Hello from TN

S

Steve J.

New member
Hello forum. I am new to the vintage cast iron world. I have always been a fan of cast iron, but recently decided to buy the wife an older Griswold dutch oven for her birthday. I bought a very rough looking large logo #9, and followed the process described on this site to strip and season, and found a beautiful, pristine piece under all that mess. Looks like new, which caused me to catch the bug.

Now for the question... my second purchase was a Griswold skillet I found in an antique store. It was so well seasoned, it was hard to tell the condition underneath. The cooking surface was in great shape so I bought it. I stripped it down only to find significant erosion on the bottom surface that wasnt visible (at least to my untrained eye). It will be a great cooking pan so I am happy to have it, but any advice on how to spot hidden pitting or erosion on a pan that has decades of seasoning?

Thanks!
 
About the only advice for such a piece is just to not pay more than you're willing to risk to find out what's under the crud, no matter what the piece would be worth in excellent condition.
 
Hi Steve,

Welcome to the forum.

Well, now you may have more information about the possible history of your pan. I seem to recall that if the pitting was on the underside of the base it was typically due to the acids from a coal fire. Many of the old pans were sized in such a way that they could fit inside the opening of the removable burner on top of a cook stove. Wood fires would not damage the cookware like coal. :whip2:
 
Right, I have read that about coal fires. It has a heat ring, so I guess it makes sense that might have been the case that it was fitting directly over the coals.
 
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