My first experience with cast iron.

[Hickory n steel]

Every now and again just visit goodwill or thrift stores where they don't care how or what and just want to sell. Though I didn't know what I had when I bought that pan from goodwill... Took me hours combing through cast iron forums and sites to find a picture with the same handle angle and placement of the 8 to know it was Wagner(if my memory is right... I did the research like two years ago).

The Griswold was sort of a fluke. When we where cleaning his house for a sale my mom handed it to me and told me to put it in my truck. Mostly because she knew I'd give it the love and use it needs to last on into the future rather then turning into a possible abused camp pan.

The Goodwill's normally price stuff fairly cheap, but thrift stores...ect are usually higher than a kite whether they know what they have or not.

Now I know exactly what it's like trying to get something identified, took me a few hours once to identify an old adjustable wrench as a JP Danielson produced.

 

[spectrum055]

The Goodwill's normally price stuff fairly cheap, but thrift stores...ect are usually higher than a kite whether they know what they have or not.

Now I know exactly what it's like trying to get something identified, took me a few hours once to identify an old adjustable wrench as a JP Danielson produced.

depends on the thrift store really. But estate and garage sales are probably better than thrift. But I'd say you'll stumble on or at some point be in the right place at the right time or wrong time if it's buy a good castiron and eating ramen till pay day.

 

[kamagong]

It really depends on what you want to spend, your time or your money? Estate and garage sales, perhaps even flea markets, are the cheapest places to get cast iron, but you'll have to spend some time hunting for them. Don't forget the money for gas and the added wear and tear on your car. The hunt costs money too.

Apart from a couple of pieces I got on Craigslist, I've bought almost all my vintage CI from a local antique shop. Was it as cheap as some of the deals I so often read about online? Not even close, but they were still much cheaper than the pans I see for sale on EBay. I didn't have to pay $25 bucks for shipping either.

 

[unwisefool]

I use cast iron in our cabin in the woods, which has a propane stove. Has anyone used cast iron with a glass top stove? I'm worried about messing up the stovetop.

 

[BladeScout]

Am I correct in assuming, that no detergent ever touches your CI?

 

[kamagong]

You would be incorrect. I don’t make a habit of washing my cast iron with soap; I just clean it with hot water and a tawashi. But if the occasion called for it, I would use soap without hesitation. The old proscription against using soap on CI came from a time when soaps were made with lye. A very sensible precaution given that one of the most effective way to clean old pans is to soak them in a lye bath. Modern soaps are very mild in comparison. So while something like Dawn will cut through the grease, the polymerized oil (i.e., the seasoning) remains intact. Even if the seasoning is affected a little, so what? That’s what’s great about cast iron and it’s seasoning. Teflon degrades over time and eventually loses its non-stick properties. On the other hand the seasoning on cast iron is self-healing and gets better with use.

 

[BladeScout]

Thx for elaborating

 

[Hickory n steel]

Personally if I won't eat it I wouldn't put it in my skillet, but that's just me.

 

[kamagong]

Any residual soap will be washed away with water. It’s a total non-issue. How do you clean your plates? Glasses? Eating utensils? Knives?

 

[Hickory n steel]

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Any residual soap will be washed away with water. It’s a total non-issue. How do you clean your plates? Glasses? Eating utensils? Knives?

I clean everything else with soap, but my cast iron is cleaned hot under hot water.
This is my method of choice and it works just fine.

 

[sodak]

The beauty of cast iron is that the only way you can hurt it is to mistreat it to the point that it cracks or breaks. Everything else can be fixed.

 

[robgmn]

Am I correct in assuming, that no detergent ever touches your CI?

Nope.
If properly seasoned, soap and water is fine as long as you dry it thoroughly to avoid rust.
Then again, a well-seasoned pan can often be cleaned by wiping down with a few paper towels until they no longer get dirty when wiping the pan down. I do this and give a final wipe with a small dab of Crisco to make it look good.

A proper seasoning should not be fazed by soap and water, and would even take some elbow grease with a scouring pad to hurt.

 

[22-rimfire]

Awesome, I hear great things about the old Wagner and Griswold iron.
I'd love to find one like that to put back into use but around here people aren't donating anything old or of quality, and that's just in general.

I have a Wagner and don't remember where I bought it. Had it a long time, but I bought it new. I donated my classic woolrich coat to Goodwill... that is like a $300 item these days.... Didn't fit and hasn't fit for 30 years. Still looked brand new.

 

[A.S.]

I use cast iron in our cabin in the woods, which has a propane stove. Has anyone used cast iron with a glass top stove? I'm worried about messing up the stovetop.

I have a glass top stove and use cast iron all the time. No. 8 at 10 5/8 inch is heavy and has not damaged my glass at all.

 

[banana-clip]

I use my cast iron on my glass top stove all the time too.

I havn't had any problems with it cracking/breaking my glass top stove.

 

[12345678910]

Using salt as an abrasive always struck me as being needlessly wasteful. I just use hot water and a coconut fiber brush most of the time, and a flat edged metal spatula to scrape off really tough stuff. Works like a charm.

I found once a pan is seasoned, cleaning with a stainless scrubber hot water and salt works well.
No soap touches the pan.

It's not so much an abrasive, but it seems to loosen the hard crud boiling water and salt without affecting the grease seasoning layer.

 

[Hickory n steel]

I found once a pan is seasoned, cleaning with a stainless scrubber hot water and salt works well.
No soap touches the pan.

It's not so much an abrasive, but it seems to loosen the hard crud boiling water and salt without affecting the grease seasoning layer.

I actually haven't had the need to scrub with salt yet, but so far I've only made sandwiches potatoes and fried chicken in my skillet.