New collector, pile-o-pans. First, a griddle.

[DPatten]

So let me introduce myself first. My name is Dennis. I'm not really a collector of cast iron, but I've somehow managed to accumulate a few pieces that I'd like to ID. I'm of thrifty Scotch-Irish ancestry, so I haven't spent much money on them, and I like to think that once I get them cleaned up and in use, I'll be dollars ahead.

My primary hobby, right now anyway, is collecting Coleman lanterns and stoves. There seems to be a fair amount of overlap between these two types of collectors. There's also a fair amount of commonality between decrusting a 75 year old skillet and derusting a 75 year old lantern without damaging them. But I digress.

Here are the skillets and a griddle that I'd like to ID. I suspect most of these are mid-century ca. 1950 or so, but I'd like confirmation. I'm limited in the amounts of pictures per post, So I'll spread the posts out.


Item #1 A griddle. Unmarked except for an 8A on the bottom.

 

[DPatten]

The second and third...

Item #2 an unmarked Skillet, fairly deep, only labelled 7P




Item #3 a Skillet marked "Sidney" and "7" There might be something under the Sidney, but it's pretty crusty. It is appreciably lighter than the previous skillet.

 

[DPatten]

fourth and fifth...

Item #4 A smaller skillet labelled with a "6" on the handle. Unmarked on the bottom




Item #5 A very nice, light skillet labelled with an incised 8 on the handle, and Vollrath Ware -8- on the back.




It's my intention to get these all cleaned up and into rotation. The griddle in particular will be useful on a camp stove.

 

[Doug D.]

#1 and #2 are both BSR, ~ 1940s - early 1950s. #3, there's a Wagner above the Sidney, O.; nice older piece. #4, an older Lodge no notch.

Help also on identifying unmarked pieces at: http://www.castironcollector.com/unmarked.php, on dating trademarks and logos at: http://www.castironcollector.com/trademarks.php

 

[JaredS]

Nice collection! Looks good. Get 'em cleaned up and feel the obsession grow!

 

[DPatten]

Wow! I had no idea. Thanks for the quick replies!

The BSR pieces make sense, Florida is obviously pretty close to Alabama, so this would be a local market for them.

I do have a couple new questions based on the replies and the ID/Dating links.

Looking at the links to the Lodge it looks like the lack of a notch indicates it predates 1930. Is that correct or am I misinterpreting it.

The Wagner tends to lead me to believe it is ca. 1920, based on the lack of a "Ware" Is that correct?

Also, do you have a rough idea, decade-wise, when the Vollrath was manufactured? The ID appears to have been unchanged for the entire run.

The fact that these are older means I might have a better chance getting my wife to warm up to the Cast Iron by appealing to her atavism.

I'm not sure whether I'm going to clean these in a lye bath, molasses or simply put them in the oven and turn on the self-clean cycle. Any recommendations to prevent damaging these 60-80 year old pans?

You guys are Awesome!

 

[JaredS]

Lye bath then electrolysis. If you aren't able to use an e tank then follow lye bath with quick soak in vinegar to loosen any rust.

Generally speaking, I'd avoid heat cleaning old cast. People do it and it works just fine, but there is the potential to damage the iron, and unless there is no other option the above works best. Just don't soak in vinegar for long! I'd go 5 minutes a time to remove the residual rust. After a long lye soak it won't need to be in vinegar long, unless it's a particularly horrible piece.

 

[DPatten]

I'm a big fan of Citric acid to remove rust on ferrous items, it's a chelator for iron. Acetic acid (vinegar) is more corrosive. You can get it in bulk form as granules at any wine or beermaking shop, or as "lemishine" in the dish soap aisle.


Any further speculation on the date of the Wagner, Lodge and Vollrath skillets?

 

[RickC]

You can get it in bulk form as granules at any wine or beermaking shop, or as "lemishine" in the dish soap aisle.

So that's what Lemishine is..!!! All I know is my Sister recommended it for the dishwasher, (I have hard water) and all of my beer pint glasses that had any logos on them are now just plain glasses. That stuff is hardcore, it's like acid for dishes.

 

[DPatten]

It's likely not the citric acid that's causing the fading of the logos on your glasses. Citric is actually pretty mild, didja drink Kool-aid as a kid? Then you've ingested powdered Citric acid.