Warnick & Leibrandt Waffle Iron Question

Lynne G

New member
I have an unrestored W&L waffle iron with a low base and am not finding much information about the foundry. I'm curious about how old this waffle iron might be. Any help is very appreciated, thank you.
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Thats why I LOVE this site.....always something new to see......Id say 1800s...prob late but Im no expert.
 
Sooo, does that make it one of the earlier waffle irons out there? Or somewhere in the middle?
Also, I checked the eBay sold listings and saw 2 W&L waffle irons that had 7,8 on them and 2 that had 8,9. Mine is a 6,7 is it rarer or are they just unpopular and that's why nobody is buying them?
I've used cast iron for years, but I'm not very knowledgeable about collecting it. Is there any reason not to use this piece once it's cleaned up? Or anything else anyone can tell me? I appreciate the education that I get here. :)
 
the only problem with all of the older style waffle irons that flip on those middle pins... is that you either need an open stove eye to flip them or you need to fabricate some sort of high base adapter to raise it up above the heat source so you can flip it without picking the whole thing up to do it.

I would say the smaller ones are 'less common' and from the info on the stove history page yours is probably from the mid 1800's... but I believe they were making waffle irons back in the 1700's... Thomas Jefferson is alleged to have brought one back to the US from France because he liked it so much.
 
Well as it so happens I have an antique cookstove that I could use this on! :) The only catch is that it runs on anthracite coal and not wood, I'm wondering if that matters at all. The fumes from coal aren't as aromatically pleasing as those of wood, to put it mildly.
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I had a relative that used to heat his workshop with a big old coal burning stove (not a cook stove, one of the big tall ones).. .so I'm familiar with that coal burning scent. He used to smoke cigars when he was in his shop, probably to cover up the smell of the coal smoke.
beautiful stove though.
 
Thank you. As it turns out the waffle iron is too small to use in one of the stove's eyes. Another group confirmed that the iron is mid-19th century so I'm not sure that I'll use it at all, maybe it deserves to be retired after 170 years of service.
 
Well as it so happens I have an antique cookstove that I could use this on! :) The only catch is that it runs on anthracite coal and not wood, I'm wondering if that matters at all. The fumes from coal aren't as aromatically pleasing as those of wood, to put it mildly.
cookstove.jpg

You can burn wood in that stove. I have a less fancy model and the grates in the firebox are setup for either one. My heat is tough to keep low enough due to the drafty nature of the stove to use the oven.

I would use the WI over wood, but not coal
 
I talked to Brandon at the Antique Stove Hospital and he said that the WI would crack if used directly over the firebox. I think I'll just retire it after cleaning/seasoning and get another one to actually use.
And yes, I definitely can burn wood, I just rarely choose to. After learning to build and maintain a coal fire I would never go back to burning wood, even for homemade waffles. :)
 
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