Thoughts

L

LeeJohnson

Member
I met up with a longtime collector in Connecticut yesterday who has never been online. He's in his 80s and still out finding, cleaning and selling pans. I bought some from him and will be getting more.

He talked about a secret way to get the pans an inky black that doesn't come off and I wanted to here thoughts on it. He was taught how to do it by Larry (I think it's Larry), the author of the other books in the 1990s on Griswold (not the BB or RB).

Basically, you wait for the husks of black walnuts to disintegrate, the toss the nuts in shells into a pot with water that you don't care about and boil the walnuts. After an hour, the resulting liquid is used as a bath to dip a seasoned pain into. The results look pretty impressive but it seems to me that collectors currently like being able to see metal, even if through a layer of seasoning.

Thoughts?
 
I met a collector in the 1980 time who's iron was exceptionally black, jet black. It looked kind of nice but I prefer things more natural and pans that might get black from genuine use, not an intentional blackening. I don't think the old timers gave a thought to how black their pans were.

This guy I met would make his own lamp black and mix it in with the liquid oil of choice he used. I don't remember what it was. I think he would then bake it. To me this is all artificial but nothing wrong with it if the owner wants to spend time getting his pans "sunburned" a dark color. I have never really seasoned a pans but just start using them with oilier foods and let the pans get seasoned naturally. I am really surprised at all the steps some collectors will go to to season a pan and even all the steps to clean a pan. Simple is better if it works for you.
 
I think any method you want to use on your own pans is fine, as long as it doesn't serve to conceal or misrepresent the actual condition of the piece. To me, anything that even looks like paint tends to make me suspicious. Most artificial blackening methods tend to look flat and paint-like. When seasoning purely for cosmetic/storage/display purposes, I prefer the effect of high heat darkening + mineral oil. But, to me, usage and time yield the best and most authentic dark patina.
 
Surprisingly, his have a sheen like they've been seasoned, used and loved for years.

I'm not saying I like it. Some looked very nice and I didn't have the heart to tell him I didn't think most would go for it specifically for the reason you state. I want to go back again and again and buy pieces from him, including Wapak Indian Heads.

He does though. For the most part he's giving me decent prices on the more expensive pieces.

Thanks for the reply!
 
For me anyway, I use the cleaning and initial seasoning method described on this site. The cleaning, because who knows what's been cooked in the pan, and the initial seasoning to thwart rust until I start using the thing. I assumed that seasoning (and whatever color comes with it) after that is something that happens, as you cook over time, not something you do. Part of the allure of using cast iron (again, for me) is watching the color and surface change over time.
 
I use the method here as well. I found it interesting but not something I was interested in doing. He did send me off with a bag of walnuts though so I'll probably need to do one just because.
 
I have heard of a few trappers dying their traps with walnuts. Works good as I have been told. I stick with the trap dye.
 
When I was a boy, I had a chemistry set. One of the "experiments" was mixing tannic acid with potassium ferocyanide to make a blue-black ink. I suspect that is what is going on here... the walnuts have a lot of tannin that is reacting with the iron.

Another application is staining oak (also high in tannin) with a solution made from soaking rusty nails in vinegar to make a dark gray stain.

(please forgive the thread bump... there is a lot of thread history on this forum to browse)
 
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