Not Seeing Much Difference After Initial Seasoning

[NABodie]

I picked up a Griswold #3 small logo while on vacation this week. After cleaning it up I followed the website instructions on initial seasoning but I'm not seeing much of a color change in the pan. Did I wipe too much off? I've started it back through the process again and after preheating it to 350 it seemed to be really sucking up the crisco. Did I do it wrong, wipe too much off, is it supposed to come out that way?

How I found it.

After cleaning

 

[Doug D.]

Looks normal. Pans manually seasoned with just few layers of oil/fat will often look "bronze". There just isn't enough carbonized matter in the matrix to look black, as pans eventually will over time and more usage.

 

[NABodie]

Worried me since the BSR I seasoned with it got a good bit darker, but then it started out a good bit darker going in too. Thanks Doug!

 

[Lloyd B]

Worried me since the BSR I seasoned with it got a good bit darker, but then it started out a good bit darker going in too. Thanks Doug!

They are all slightly to moderately different in color! Some are black from the get go, others take much longer. My '70s and up BSR and Lodge almost never get black like my pre-70s pieces until I use them multiple times!

 

[JLenzo]

I am wondering about different types of seasoning products as to appearance of the color. I have used Crisco on a number of pans and they come out bonze similar to yours. I have started using Crisbee (Bees wax, Soybean oil and Palm oil) and they come out darker brown.

 

[Doug D.]

Depends on how much carbon residue the oil or product produces when heated to thermal cracking. Typically, those whose goal is to create a black appearance with only a handful of baked-on layers of manually-applied oil are those who want a well-seasoned look quickly on a piece they are probably not going to actually use.