Help with these two skillets - out shopping again

[SpurgeonH]

Hey guys, one of the benefits of traveling around North Georgia is the opportunity to kill time during lunch by stopping in small antique shops.

Here are two I saw a minute ago:

The fist is a griddle (marked as a "bread pan" on the tag). I don't know much about old cast iron. Is this mark on the back a "ghost mark"? Is that a good thin or a bad thing?





And this one, I think, is a Lodge #7? It has three notches on the ring and the 7 is at 12 o'clock. What year range is that? 1950's? And what the heck is the white stuff on this skillet?

 

[Doug D.]

A handled griddle, not bread pan. Gatemarked bottom. The Lodge, by the smaller pour spouts and thicker walls is ca. late 1950s. The white/gray is either built up seasoning that's gone past carbon headed to ash, or some residual mineral substance. Cooking surface looks rough; I'd pass on it unless you want a practice restoration project and it's cheap.

 

[SpurgeonH]

The gate mark means it was made prior to 1900? If so, I'm guessing $12 is a pretty good price?

The Lodge is tagged at $29. Looks like it should clean up ok. Not sure I need another #7. Haha!

 

[Scott McCarrick]

Buy the griddle [good price] and leave the lodge. $29 is too much [for me, anyways]

 

[SpurgeonH]

Done! Thanks for the help. The griddle has a very oily feeling to it. Actually comes off on my fingers. Bad seasoning job? It also looks like it might have some rusty colored spots under the seasoning. Not sure you can see that in these pictures. I'm going to strip it done and redo it.

 

[Kyle S.]

The oily residue is usually from the seller who covered it with something, usually olive or vegetable oil, to make it shine. It should clean off pretty easy with mild dawn and warm water. Seasoning will flake off if it is a bad job or remain really sticky. A local guy here covers everything in olive oil and i have to make sure I have a bag on hand so it doesn't get all over my truck. Happy hunting.
Kyle

 

[SpurgeonH]

Here's the griddle I bought today - after cleaning

Thanks, Kyle. It's actually kind of hard to tell from the pictures, but it was black when I bought it and a minimal amount of washing had it back to the grey metal.

When I got home, I washed the griddle with Dawn and a bunch of the "seasoning", if you can call it that, came off. So I put the griddle in the oven on 200 for 15 minutes, then coated the warm griddle with Easy-Off and let it soak in the sink for 10 minutes. Scrubbed it a little with 000 steel wool. Washed it again with Dawn... This is the result:






Now I have it in my e-bucket. I'll post pictures in this thread later tonight, after a couple of hours in the bucket and after I season it.

 

[Ty L.]

You easily could have seasoned it then and there. It would likely have a few light spots where the flash rust is after initial seasoning but nothing a large batch of pancakes (2 cups of batter, 1 pancake at a time) wouldn't fix.

BTW, I have that griddle's twin, and it makes fantastic pancakes.

 

[SpurgeonH]

Thanks, Ty. I'm looking forward to using it! BTW - any idea who made this little beauty?

 

[Ty L.]

No idea. Since very few foundries in the 1800's left any kind of brand or logo on the product it's often impossible to determine the maker.

 

[Ty L.]

Here's the twin. After initial seasoning, it had the same bronze hue yours had as pictured on the center console in your car. I have only cooked on it maybe a dozen times, but it gets progressively darker with each use.

 

[SpurgeonH]

Wow. They ARE twins. They even have a couple of the same casting imperfections. Does yours have the "0" on the back? Mine also has four little notches on the heat ring at six o'clock. (Two of them are a little deeper than the other two.)

Here is mine after stripping, tanking, and one round of seasoning. Might be hard to tell in the pictures, but it looks alot better now.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e50/shendrick3/Mobile Uploads/image_zpsyftj7gop.jpeg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e50/shendrick3/Mobile Uploads/image_zpsuyowpid6.jpeg

 

[Ty L.]

Mine has no maker's mark, but it does have similar little notches, almost like someone was using a hacksaw to leave a marking on the pattern's heat ring.