I did good this week too! (Photo & another story..)

[RickC]

This is my haul from last Sunday's flea market, and a couple thrift stores this week.

Flea Market
Within' about 5 minutes of getting to the flea market I already had a No.8 & 5 skillet in my backpack. Within 30 minutes I had those plus the large square skillet, and on the way out I had all four. Walked 4 miles that day.

• Large Wagner fully marked square skillet. The large one with assist tab. $12
• BSR Square skillet in rough shape. Flash rust, minor pitting. $5
• No.8 3-notch Lodge with Made in USA in the center. $10
• No. 5 Wagner. 1/4" of crud fully covering the outside. Looks like alligator skin. Don't know if it's marked or not yet. $3

If any of you read my other post about defending myself with a No.10 skillet in a thrift store parking lot, things could be worse, as I found out. On Thursday I decide to do a loop of thrift stores on the way home from work.


Salvation Army found nothing. Goodwill found nothing. Small but always busy independent store (The one I had the incident at last time), about 6 pieces all made in China or Mexico. And a new Lodge square grill skillet for $24.99!! What!!?? I left it. Then I spot a no-notch Lodge No.7. $9.99! Nice!! Then I notice the large crack by the handle. Arrgh!!!

As I'm heading back to the freeway about a block away from the last shop and I notice another shop that's usually closed by the time I can get to it. It's 5:45pm, and they close at 6. Only a block away from the last shop, but the neighborhood is just as bad. I go in and pick up the Wagner & the BSR square skillet. I go to pay and I find out they're 50% off. Nice! Should have picked up the other two pieces but they're now closing. Walk out the door, look over towards my car and there's two hookers standing about three feet from my car. Shortest shorts, tallest heels, and tube tops. "Please don't talk to me, please don't try and talk to me." was running through my head. I unlock the doors, drop my two finds on the passenger side floor board. Walking around to the drivers side I glance over just as one was pulling her tube top down and digging around in it. I'm guessing she was looking for money, drugs, or something. Possibly just advertising her wares. I promptly got in the car, locked the doors and headed home.

Went back today to pick up the other two pieces, but went straight there so I could be there before dark.

(50% off sale on kitchenware, so cut prices below in half)

• Wagner 1059G Skillet No.9 heat ring full logo. $19.95
• BSR No.8 Skillet $9.95
• BSR Breakfast Griddle, 11-1/4" The big one with the assist tab. $14.95
• Lodge No.5 3-Notch (Another one with 1/4" of crud) I'm starting to wonder about this one. Handle is odd. $6.95

Other Thrift Store

• Griswold No.8 waffle iron paddles (Searched but couldn't find the base) $6.98

 

[Jeffrey R.]

Did you say they looked like alligator skin. :covri: You got some cleaning up to do RickC. Better go back and look for the base.

 

[Bonnie Scott]

RickC, whenever I complete a set of matching logo, matching handle skillets and list them on ebay I get questions from potential buyers asking why they should pay the $300 to $400 price I ask. I normally respond with, you shouldn't buy them you should go thrifting and find your own and clean them because it is much cheaper. Maybe instead I should just provide a link to this post. :icon_scratchchin:

 

[RickC]

Did you say they looked like alligator skin. :covri: You got some cleaning up to do RickC. Better go back and look for the base.

I bet you thought I was exaggerating. Well one isn't quite 1/4" of crud, but the other really is.

Lodge No.5

Wagner No.5

Bonnie, Yeah, there really is a lot involved in being out there hunting, and hunting for pieces. Getting there early, and walking miles at the flea market, going way out of your way to hit thrift stores, going some place 10x and not seeing anything, and then going the 11th time and finding 3-4 great pieces. etc etc... It can get discouraging at times, but the one time out of ten that you find something amazing is what keeps ya' going.

 

[JMoss]

RickC,
Those are indeed some crusty 5's. That can be a blessing when the crust has protected what proves to be well preserved pan. And on the other hand I have a stack of skillets that revealed cracks when the crud was gone. Apparently you can continue using the cracked pans as long as the carbon fills the cracks.

Good luck, I hope your pans fall into the first category.

Jack

BTW, if you have found a way to determine whether or not there are cracks under the crud please share it with all of us. (other than cleaning the pan of course)

Jack

 

[Jeffrey R.]

Yup! You got some cleaning up to do.

At what point does someone stop using a skillet that looks like that?

When it gets to heavy for the wife to lift it.




I have had pieces like that (there is hope for you RickC). My question is this. Do they ever wipe off the outside of the skillet, or just the inside?

 

[Steven C]

Rick, your last two look exactly like the first two I found. A good solid week of oven cleaner then a wire brush and a couple days more in the bag. They were truly mystery skillets to me at first.

 

[RickC]

BTW, if you have found a way to determine whether or not there are cracks under the crud please share it with all of us. (other than cleaning the pan of course)

Haha... Not yet. If it's so bad that I can't determine if it's cracked, I'll only pay a little money for it. Unless I can tell it's something amazing, and the price is still cheap. Then I may gamble on it being good.

At what point does someone stop using a skillet that looks like that?
When it gets to heavy for the wife to lift it.

Growing up we had neighbors that also used cast iron. Their pans looked exactly like the ones in the photos. The best food came out of them!! My Mother's skillets, while black as coal, never had the buildup our neighbors pans did. I think she actually wiped down drips/spills.

A good solid week of oven cleaner then a wire brush and a couple days more in the bag.

Not my first rodeo. I've had ones this bad multiple times before. I don't expect to pull them out of the lye this weekend and have them ready to go, but I've been surprised before. I've had ones way cleaner than these take weeks. It's all about how much has actually turned to carbon.