old cast iron

[subzali]

My church is doing an international lunch next week. So I tried out my family’s German feden recipe this morning, covered in raspberry sauce. Also known as Dutch Aebelskiver. Can be made on a Griswold 962 pan. Our family pan is unmarked.

Also made a German pancake in a 12” Lodge for my wife to reminisce about her childhood. Topped in lemon, powdered sugar, and sautéed maple cinnamon apples.

Yum!

 

[allen.wrench]

Anyone polish your cast iron cookware?

Allen

 

[subzali]

Nothing like cast iron for camp cooking.
[On the Train Trip]

Agree. Here’s one from a few years ago

 

[PVCsnorkel]

Anyone polish your cast iron cookware?

Allen

I polish all of mine. 10 minutes with a flap disc and a re-season and its a night and day difference.
A hundred years ago, good companies would mill their cookware for improved performance. When I get my Bridgeport set up I'm going to try milling one and see how it works.

 

[TheYETI]

The older I get the more I find myself getting interested in things that are old.
been fighting an obsession with old coleman stoves for a bit now...

but now I'm really starting to enjoy good cast iron (old) .

it cooks very well when properly cared for.

I've found the old iron is significantly higher quality than the new iron. funny how that works across most things...

I am mid-process on restoring a couple old one's I found a long time ago.

they were pretty neglected. So I stripped them down. Stripped down you can really see the difference in the quality. A glass smooth texture is what you can find on some of the good pieces. It's no wonder when properly seasoned and cared for they are non-stick, even cooking machines!

Anyway,
Found this pre-merger Griswold #3 that's 1957 or earlier.
the Erie, PA Griswold plant was closed in 1957.
It's small but perfect for camping single or cooking eggs. I'm 3 coats in on the strip down and re-season process.
I'll cook some bacon and potatoes in it for a while until it really starts to build back into the shiny black well-seasoned iron it should be.

here's just after stripping off the old rusty crust and getting down to virgin iron as best I can:

56565

3 coats in on new seasoning, as said I'll switch to natural process by cooking from here:

griswold was sold then sold to Wagner in 1957 based in Sydney, OH...where this next one originated.

I like this Wagner for bacon. Again, it was pretty bad when I found it, so stripped it clean and am in mid-process of rebuilding the base seasoning. On both these old pieces stripping it down far enough yields the original tooling spirals from when these manufacturers took the time to make them as smooth as possible. pretty neat.

This one will take a while to build back up, but it cooks pretty well now as is without sticking.

I've got some lodge, which is US made, but the current stuff isn't like the old stuff. real rough pre-seasoning to cover the lack of finish cast work...still cooks pretty good though cause of that composite bed-liner seasoning they put on it...

Problem with the older stuff, like Griswold especially, is China actually has been making knock-offs since the 80's so now some of the older knock-offs look like the real thing until you strip off the grime and old grease and notice the casting is poor....

If I could afford it, I'd like to try out some of the new USA based manufacturers like
Field
https://fieldcompany.com/

and i really like this one:
http://www.stargazercastiron.com/

both have started making cast like the old companies did, smooth smooth finish, high quality casting.

I'll probably buy one of those field 10" at some point if I can justify it somehow

How bout anyone else?

Anyone got a strange hankerin' for cast iron?
I gotta kick this habit, it's getting weird

My cast iron pan is one of my prized possessions. I haven’t eaten a meal I prepared for myself without it for over a decade now.

 

[allen.wrench]

I polish all of mine. 10 minutes with a flap disc and a re-season and its a night and day difference.
A hundred years ago, good companies would mill their cookware for improved performance. When I get my Bridgeport set up I'm going to try milling one and see how it works.

Nice. And good to know! I'd heard of it in an algorithm recommended video a little bit ago, but didn't trust if it was/wasn't straight bunk. When I get into using a casty for cooking, I'll try taking a flap disc to it. Thanks for the input!

Oh man, I love that idea. I miss having the shop access I had in college as a machinist. A Bridgeport, a couple inch flycutter with a carbide cutter, run at a few hundred RPMs, and spun on a rotary table should work amazingly. It'd make a sweet swirly pattern.

Allen

 

[PVCsnorkel]

Nice. And good to know! I'd heard of it in an algorithm recommended video a little bit ago, but didn't trust if it was/wasn't straight bunk. When I get into using a casty for cooking, I'll try taking a flap disc to it. Thanks for the input!

Oh man, I love that idea. I miss having the shop access I had in college as a machinist. A Bridgeport, a couple inch flycutter with a carbide cutter, run at a few hundred RPMs, and spun on a rotary table should work amazingly. It'd make a sweet swirly pattern.

Allen

I thought it was BS until I looked at some older pans and saw how smooth they are. I should note. you'll most likely want to take a wire brush to your cookware first so the flap disc doesn't get clogged up with oil or rust. Do it even if you do a brand new Lodge, wire brush it to get their (shitty) factory seasoning off. I usually use a 120 grit disc after wire brushing and it comes out great.

My dad has a few pans that have the factory milling on them still and they look great. When i get one done I'll post some pictures.

 

[PVCsnorkel]

Your mentioning of an upper and a lower line proves my point. They wouldn't have polished and sold an upper line for no reason.

I'm harshly judging Lodge because I've never had one of their pieces of cookware work right right out of the box, they all required some degree of cleaning up the finish. Even wire brushing off their factory coating and reasoning did not yield better results. I do appreciate that they're the last good American cast iron cookware company, so I'll choose your option 3 and polish them to my liking.

I've polished several pans to an almost mirror finish, and had no real issues with the oil taking hold. They do become almost non stick after a polish and seasoning so much easier to clean. When they're rough, they're harder to clean as well as susceptible to holding onto food particles. That is the exact point Dupont sold to the public to get them to buy into (toxic) Teflon.

 

[PVCsnorkel]

Pictures of before and after seasoning my polished 10" Lodge. Pictures are backwards.

 

[allen.wrench]

Hitting the cast iron with a wire wheel absolutely makes sense. Thanks for mentioning it. I expect it definitely helps clean the factory seasoning like you're saying, and wire wheeling also helps polish the iron grains at the microscopic level.

Allen