NPS historical site today in a farm homestead built in 1832. It is an unmarked pan with a gate mark across the bottom, and cast size. The gate mark should put it in I believe I the mid to late 1800's. There is pitting from being used on a coal stove. Also there was a nice stack of dutch ovens.
Thanks fishinpol. Anything special to do on the cleaning? I will just season and start using. As far as the cooking surface...it looks pretty smooth. Can't see any fine circles. What is the difference between machine ground and????
Sorry, loose term I use. Pans were ground smooth with stones, not machined that I've read. As far as cleaning, there are a lot of tips on this thread about cleaning. Either oven cleaner or I use a wire wheel on an angle grinder down to bare cast.
