percentage of warped pans?

I'm very new to CI hunting. And I seem to be finding lots of stuff with wobble, from slight wobble to downright spinners and everything in between. Now im curious from the more experienced CI hunters, what percentage of pans do you find that are warped vs flat? are my expectations of flat to much? or is there just that many damaged pans out there?

They are defiantly out there you just have to be patient. Slight, very slight, movement does not scare me because I have a gas stove and can usually make most pans sit still while I am cooking. Spinners are worthless and perfectly flat unwrapped pans are out there you just have to be picky. Just my thoughts. If you are looking for a big pan, #10 or more, they are tougher to find with out warpage. That is why they fetch a higher price. I picked up a #10 Wagner Sydney 0 with the slightest movement for 5 buck a few days ago. I have been wanting one for a few years however. Patience is key in collecting.
Kyle

My advise is be patient, I popped on several pans when I started out that I would pass on now. If it's warped, pitted, or overpriced I set it down and say to myself "I'm going to let them bless someone else with this one"

My experience, in approaching the 1,000 pan mark, is that BSRs and early Lodges are generally flat or nearly so and the larger percentage of Griswolds are good. But, I find that Wagners are more often warped or whatever than not, especially from a size 8 and up. I'm always surprised/pleased when I find one that's flat. Most of the Wagner DOs I find have varying degrees of wobble.

I've wondered if it's the nature of the iron, or if they were used by cooks that were growing increasingly impatient, wanting the pans to be up to temp NOW and so cooked at higher temperatures.

I see it like this . Aside from people who just get rid of ALL their cast iron pans for whatever reason , people will usually do as we do and get rid of the ones they have cracked by running cold water into a hot pan or warped by putting it on the stove then going to answer the phone or sometime and forgetting it . They they go back to it after to find it warped . So the first chance they get to give it to a Church bizaar , rummage sale , or someones yard sale they do that . Then it's back in the system of yard sale to flea market , flea market to antique store , antique store to new cast iron buyer .

In other words the nice one get held onto more and the ones with issues get put out for sale . But there are good ones out there for sure , but you'll usually see quite a few not so good ones for every good one lol

Here's something I wonder about. I know for collectors of cast iron flatness is paramount. But treasured as they were, cast iron hollowware were made as utiitarian tools, not collectibles. There must have been a fair amount of variance in the stuff from perfectly flat, to those with a hint of wobble. All within spec presumably.

Any thoughts? Did CI pans always leave the foundry flat and only warp over time and with use? Or did some get out the door in less than factory mint condition?

Christian,

I keep asking myself those very same questions every time I feel a pan rock when I test for wobble, which, sadly, seems like nearly all the time. There had to be an allowable limit. A single sheet of printer paper is roughly .0035" thick. I have a few pans with what I would describe as a slight rocking to them that can be completely stopped by strategically placing that piece of paper underneath part of the pan.

It also seems easier to find a pan that sits perfectly flat if it has a heat ring, which makes me wonder if they cheated a little and flattened slightly out-of-spec pans simply by firmly pushing it bottom side down on a really big belt sander. After all, who's going to notice if the heat ring is shorter on one side by a few thousandths of an inch?

Glad to hear I'm not alone, seems like all I can find lately is warped, cracked, and overpriced, while I see posts all over the place hauling home LBL's, eries, BSR sauce pans, etc

So far only one. It was with a dutch oven I picked up for $15. A BS&R #8 it's a spinner. That taught me a valuable lesson. So now I test all of them before I buy. Slight wobble is no biggie, last thing I need is a cast iron top.

J Scott said:

So far only one. It was with a dutch oven I picked up for $15. A BS&R #8 it's a spinner. That taught me a valuable lesson. So now I test all of them before I buy. Slight wobble is no biggie, last thing I need is a cast iron top.

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JScott--If you intend to use that DO in the oven, it won't be so bad... I have a couple of spinner skillets and I have a glasstop stove--not going to work!

DonnaM said:

JScott--If you intend to use that DO in the oven, it won't be so bad... I have a couple of spinner skillets and I have a glasstop stove--not going to work!

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I don't have a glass top stove. I'm not a big fan of them either. They're great for easy clean up, that's about where my fondness for them ends. As far as the dutch oven goes it's in good shape just minus the lid. I still use that warped skillet I probably shouldn't, but it will fry a mean egg. :biggrin:

I have 5 Griswolds and none are warped but I did shop carefully when I bought them. I was a little concerned when I received my #12 since it had some wobble when I first used it on my stove. A little deeper inspection showed that the grate on my gas range was not level! All my larger pans have a little movement when I use that burner.