Not vintage, but decided to try this...

K

KateD

New member
I've conducted several hunts around this area to find vintage cast iron, and the best I could do so far was a #10 Lodge skillet from - I'm guessing... around 2006-2008. Whoa - wake the kids, call the neighbors! :rolleyes:

Since collectors seem to agree that the major difference between the great old stuff and the new stuff is the cooking surface - is it smooth or pebbly - I figured the next best thing to do, if I want a pan with a smooth surface on the inside, is to take a new piece and modify it.

This is the second new piece that I've ground and polished on the inside - it's a Lodge chef pan I found for $14.



I posted it on my Facebook timeline, and it has generated more comments than anything I've ever posted. I didn't realize I had so many cast iron fans in my friends list.
 
Kate, I've sanded a couple of Lodges myself and I looked like a coal miner at the end of a shift, but got them smooth. I can only see maybe one pit in your pic, but did you discover quite a few little pits by the time you were finished like I did?

Hilditch
 
nicely done. things taste better out of an older pan. kinda like using gold medal flower for biscuits instead of white lily, it just doesnt taste the same.
 
W. Hilditch said:
Kate, I've sanded a couple of Lodges myself and I looked like a coal miner at the end of a shift, but got them smooth. I can only see maybe one pit in your pic, but did you discover quite a few little pits by the time you were finished like I did?

Hilditch
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Haha - coal miner is right! It's a pretty dirty job, for sure. Dust mask and safety goggles are a must to do this.

Yes, there is one pit left close to the middle of the pan, and two or three closer to the edges that you can barely see at all. I was afraid if I kept going on them, I'd end up changing the shape of the pan, and have to grind off another 128th of an inch all over the inside to maintain the original contour. But I've at least smoothed them out enough that, once the seasoning gets more built-up, they will become invisible.

---------- Post added at 07:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:58 PM ----------
KevM said:
things taste better out of an older pan. kinda like using gold medal flower for biscuits instead of white lily, it just doesnt taste the same.
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Things do taste better in old cast iron. I have a 1977 Wagner Ware pan that I bought new - not one of the rock stars of cast iron, but it's well-aged, and I know exactly what you're talking about.

---------- Post added at 07:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:02 PM ----------
Mark H said:
It will taste good out of that skillet.
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It's a very nice pan, even now. Helps to know how to cook, of course, but I think it's going to be really special someday.
 
If you ground those pits out others would appear as something crystalizes in Lodge iron. When you build up some good seasoning I suspect you will like the food out of this skillet as good as the Wagner. Maybe even better than the older ones.

Hilditch
 
W. Hilditch said:
If you ground those pits out others would appear as something crystalizes in Lodge iron. When you build up some good seasoning I suspect you will like the food out of this skillet as good as the Wagner. Maybe even better than the older ones.

Hilditch
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I really don't care what you think, but for the sake of newbies that are coming here for good information, there is NO flavoring that comes from polymerized oil, Hilditch. Polymerized oil (aka "seasoning" is the nonstick finish that we're looking for, but it adds or subtracts nothing from the taste. Any special taste that it may offer would come from the Maillard reaction resulting from the browning that has stuck to the food rather than to the pan. Let's keep facts and imagination separate.
 
W. Hilditch said:
If you ground those pits out others would appear as something crystalizes in Lodge iron.
Click to expand...

I really hadn't noticed any new pits appearing after I'd gotten other ones ground out. The ones that I left there, were all ones that I had been working on for a while.

I wonder if that is more or less likely to happen, depending on what kind of grinding method/abrasives used? Most of the work done on this one was with 40 grit sandpaper and quick-strip wheels.
 
Going back 7 & 9 years I don’t think I went less than 40 and then 80 on two new skillets based on the discs I found. Cooking surface only. On my way down I found small pits, the size of a grain of Kosher salt but just a few. As those were sanded smooth a few more appeared. Not air holes, but like the sanding dislodged a grain. Just enough to see so that I said to myself; “Ah so, this may have been why Lodge quit machining even before their addition of pre- seasoning.” A pit or two in a machined surface could kill a sale. The pre-seasoning may have started to cover more than their pits, if you know what I mean.

My pits were small and seasoning quickly filled them in. They are not quite as good users as my 1983 Lodge SK 10 where I have built up the seasoning over the hills and valleys, but they are good. For me, it’s BSR #7 and smaller and Lodge #8 and up for even cooking.

Hilditch
 
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