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Here is a picture of the electrolysis bath. Hook the negative clamp to the copper wire that holds the pan suspended I. The bath. Then hook the negative line to the anode which acts as your sacrificial lamb. You have to use a manual battery charger, but once you turn it on, you can instantly see the rust begin to bubble from the cast iron to the anode. The first pic is the bath before and the second is after about four hours. The. I took it out, wiped it off and put it back in the bath.
Spinaker - that Griswold cast iron is the Holy Grail of cast iron collectors. Some of my Buddies pay unbelievable prices for anything Griswold. Nice find! And as a chemical engineer, I love your cleaning/reconditioning methods. I almost became a corrosion control engineer.
CeramicChef Thanks!! I was a bit skeptical but it works great. I really love this stuff. My set up looks a little like a bath tub for Dr. Frankenstein's monster, but it works.
After a long bath in the the Electrolysis hot tub, she's all done. I've done three rounds of flax oil seasoning on this one so far. It is really coming along nicely. Flax oil gives off a brownish color to the iron. But as I start to cook with these, they will blacken up. I am really pleased with how this pan came out. I have many others that I am working on too. If there is interest, I can post some pictures of them too. Below is a comparison picture of what I started with and what I ended up with after the bath and the three rounds of Flaxoil seasoning.
Spinaker I just visited my brother and he has two pans a 10 and a 14 that belonged to our Mother with the same markings that are on the back of the pan in the above picture. Any idea who made them.
gcdmd I have, but electrolysis is so effective. And it takes a lot less time to take the really hardened stuff off the pan. There is no scrubbing or anything like that. Just wipe it clean.
You're lucky to find Griswold pans in such good shape (even considering the rust!) - especially at such good prices. Some people selling them think they are made of gold, not iron!
I consider myself very lucky as well - when my mother died, I inherited a Wagner that she had all her married life, as well as a Griswold that was HER mother's! All three of my sisters said 'nah - we don't want those old things...'
And I just turned 70! - so you know that both pans have been around awhile.
What I like best about the old Grizzies and Wagners is the polished cooking surfaces. So much better than on my newer Lodge pans.
You're lucky to find Griswold pans in such good shape (even considering the rust!) - especially at such good prices. Some people selling them think they are made of gold, not iron!
I consider myself very lucky as well - when my mother died, I inherited a Wagner that she had all her married life, as well as a Griswold that was HER mother's! All three of my sisters said 'nah - we don't want those old things...'
And I just turned 70! - so you know that both pans have been around awhile.
What I like best about the old Grizzies and Wagners is the polished cooking surfaces. So much better than on my newer Lodge pans.
Wow!! Those pans must be awesome. I'd love to see some pictures. I agree, there nothing like that old time polished surface. I never realized it until I bought my first Wagner. I polished up a new Lodge chef skillet. It's amazing. I too wish they could go back to polishing them at the foundry.
GilaMonster I polished the skillet with 60/100/150/180 then finally 220 grit sand paper. Then I polished it with a buffing wheel. It came out really good. I've only had the chance to do one round of seasoning with it, but its already looking good.
It takes a lot of elbow grease, but it looks really good when its done.
GilaMonster No problem. I would like to see your results. I just did another round of seasoning on mine last night. She keeps on getting better and better. I am going to give her the bacon treatment tonight. Which is, of course, mutually beneficial.
First, the Wagner #8. It's the older of the two, cast in the 1920s probably, judging from what is left of the logo on the bottom. Since my Mother was born in 1920, I presume this one was my grandmother's, originally. It is my everyday skillet, as it is the larger of the two.
Then, the Griswold #7, which the griswoldcookware.com website says was made with this pattern logo until about 1940...or, just before my Mother married. I like to think that that 'patina' of baked-on-goodness that you can see on the pan, is from all those fried and fricasseed chicken dinners Mom made us!
I enjoy using these even more than my newer Lodge pans, for both the flavors and the memories they impart.
I am setting up the electrolysis bath again tonight, I have a 12" pan that needs to be done. I am also gonna try to get my Cornbread pan done. I have been putting this one off for a while now. It is such a pain to get all the rust and seasoning off with all those wedges and vertical surfaces that go with them. But no pan looks better when its finally seasoned. I will take some pictures while I am setting up the bath so if anyone is interested in setting one up, they can have a frame of reference. Its really easy to set up and the results are amazing, and without all the elbow grease.
Just a heads up to those that love Cast iron on the grill. Lodge is now selling their 10" and 12" "love handle" skillets. These are great for the grill because you get a large cast iron surface with out the handle taking up a bunch of room. This is particularly advantageous to those of us with round cooking surfaces, such as a Kamado or a kettle. I just picked up the 10.25" and 12" (I already have the 8" and the 17")
Huh!!!???
Th' Hail ya' Say!!!!
CIS, kickin' in, bad, like!!!
BTW, this is th' onliest way I could ever get me some "Love Handles"
I already gots me th' 17", but now haveta collect th rest of th' set!!!
Meet Virginia... $25 at Antique Store. Yes, made in the USA but no MFG markings. "Before" is after 2 rounds of Easy Off; "After" is mebbe 3-5 rounds of Flax Oil on the gasser @ 500 degrees.
I got the 5qt a few weeks ago, and it is perfect for Mac 'n Cheese, stew, deep frying, whatever. I have used it in both the oven and in my smoker and grill. Even better, the lid is the same as the one they sell to fit the Lodge 10" skillet, which is perfect for corn bread.
Going to purchase one today. Looking at 5qt and 8qt deep version. Says 5" deep on both, one 10" round the other 12". Question is, for those of you that use these, for the wife and I or for general cooking which size would you recommend? I envision, corn bread, chili, beans maybe a stew. Is one size better for most recipes?
Thanks Rick
A lot depends on how many you are cooking for. 5 qt is great for most recipes but it gets crowded when you're making something like osso bucco for four or more people.
For large cast iron you might want to try antique malls. A lot of vintage cast iron is available for about the same price as new stuff on amazon. 100 year old cast iron just has a really nice cool factor.
out antiqueing and spied this lodge 10 inch skillet sitting on a shelf. No seasoning at all but had some surface rust. Flipped it over and saw the back. A Cracker Barrel cast iron made by Lodge. Thought it would be worth the 10 dollar asking price and with discount and taxes still under $10.
Out antique shopin
Cleaned off rust and did some sanding on the rather rough cooking surface. Then two rounds of seasoning with flaxseed oil in the gas grill. Will probably do another seasoning session later today, And will try breakfast in it tomorrow morning. Spinaker guess people that had it for sale must have sand blasted it with course sand. That is why it looked like shiny metal with no seasoning visable so I will not get to do electrolysis method on this one.
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But can anyone tell me if the casting on the bottom will cause any hot spots due to the thickness changes or heat being trapped in shallow areas.
Thanks Spinaker. Rust on this one was mostly in bottom of pan and it needed sanding any way to get it smooth. Rest just took a wire brush. Always looking for more CI for the collection.
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