They can still be had for a reasonable price outside of dealer shops around here. Yard sales and antique junk markets produce. I honestly think people don't like to deal with the weight, seasoning and storage of CI pans. This pic was at a booth a year and a half ago. All very affordable. I believe I picked up the French roll pan made in Maine, in the front. I'll admit, it is getting a bit foggy remembering where I picked some of these pans up. I know a bit more now, and I would have given everything a better once over. I think of collecting cast iron pans like selecting the right club when golfing. Pick the right pan for what you are cooking.
Yeah practically every place I've been to has had "normal" sizes, which is anything from a #3 to a #8...anything bigger than #8 has been non existent so far. Picked up a #3 Lodge for $4 as an experiment today...its rusted and I'm going to give it the god forsaken sandblast treatment...........if I "ruin" it then I'm out $4 for a non vintage Lodge. But the curiosity is killing me.
I didn't know about that company. It would cost $200 for a 10 inch skillet with lid. But the inside surface is as smooth as a baby's butt. For us poor folks, I saw a brand call Bluebonnet cookwear that is unseasoned but very smooth. Know anything about that brand?
It'll work, it'll just be a "super" pain in the @$$ to get it seasoned right. . If you have a 10 amp battery charger and some scrap metal floating around, make a electrolysis bath! It works awesome but it takes a little time. Mine is back in theses pages some where. My last big pan I found last September in a flea market, a old Lodge #10 for $20.00 I think. It is a nice pan also.
I have seen it/heard about it but never used or touched it. There are a few companies that have popped up also another contender is a company called Victoria and there is also an Australian company making stuff now and importing them here. I was just at our local junk shop yesterday with Chris and there was an "E-meril" cast pan for sale. It just stayed there . Basically anything older and having a USA signiture on it is what I'll grab if cheap enough. I do not know where Blue bonnet is made and it could be some really nice stuff. I'm on the hunt for an "Old true" Japanese skillet. The pre-WWII stuff was fabulous and it was only brought to this country with descendants and original immigrants. I have a friend who was stationed in Japan, who happens to have his hands on a skillet that would equivilent a # 12 and it is breath taking . I've tried to talk him out of it several times, I don't even ask any more.
Id never blast a smooth cooking surfaced pan like a Griswold because I know it would just kill that surface but many of the Lodges and even Wagner's have a rough surface anyway so I don't see how it would destroy what's not "ideal" anyway. But I no doubt can see electrolysis being the absolute ideal way of restoring these pans. I've read of some people saying plastic media blasting being a good option since the media will not alter metal or create a surface profile, but I've yet to see anyone mention the 1 important fact about plastic media - it doesn't remove rust scale. Might be a decent option to remove carbon build up though. I wouldn't say it's a very practical option for most people though - I only contemplate it because it's what I do for a living and have all the equipment.
Yeah, I get why sand blasting might not be ideal, but I don’t see why it would be harder to season afterward. For a newer pan that isn’t smooth to begin with, I would use an abrasive to simultaneously remove rust and smooth out the surface. Get a nice clean smooth shiny surface of raw iron and then freshly season before it begins to rust. It won’t be any more work than sand blasting and you will have a better pan when you are done.
I'll explain; When you sand blast, your basically removing metal down to the molecular levels and everything else with it. After a pan is casted there is a "pre-seasoning" that goes on to stop any rusting a so they can be shipped without rusting. Once the pan starts getting used a fine layer of Patina establishes in the micro cavities of the pan and works it's way into the cast deep. Once you sand blast, you remove those deep fine areas that normally wouldn't be touched. Also, sand blasting is a double edge sword. You remove and clean the surface but you also embed micro fine particals of silica/sand in the pan also. That's why "No" collector will touch a sandblasted pan and they can tell. I am not say don't do it, nor am I stating it's right or wrong, that's soley on the individuals decision. I would not do it on any of mine!
If your in a hurry to clean the pans then "it's yours" and again, I'm not saying right or wrong but what I am saying after years of reading and listening is that what comes out the best, what will and will not ruin the pan and what the best results have been. I've heard of walnut shells, media, sand, glass, wire wheels, hot fires, throw them in a bed of coals, acid, brake clean, zip-strip, heat guns, boiling water, lemon juice, vinegar, high pressure water, oven on self clean and everything else etc... The "best way" in my opinion is electrolysis or if your pan is not real bad, soak it in oven cleaner for a few days and slowly scrub the crud off, rinse real well and re season.
Electrolysis will get the rust off, but it won’t make a rough cast Lodge and smoother. How do you think the Griswold became smooth in the first place? They didn’t come out of the molds that way.
Id only contemplate blasting rusted pans, at which point that original patina and pre seasoning is already gone or so I would think. Cast iron is quite porous, but the amount of material removed is so miniscule that you can and will not notice. This is assuming you know what you are doing with blasting and I understand "most" people do not. When people have us do suspension parts like control arms for example, I've been asked if it will "throw off the geometry" of the part. Usually I laugh at them when asked that. There seems to be this notion that blasting removes way more material than it really does.
I’ve used the oven cleaner then put in a plastic bag for a few days method. It worked really well on a couple cruddy Wagner’s, Griswolds and no names. Just don’t get any of the oven cleaner on you. It’ll melt your skin and by the time you realize it, you’ll be scarred. It’s basically Lye. Don’t ask me how I know. Ouch!
I wouldn’t either. My point was that removing a little metal (and everything on top of it) is not a bad thing. Remember, we are talking about a post 60’s non-collectible pan, not a 1915 Griswold. Whatever you do to clean off the rust and gunk doesn’t matter much as long as you don’t crack the thing. After you clean it, I would grind it down to a smooth surface which means exposing fresh metal and new pores. You can then start a fresh seasoning however you want. I don’t believe in any magic old seasoning or pre-seasoning so I would rather start clean on a smooth surface than save old seasoning on a lumpy one. FWIW, I can’t see ever sandblasting to clean either since it is more work and mess than other methods.
I'm not afraid to use butter or cooking oil as needed. Never disappointed when I do that and don't get the pan too hot. I love cooking with gas and try to find that sweet spot for both the pan and what's in it.
Machining. I'm aware of that. Matt, Woody. I'm aware of the differences and not arguing any point. I have been in the metals world for 40 years. Every casting "Is" different. If you want to do some good reading, pick up a copy of the Griswold & Wagner book, 5th edition, written by David G. Smith and Chuck Wafford. Also check out castironcollector.com and read some of the articals in there. I'm not saying "what or what not" to do with your pans, have a ball. And Matt, I have factory "lumpy" unfinished inside that are just as slick as some of my old pans. Lodge has been selling them for years. It's all in the seasoning. Here's a pic of some really cruddy pans done with oven cleaner and a container with a lid. It took a week but these two can out wonderful. Theres another pic of a couple more done the same way. Again, I'm only suggesting what is a good method of cleaning and what I would do. I've been cleaning pans for some time now read the do's and don'ts.
I guess it's a matter of what's the most readily available to you. In my case, sandblasting would be the absolute least work and cleanest method to deal with, by far.
I have my own personal bead blaster but I won't put my pans in there, but I do understand the ease of it. If your not in a hurry then try another method...
My thoughts would lean toward blasting with a softer media like walnut shells. They use walnut shells to blast aluminum engine heads. I would guess it would be safer for cast iron.
