New find today ...

I found this in my one-and-only local "Junk Emporium" this morning. It's already in the lye bath, handles removed and in the de-rusting process. I also managed to find a base on Facebook just a little while ago. Hope to have it all ready to make waffles in a couple weeks.

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/109831389

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/109831410

I'm not sure if these are pitted on the outside or if it's just rough casting. If it's pitting, someone did a really good job of de-rusting. I'm leaning toward rough casting. The insides look a lot better.

Were they coil handles, and if so could you elaborate on how you managed to safely get them removed? I have the same iron and am not getting a warm and fuzzy feeling when I try to turn them in what I think is the proper direction.

Doug, they are coil handles and the bolts unscrew as expected. (Righty tighty, lefty loosy.)They were a bit tight, to say the least, but I kept tapping lightly on the sockets with a rubber mallet and alternating with a scrap piece of oak until they broke loose. Rusted very badly but not so much as to destroy the threads.

I'm trying to figure out what to use to scour the threaded parts on the paddles. Maybe a .17 cal bore brush??

I had pretty much determined they were right-hand thread, but, when trying to turn the handles' eyebolts counter-clockwise to remove, it seemed like that made the coils "expand" and tighten against the insides of the sockets. Maybe a re-visit with some more WD-40 or Kroil is in order.

I have the coil handles on my #9 American and was also not sure about removing the bolts but with just a little bit of pressure to break loose they screwed out remarkably easy with no rust in the threads.

I use a steel bristle welding brush to clean rusty threads on bolts. Works great. Inside the hole I would venture a bore brush, twisted to follow the threads, would work well.

Still working on the paddles, coils and handle bolts, but I just got the base I bought from a fellow collector on Facebook. It's in MUCh better shape than my paddles and should clean up in a snap.

Can't wait to start a fire and have some waffles. :glutton: