Hammered Finish Ware

If you have collected vintage cast iron cookware for even a short time, you're bound to have come across a pan with a "hammered" finish. Like plating, a hammered finish was intended to give a more upscale appearance to the cookware. The dimpled finish mimicked that of more finely-made service ware.

Hand hammering was a common decorative technique on pieces made of softer materials like brass, copper, and tin. The metalsmith would spend a great deal of time and effort to meticulously create the hundreds if not thousands of same-sized impressions on each piece.

"Hammered" cast iron, and cast aluminum as well, differs in that the dimpling is molded in, rather than applied afterwards. The type of iron typically used to make pots and pans is not malleable enough to be hammered, to say nothing of the time and enormous expense a skilled craftsman's labors would add to each relatively inexpensive piece. Therefore, it is the pattern which is hammered, and whose characteristics are then transferred to each mold.

Hammered finish cast iron and aluminum cookware popularity appears confined to circa the late 1930s to 1940s. Many manufacturing resources were redirected to the war effort, and luxury versions of cookware were likely suspended for the duration.

Among hammered pieces, skillets and dutch ovens were relatively common, often being plated as well. Other hammered pieces more rarely found include waffle irons, corn stick pans, muffin pans and griddles.

Variations in the hammering style are seen from one manufacturer to another. The dimple edges may be sharp and distinct, or more subdued; the dimple sizes seen varied from as small as 1/8" in diameter to as large as 3/8".

Chicago Hardware Foundry pieces are seen in up to four variations, including small and large indentations applied in both regular and random patterns.

Griswold and Lodge hammered pieces exhibit a higher density of smaller dimples, about 1/8" to 1/4" each.

Wagner pieces typically have larger indentations, about 1/4" to 3/8" in diameter.

Also often seen are what have come to be termed "ugly unknown" hammered cast iron. They are characterized by large, indistinct dimples, large pour spouts, and no markings other than a dot or grouping of dots on the undersides of handles. Dutch ovens are also seen with the same dimpling and lids whose basting elements are rough and misshapen.