Here's a good article for those who collect vintage cast iron cookware.How to avoid fake Griswold and Wagner cast iron antique cookware

Very handy. I also use The Book of Wagner and Griswold: Martin, Lodge, Vollrath, Excelsior (A Schiffer Book for Collectors), by David G. Smith and Charles Wafford.Generally, if the cast iron is smooth before seasoning and weighs less than modern CI, it's far more likely to be the good stuff...I just put away the Griswold and our un-marked, modern bean pot. The Griswold is significantly lighter and smoother. The Wagner skillets are also significantly lighter than our modern Lodges of the same size.Guess which ones get more use?

My old Griswold & Wagner hangs in a proud place next to my kitchen stove. It gets used daily. I also have 1 Griswold and 1 Wagner in the TT. I use them more than our good stainless steel pans.

DW doesn't like cast iron cookware, for various reasons. My question is will cast iron pans work on induction cooktops and burners?? Seems like they should, but how well do they work from someone that has tried??

Cast iron is probably the absolute best you can find to work on induction cook tops. Nothing else works better than cast iron cook ware!

It's always seemed to me that the old cast iron they tried to make smooth with smaller voids in the iron. All the new stuff is rough. Watching it poured in a foundry It looked like metal with chunks and bits of a harder metal in a mix.Watching cast iron poured in another foundry not for cookware it poured smoother.I know the old Griswald skillets and corn bread stick pans do not stick as much.She has a couple pieces of Wagner I don't know how they do. I bought the others for her and cleaned and seasoned them.

How to avoid fake cast iron antique cookware | Good Sam Community

12 Replies

BarabooBob
Explorer III
Apr 05, 2019
My old Griswold & Wagner hangs in a proud place next to my kitchen stove. It gets used daily. I also have 1 Griswold and 1 Wagner in the TT. I use them more than our good stainless steel pans.
Wanderlost
Nomad II
Apr 05, 2019
Very handy. I also use The Book of Wagner and Griswold: Martin, Lodge, Vollrath, Excelsior (A Schiffer Book for Collectors), by David G. Smith and Charles Wafford.

Generally, if the cast iron is smooth before seasoning and weighs less than modern CI, it's far more likely to be the good stuff...

I just put away the Griswold and our un-marked, modern bean pot. The Griswold is significantly lighter and smoother. The Wagner skillets are also significantly lighter than our modern Lodges of the same size.

Guess which ones get more use?

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How to avoid fake cast iron antique cookware

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