How to avoid fake cast iron antique cookware

[magnusfide]

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

[OleManOleCan]

down home wrote:
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.

I've sanded a couple of Lodge Skillets and got them slick.
After I seasoned them 4-5 times they are mirror smooth, slick and shiny. I have a small skillet for cornbread, a 10" skillet for a double recipe of cornbread, and a medium skillet I use for frying eggs. (Why buy Teflon?)
I also have an old Griswald I inherited from my Grandmother.
My collection includes two Chicken Cooker skillets with lids, and several sizes of Dutch Ovens. I also have a couple of Lodge skillets that I haven't done anything to. These days after I retired, I don't seem to have the time or inclination to sand more.
None of my Cast Iron are show pieces, I use em all.
It took a couple of years to wean my wife off of modern light weight skillets, but I converted her.

[OleManOleCan]

down home wrote:
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.

I've sanded a couple of Lodge Skillets and got them slick.
After I seasoned them 4-5 times they are mirror smooth, slick and shiny. I have a small skillet for cornbread, a 10" skillet for a double recipe of cornbread, and a medium skillet I use for frying eggs. (Why buy Teflon?)
I also have an old Griswald I inherited from my Grandmother.
My collection includes two Chicken Cooker skillets with lids, and several sizes of Dutch Ovens. I also have a couple of Lodge skillets that I haven't done anything to. These days after I retired, I don't seem to have the time or inclination to sand more.
None of my Cast Iron are show pieces, I use em all.
It took a couple of years to wean my wife off of modern light weight skillets, but I converted her.

[BarabooBob]

I buy good OLD cast iron at garage sales. A friend just gave me 2 Griswold pans that belonged to his great-grandmother. His wife can't lift them due to wrist problems.
I have given high quality to all of my daughters and they use them frequently.

Do not use the cast pans with a rim on the bottom on glass to cookware. The rim will not allow proper heat transfer. NOne of my 100 plus year old pans has a rim on them. My oldest pans are almost 140 yrs old and belonged to MY great-grandmother.

[Dennis58]

Here is a great source for cast iron

http://www.castironcollector.com/

[down_home]

Wife won't use our cast iron on glass topped induction stove top.
One or two are rimmed on the bottom designed not to slip off gas cook stoves.
Way she said it I took to mean the use of the cast iron on the induction stove top was not compatible??? Is it just fear of breakage?
Also cast iron will get a crust of grease that comes through the pores of the cast iron on the bottom mostly to the outside; would that have something to do wit it.
Grand Ma's Grand Ma's cast iron skillets had thick crust perhaps over a century old. Mom got a new electric stove with oven cleaning and let it burn it off.
Grand Ma and Great Grand Ma and her Mom probably kicked holes in their coffins.

[Wanderlost]

There are quite a few YouTube videos on how to smooth out CI. I just might try it on my grittier modern pieces. The key is to wear a painter's suit over your own clothes and respirator, so as to not get iron bits on you or in your lungs.

[opnspaces]

I have an induction cooktop at home. I never tried cast iron on it for fear it would scratch the glass.

[down_home]

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.

[SARGUY]

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!

[Johno02]

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??

[BarabooBob]

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]

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?