New to this...interested in learning

M

MStevenson

New member
Hello all. I am new to the collecting side of cast iron...really more into the educating myself aspect of it at this time. I go to a lot of auctions and see a lot of pans sold and I want to know more about them so that I can bid intelligently. I am a believer in cooking with cast iron...and I believe I am converting my wife!

For several years I have wanted a cast iron kettle. My family cooks burgoo (similar to a thick vegetable soup) in three 25 gallon kettles. I always watch for kettles at the auctions I attend, but they always seem to go for more than what I want to spend....until last night. I bought a huge kettle for $85! I believe it is 45-50 gallons (31" diameter - 22" deep). It does have some pitting and rust but there are no visible cracks or holes. I am looking forward to cleaning it up and seeing how good it actually is!

So, can you tell me anything about this kettle from the picture? I didn't see any markings on it...but I haven't had a lot of time to look it over yet.

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H. Christie said:
I don't know anything about your kettle but I would be surprised if it holds any amount more than 30 gallons at best.
Click to expand...

Not sure how you came up with you conclusion. I did rough calculations based upon diameter of the top and the depth, then converted cubic inches to gallons. From there I figured I had a certain amount of error so I guessed 45 to 50 gallons. I then found a website advertising one with similar dimensions, which indicated that it was 45 gallons. http://www.berryhill.ca/product-p/sk60.htm

As I mentioned, we use 20 to 25 gallon cast iron kettles to make soup. This kettle is a lot bigger than those.

I will find out tonight.
 
I always watch for kettles at the auctions I attend, but they always seem to go for more than what I want to spend..
Click to expand...

I think we're all in the same boat there. :-)

Well, just by looking at the photo. The pot looks about as big around as a 55 Gallon drum. but only maybe 1/2 as tall. so H. Christie's estimate might not be too far off.
 
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There...maybe this shows the size better. I wasn't able to fill it with water this weekend to find out exactly how big it is. I looked for lye and found 2 lbs of it...from my calculations, I need 9 lbs in order to effectively clean it. I did look it over better....it is cleaner than I assumed it would be, but I still have a rust issue. I might have to sand blast it before seasoning (I would say it is too big to try to use electrolysis. Thoughts?
 
There doesn't appear to be much if anything anything on it that lye would clean, and lye is not effective on rust. Large pieces like this can be electrolyzed with a little creativity, the inside, anyway. Basically, you would fill the pot with water, add the sodium carbonate, and hang the sacrificial metal in it, not touching the sides, and attaching the electrodes in the usual way, black to the pot, red to the anode.
 
Doug D. said:
There doesn't appear to be much if anything anything on it that lye would clean, and lye is not effective on rust. Large pieces like this can be electrolyzed with a little creativity, the inside, anyway. Basically, you would fill the pot with water, add the sodium carbonate, and hang the sacrificial metal in it, not touching the sides, and attaching the electrodes in the usual way, black to the pot, red to the anode.
Click to expand...


I was thinking the same thing (about the lye)...it just isn't that dirty.

I am interested in the electrolysis...but man, that seems like it would be extremely dangerous to leave the metal exposed! I'd have to camp out beside it to make sure that nothing touches it! How long do you think it would take to do electrolysis on it?

Thanks for the info!
 
Just rust, probably a couple of hours. Given the same circumstances, rust converts much quicker than crud releases.
 
Wow that does look a lot like mine! I don't think it ever had handles...but maybe I better look closer. I did notice that it has 5 places on the bottom where feet/legs have been ground off.

Thanks for the info! I'll have to look into that further.
 
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