Polished Wagners?

[BrianN]

Hello all,

Admission: not a collector, just an avid fan of cast iron cooking.

Does anyone know if Wagner ever sanded or polished the cooking surface to a non-bumpy, smooth finish? If so, does anyone know what year they abandoned this process? I am considering purchasing a Wagner skillet that, if authentic, was produced between 1922 and 1959, based on the logo. In the late 40's I believe companies began moving away from this extra step, just not sure when Wagner did.

Thanks all with any help/clues you can provide!

 

[Doug D.]

Wagner polished cooking surfaces from day one, as did the other name brand makers. Some offered both polished and plain as-cast finishes. Polish grinding, for the companies still in existence, generally stopped some time after the 1980s. You can find Wagners marked without "Sidney -O-" that are polished, so they did continue the practice for some time after acquiring Griswold and shifting casting operations elsewhere in Ohio. Wagner "1891 Original" first produced in 1989, are seen both ways. Lodge apparently still offered polished as an option until the late 1990s.