What I found on my cast iron fry pan hunt today

[Echo2]

Spoon cradle....

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Ones at shop waiting refinishing....

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[1stimestar]

Oh my gosh that spoon cradle is cute. I MUST have one!

[sofasurfer]

Is a rough cooking surface the mark of a modern or lower quality cast iron pan or griddle? I have a couple of very nice and smooth fry pans but my griddle (Emeril) has a rough surface and it does not wipe of very well after cooking bacon.
Be the way, am I every happy with cast iron cooking. Never used it before. I love it. Even heat over the whole surface and no major heat fluctuations if you move or lift the pan. Its exciting.

[sofasurfer]

Found a dutch oven (I guess thats what its called) today at a antique mall. 10 inch diameter and the pot is 4 inches deep. There is a "8G" on the bottom. I paid $10 which I think is a steal. Needs a good cleaning. I will try soaking in vinegar as I saw on youtube. Anyone know the brand? Value?

[sofasurfer]

Aside from the fact that the bottom says "8g" instead of "8x" I would say it looks like a Birmingham Stove and Range pot.

[hunter63]

Spoon cradle....

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Ones at shop waiting refinishing....

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Spoon cradle? really, I thought it was a quail egg pan........LOL, found a couple of these last summer, guess I give it to DW as a spoon cradle. (Just asked DW and she didn't know it was a spoon cradle either)

SS you seem to be on the right track on educating your self of the subject of cast iron cook wear.
It will get funner as you learn more, and can pick out the better brands, antiques and such, at the right price.

Would like to see a pic of the pan when you get her cleaned up.

[sofasurfer]

Today I saw my first cast iron fry pan with a cast iron lid. Very nice, cleaned. Smooth interior. Pour spouts on 2 sides with matching lid. 10-1/2 inch is on bottom of lid as well as, not really dimples, but fingers for drip, drip. Bottom of pan only had "#8" and "H". $31.00. Is this a worthwhile find or "just another pan"?

[Rick]

Can you post a pic of the bottom of it? Many of the Griswold's have an H marked on the bottom but they also have the Griswold logo right in the center of the bottom. Since that's where a lot of the wear occurs could it be worn off? The 8 is generally an 8 7/8" bottom diameter. That will depend on the maker, date and type of pan. There were probably hundreds of different manufacturers of cast iron pans/skillets and that's just in the U.S. Depending on the manufacturer the H could be a pattern, model or molders mark. Molders were often paid by the piece so the make indicated how many they made.

[sofasurfer]

Heres the pan...

[Rick]

No bottom wear on that one. You may never know who made it because some of the big name foundries made cast iron for companies like Sears Roebuck and Monkey Ward to name a couple. They are called "unmarked" pieces but that doesn't mean they are not high quality.

The raised ring on the bottom is a sought after item. It's called a heat ring and it was cast into the skillet to raise it slightly above the surface of the cook stove so it would more evenly distribute the heat. Since wood or coal cook stoves could have hot spots the heat ring helped with a move even heat. Very nice piece.

[sofasurfer]

Very nice piece.

I like that. Guess I'll go see if I can get it.

[DSJohnson]

The set up.jpg
Some of my cast iron in use

[Jimmyq]

101_6922.jpgknuckled down and bought a 4 qt dutch oven with the coal loadable lid, made in Chine but for $30 I will give it a run. No luck in the second hand stores or other sources.