The Private CI's are on it!
-
-
When you take it out of the bath, post a picture of it. The drier and the cleaner the better. One picture of the inside of the lid, the bottom of the pot and the set as a whole, if you don't mind.
I am actually thinking that this is a Chicago Hardware Foundry Dutch Oven.
However, most of their casting have a number inside of the diamond, not a letter. Also they are often hammered, so this piece is intriguing.
I will be able to figure out what you have, I just need to see it.
Thanks for posting!
Comment
-
-
Yep! After seeing the lid, the handle on the lid and the bottom of the skillet I think this is a Chicago Hardware Foundry piece. These are really hard to find information on. (And I am not sure why) Almost all of the CHF that I have found are Hammered, and not smooth. Also, your piece is particularly interesting because of that 'A" in the middle of the diamond. Typically, this is a number, not a letter. So I am still trying to figure that one out.
But this is a good find and one that will look great after you get some oil back on it!
Comment
-
Well as luck would have it my battery charger gave up the ghost on me so at a standstill at the moment. Also found a crack down the side near the handle but it is not an open crack more of a fracture. My mother when i was kid this was her mothers i think but that was long ago. my grandmother lived 1900-1946 if that may be of any help. that fracture may have been there for 50+ years who knows, -
I will have to order some crisbee's off the net so i may throw some oil on it in the meantime. Good or bad idea. Still need to steel wool some spots on it first.
-
-
Spinaker Here is my cast iron collection:
Just kidding. I was in an antique store in St Regis, MT today and thought of this thread. The oven on the right is a Griswold for $75 and is tempting me.......Comment
-
Awesome collection of "cannonball" cookware! My dozen or so pieces look anemic compared to your accumulation. Several years ago I picked up a cornbread recipe from a guy named Byron online at Papa Dutch or some other similarly named website that was just the best. Make it once or twice a year and took to adding jalapenos to it. I ordered a park style grill and installed it next to my lower patio just for DO's. The ability to rotate it to compensate for wind when using a DO is a really nice perk. Stuffing the park grill with fallen limbs from the yard and topping it with a CI skillet is a nice primitive touch. The Griswolds are getting hard to find and I think are the best example of what cast iron should be. Cast iron is the best. Nice collection!Comment
-
HawkerXP
Nice finds. These are what we call, "Smooth Bottom Wagners" Judging by the casting number, and design this skillet was cast between 1935 and 1959. I know, I know that is a large gap in time. These pieces were the bread and butter of Wagner, they cast 10's of thousands of these skillets. So they didn't change anything for decades. Nice find!Comment
-
I used to have a lot of cast iron, but I gave most of it away to people who cared about it more than i do. I kept one medium skillet and a couple Lodge Dutch ovens.
The old, good one that I kept is a HUGE Griswold Dutch oven that I love. I don't have a lid for it, though. I bought it at a yard sale about 35 years ago for $5. When I need a lid for it I put a pizza pan on top, and a cast iron skillet on top of that. When I get home from work I'll post a photo.Comment
-
I’ll try.
Attached FilesComment
-
-
I LOVE this thread! One day I'm joining you all with a rescue restore!Comment
-
When deciding the size, I see #8, #9, etc. Is that the diameter, or is there a numbering system intrinsic to Griswold? And is the diameter the inside, or the outside?Comment
-
Mosca
​​​​​​​That number is the burner size that piece was cast for. Griswold actually used to sell stoves. Then you'd buy pans, DOs, griddles etc to fit that stove and it's corresponding burner plates. The numbering systems are pretty universal between American manufactures, with slight differences. These numbers are not a measure of the pan itself, but rather the size of the heat ring on the pan, which would fit into that corresponding burner on the stove. That marking only means it was cast for that particular burner size. The total size of the pan can differ. Once the numbers are below 6, the heat rings do not always correspond to the size of the heat ring. For example, I have a #3 Griswold that has a 5-inch heat ring. I am not quite sure why they fall out of line at those lower numbers.
Even now, Lodge still has their original burner size marker on their skillets. For instance, the Lodge 10.25" pan, has the marking "USA SK8" on the back of the pan, right under the Lodge insignia. Waaaaay back this 10.25" pan series was meant for a #8 burner plate on a original Lodge stove. SK8 number is the diameter of the heat ring that would fit this burner. SK8 is an original Lodge casting number, dating way back, so they keep it as a way of retaining lineage within the brand. (I think of the iconic kettle look in the new WSCG, you can tell its a Weber)
Comment
-
Hey Spinnaker were you able to find anythng on that makers mark for my dutch oven? -
I think it is a Chicago Hardware Foundry. They bought Favorite and Piqua in the early 1930's. It makes it tough to nail down exactly when it was cast and by whom, either Favorite or CHF. However, I am fairly confident that it was cast in the 1930's, but at the original CHF foundry. And not in Piqua, OH. Iron Bulldog
-
Comment