Hello again,
As I had a lye bath going, I decided to make the thrift store rounds to see if I could find some cast iron pieces to fill in my tool kit. I found a wood handled, roughly 10 1/2" cast iron griddle. I almost passed it over because I saw the wood handle and thought, oh 70s-80s Chinese or Taiwanese. Luckily I picked it up and noticed the quality was far above what you normally see with Chinese or Taiwanese cast iron. The casting quality alone is on par with current Lodge, no casting defects that I can see. The wood handle is far more intricate then what you'd see on cheap Asian pans. The wood is well shaped, sanded, and finished, and is finished off with cast aluminum end caps, that again have no casting defects and are well finished. This leads me to believe it is possibly a European piece (didn't European cast iron often have wood handles?) or American. The only marking is a O or 0 on the bottom of the assist handle.
As I had a lye bath going, I decided to make the thrift store rounds to see if I could find some cast iron pieces to fill in my tool kit. I found a wood handled, roughly 10 1/2" cast iron griddle. I almost passed it over because I saw the wood handle and thought, oh 70s-80s Chinese or Taiwanese. Luckily I picked it up and noticed the quality was far above what you normally see with Chinese or Taiwanese cast iron. The casting quality alone is on par with current Lodge, no casting defects that I can see. The wood handle is far more intricate then what you'd see on cheap Asian pans. The wood is well shaped, sanded, and finished, and is finished off with cast aluminum end caps, that again have no casting defects and are well finished. This leads me to believe it is possibly a European piece (didn't European cast iron often have wood handles?) or American. The only marking is a O or 0 on the bottom of the assist handle.