Wagner Waffle Iron Handles

MDFraley

Member
Can't find any confirmation regarding the finish of Wagner's waffle iron handles. I've had to repair one handle on the one I'm restoring and due to the type of repair I had to do it would have shown quiet obviously two different types of wood (the original natural wood grain finish and the new wood I had to pressure glue for the repair) thus I put on my lathe to recreate the original circumference and grooves in the handle design.
What I can't find is whether Wagner ever used the black lacquer finish on some of their pieces (waffle irons in particular) or were they always the natural hardwood looking finish? My reference books do not state what the finish was and since I have already finished the handles on my piece I hesitate to state that the handles are restored to the original finish.
Attached is a pic of the ones I finished yesterday. Thanks in advance.
https://imgur.com/thAY6fy
 
My toy Wagner iron has black handles. The ones with the short ferrules always seem to be black. Then there are some with longer ferrules seen natural or stained, but hard to say if those are original. I will look at a couple of catalogs tonight to see if they actually mention handle finish.
 
Thanks Doug. I know that the Griswold (BB) designates the finish on a lot of their wooden handles where as there was no mention of such when you look in the Wagner sections.
Appreciate your speedy response.
 
Probably should have added the handle I was repairing so as to show the before and after but didn't think of it. Anyway...here is the handle I had to add a piece of wood to before I put it on my lathe to turn it down. It's very easy to repair/replace these wooden handles with a little care and the proper tools. Hard to tell from the finish pic which on I had to repair but it was the bottom one.
https://imgur.com/RYawsf0
https://imgur.com/thAY6fy
 
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MDFraley, great job on making the handles. What would the general cost be to have someone made handles? I have two handles that are broken and would love to replace them and place new ones on them.
 
We've talked about advertising handles in the past but this is not a buy/sell forum. It has been pointed out before that round stock from your local hardware/box stores carry them in several O.D. sizes and most time just the simple round stock work for lots of Waffle Irons such as the Griswold American's. If they require detail grooves or shapes it will require special tools such as a lathe which run hundreds of dollars for a good one. I've made replacement handles for friends of mine at no charge simply because I like to see these old relics restored to original looking as much as possible.
If you have friends that tinker in woodworking you might take a sample to them and see if they can make some for you. Good luck...
 
The catalogs don't really say anything about handle finish. The long ferruled handles are described as "flame-protecting". The 1924 catalog says irons are shipped with wood handles by default. The 1927 says wood handles only upon request.
 
The catalogs don't really say anything about handle finish. The long ferruled handles are described as "flame-protecting". The 1924 catalog says irons are shipped with wood handles by default. The 1927 says wood handles only upon request.

Again. Thanks for your help. Since I've already painted them black that's how they will stay.
 
We've talked about advertising handles in the past but this is not a buy/sell forum. It has been pointed out before that round stock from your local hardware/box stores carry them in several O.D. sizes and most time just the simple round stock work for lots of Waffle Irons such as the Griswold American's. If they require detail grooves or shapes it will require special tools such as a lathe which run hundreds of dollars for a good one. I've made replacement handles for friends of mine at no charge simply because I like to see these old relics restored to original looking as much as possible.

If you have friends that tinker in woodworking you might take a sample to them and see if they can make some for you. Good luck...
I wasn't asking if you could make some for me. What is the going rate in the woodworking field to have someone make them. I don't know anyone who does woodwork. I'll look at checking with people. I don't want to over pay if I don't have to.
 
I wasn't asking if you could make some for me. What is the going rate in the woodworking field to have someone make them. I don't know anyone who does woodwork. I'll look at checking with people. I don't want to over pay if I don't have to.

Really have no idea what the cost would be. Surely there is a shop in the Atlanta area that does custom woodwork. Might even check with the local schools to see if the shop classes does anything of the sort. When I was going to school we had all sorts of projects we did as favors to those that requested them. If you supply the material I think they would accompany such a request.
 
MDFraley, thanks. I'll check some trade schools. I just didn't want to over pay by not knowing. I've done that with buying some CI pieces when I started. I think we all may have done that.
 
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