"Flip Flop" Waffler

[Wade White]

Greetings all! Hey, I'm not a collector but I snagged this fine piece and was interested to see if I could learn anything about it.

I got this as a result of wanting to make waffles, buying a waffle maker and deciding it was JUNK! Thus began my quest for a not-junk unit. After a whole day of reading reviews on Amazon, I got the feeling they must ALL be junk! And I set out to see about something without all the fancy (and junky) nonstick and electronics. Something too simple to go wrong. Something old.

I found it on Ebay and was drawn to the "flip flop" action. I hadn't seen that before, so I assume it's not all that common. The seller was great and told me what he knew about it when I asked. Said they made these around mid-to-late 1800's, and he bought in Amish country where it was sitting amongst some very very old pieces. So that's what I know. about it. It was a nice even black color when I got it, and I stripped it with EZ-Off in a ziplock bag over a couple days. Seasoned it with grapeseed oil and I'm off and waffling.

So here she is in her lovely/ugly new seasoning:
And the base, which I didn't strip:

Of course, I can get more pics if needed.

Oops! 5 pics limit, I guess! PT II coming...

 

[Wade White]

No identifying marks anywhere that I've seen, though I did find a very similar iron on Ebay that has a "V" cast into the surface. These pics are of that unit:

Also, I have done some reading and I understand that often it's just impossible to identify some of this old stuff and that it wasn't unusual for foundries to copy items from each other. So I'm not expecting any miracles here. Just sort of fishing to see if someone may recognize it and tell me what I've got. And if there's no info, that's fine! I wanted an old-timey waffler and that's exactly what I got. And I'm happy with that.

And in case you wondered how waffles would look from that pattern, wonder no more! MMMmmmm! Tasty waffles! lol

 

[Doug D.]

This design is typical of the earliest waffle irons produced for use over a wood stove eye. It could have been made for individual sale or supplied as an accessory with a wood stove by the stove manufacturer.

 

[D_Madden]

keep in mind the part about 'use over a wood stove eye'... these were made to be open to the heat below... not sitting on a stove eye cover... and they could be flipped easily by pushing down on the side opposite the hinge... but you can't do that with it sitting on any other modern heat source... unless you have something to raise the base up above the heat source enough to allow the paddles to 'flip' without picking the whole thing up each time.

 

[SeanD]

Looks great.........Im just soaking up the information about these......Im not big ibto waffle irons, but I can see the lure........

 

[Wade White]

keep in mind the part about 'use over a wood stove eye'... these were made to be open to the heat below... not sitting on a stove eye cover... and they could be flipped easily by pushing down on the side opposite the hinge... but you can't do that with it sitting on any other modern heat source... unless you have something to raise the base up above the heat source enough to allow the paddles to 'flip' without picking the whole thing up each time.

Point taken, but apparently I don't share your enthusiasm for collecting cast iron! Even if I did find a nice old stove with the correct burner eye size for my waffler, I'd have nowhere to keep or use it. Luckily, the base has a convenient handle that makes it easy to pick up. My waffles turned out just great, so I hereby approve the picking-up method for modern stove usage.

 

[Carl_M]

This is an example of one of the things I love about collecting cast iron: it's not just about having a pretty trinket. Cast iron cookware can be very useful to cook with (even 100 + years later). That's awesome.

Hey Wade - congratulations on the pickup. You don't have to be a collector nut to enjoy cooking with it!

 

[SeanD]

I will agree. Its the using part I like the most. Its not about money, to me, its a usable hobby.

 

[Bruce Lockhart]

I've got an old gate marked griddle with a handle that appears to be very similar to your base handle. Has a 7 on the top of the handle and a T on the bottom of the griddle. I have not seen any maker identified for this handle pattern.