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Post by Paws on Sept 17, 2004 6:45:09 GMT 12.75
There isn't anything better for cooking than cast iron and the best piece(s) you can get are Dutch Ovens. You can cook everything fromn breakfast bacon and eggs to the best dessert you can imagine. If any there was only one piece of cookware that I could use it would be a Griswold DO! ;D Griz I moved your post and started a new board. Think maybe this might work better! ;D
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Post by Paws on Sept 17, 2004 7:09:41 GMT 12.75
Cant argue with that Griz. Griswold made one hell of a fine product. As you know I collect Wagner, Griswold is too rich for my blood at present. I also collect only what will be used. If it is just for looks it is pretty much worthless to me. I use it in the CW reenactments, on camp outs and hope to set up historical displays as part of the OCC effort as well. Since I would like to have several period displays I figure I will need at least enough iron for three or four camp site set ups. Of course I use the iron for cooking at home too. That is when I have the oven empty cause most of the time it is full of cast iron! ;D
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Post by Carter Northcutt on Oct 12, 2004 12:50:35 GMT 12.75
Say Phil, since this is about cast iron, why don't you post some do's and don'ts of cast iron and what you consider to be proper maintenance of it and so forth?
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Post by karlgustav on Oct 15, 2004 2:27:50 GMT 12.75
Griz & Pawclaws! Good morning! A question. I have Lodge,McClary's,Smart Foundry(Brockville,Ontario), Wagner,but I have never heard of Griswold. Is it available(still produced)? Is it special? Smart foundry went under in the late 50's & it is special,at least to me! The finish on my Smartware is like polished glass,& it's slightly thinner in the fry pans.The most common cookware here is Lodge.It's OK but it has a very open pore in the metal.No matter how well seasoned & how old & well cared for, you will never see your reflection in a Lodge pan. Actually I have heard about Griswold, but only through this site. Oh yes I also have some pots,made by Le Creuset. They are very expensive and porceline covered,inside & out.the one fry pan I have has the same bright orange porceline coating on the outside but is iron on the cooking surface.They do have one major flaw.The handles look like they should be cooler to touch than lodge,etc. but they seem to conduct the heat straight to the handle! Several people I know have also been taken by surprise the first time! It's usually an experience you don't forget !! Well, I better go lay me down for a bit! Things are kinda spinning in circles.Dam painkillers! Like, how many times can I misspell "experience"?? God Bless & Good Nite!
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Post by DaGriz on Oct 19, 2004 2:16:52 GMT 12.75
The history of Griswold is too long to list here, unfortunately. The long and short of it is Griswold is the Rolls Royce of Cast Iron Cookware. Long since out of business. Was bought by Wagner in the early 50's (I believe). Shortly after Wagner bought Griswold they were bought and shut down . I do believe that Wagner is back going again or plans are that they will be in near future. Early Wagner cast iron is also very good, but Griswold seems to be a bit better and more highly sought after. Griswold CI is still found through collectors, Ebay, antique shops and the like. There are several groups of people who have formed clubs soley about colecting and using Griswold Cast Iron an example is : www.wag-society.org This is a good group of people who collect and use Wagner and Griswold Cast Iron.
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Post by karlgustav on Oct 20, 2004 18:53:21 GMT 12.75
;D Hey,Griz! Thanks for the reply! You really answered that one well.Now all I have to do is find my first piece of Griswold. Wagner is quite common here,and some of it seems to be slightly better than others.Non of it is unacceptable though. I don't imagine you've seen Smart Foundry Castware. It's so nicely finished that it almost talks to you! ;)It's not easy to find & so far all pieces I've found have been well looked after.I took my Mother a 10" frypan,and she gave me a McClary 12" to take away.She just turned 90 & the weight of the Smart pan made her eyes light up!She's awfully strong & tough for 90, but she really enjoys being able to pick it up with one hand with no danger of dropping it on her foot! I noticed you guys have mentioned aluminum cast. Mom has a very thick & deep frypan of aluminum. It holds the heat quite well,but I've never seen any aluminum D.O.'s.Are they made by identifiable companies like wagner? What do you think of aluminum for a D.O.? Does aluminum cast come in the same assortment of styles as iron? As long as I have my one D.O. & lid I get along Quite well on a spike camp. If they work as well as iron, it would save a fair bit of weight,but if it's markedly inferior to iron, I'd rather pack the weight! God Bless & good hunting!
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Post by DaGriz on Oct 21, 2004 0:42:16 GMT 12.75
Griswold made several different pieces of cast aluminum, including several different sized Dutch Ovens. They seem to be hard to find and sell for a lot less than the cast iron. You can usually find some on Ebay. Do a search for Griswold, there is a lot out there for sale. Just be carefull as there is some counterfit Griswold starting to show up. You can also do a search for Wagner I personally don't like the aluminum cast iron stuff. I know there is several other makers of aluminum cast cookware but don't give them much attention as I am a dedicated Griswold person. I wouldn't give 2 cents for a ton of Lodge cast Iron, as it is really porous and light weight. Never heard of Smart Foundry. Yiou might go to the www.wag-society.org bulletin board and ask about it. The people their have a real wealth of knowledge
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Post by Paws on Nov 1, 2004 5:47:07 GMT 12.75
Griswold and Wagner both put out terrific products. Wagner eventually did more of a production line operation to reduce the prices and get their products into morehands. That is why there are more Wagner than Griswold ;ieces. A lot of the Griswold pieces are designed for restaurant or hotel use in commercial kitchens. Griswold Trademarks and most of their patents were bought by Wagner in 1959 just before Wagner shut down their operations is Sidney Ohio in 60. The popularity of cast iron especially the Dutch oven has taken a sharp upturn in the past ten or so years with the demand for the product is being satisfied by Lodge, CampChef, a number of Chinese, Korean, and Thai kilns and of course the after market collector pieces produced by Griswold, Wagner, and others. Like Griz, I am convinced that the better pieces are the older pieces. You just can't beat individual craftsnamship. The Lodge pieces can be improved by grinding and polishingthem which helps to smooth the surfaces as well as lighten the weight. Personally, this is more effort than I care to expend and the old Wagners work just fine. Carter for do's and don't I guess the biggest do is Do use your iron. The more you use it the better it, your recipes, and your techniques become. As for a Don't: Don't let it it intimidate you. Master it. You will be glad you did. Maybe I'll start some education threads in this area! ;D
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Post by Carter Northcutt on Nov 1, 2004 8:17:41 GMT 12.75
Thank you Phil
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Post by hotdoggy on Nov 24, 2004 18:57:47 GMT 12.75
The surface of my Wagner looks like it was machined. It doesn't look at all like the Lodge stuff at Walmart. Does this add anything to the quickness of seasoning? It sure looks a lot better than the rough surface. I'm thinking of just using mine for cornbread for awhile. Someone, somewhere said it will help season it evenly. Is he full of it, or what?
A little off topic, Paws. Has the password for the saloon been changed? I can't get in.
Jerry
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Post by Paws on Nov 25, 2004 4:12:43 GMT 12.75
How thick is the metal Jerry? I have a number 9 that is very thin and indeed it appears to have been machined. I am not certain it is machined; but, it sure looks likely. Then too, both Wagner and Griswold made some fantastic pieces right out of the sand molds in the early 20th century. It is my favorite because it is the lightest. Great for stove top cooking; but, it doesn't go to camp. Thicker castings are more reliable for temperature control and uniformity. So when I'm using a fuel or heat source that is highly variable I use the heavier pieces. If cornbread is made in the "old traditional" way it certainly would speed up seasoning. Here is why. The first step in making your bread is to pre-heat a quarter cup of lard, crisco, oil etc on top of the stove in the pan you are using. This of course immediately adds to the season. ;D No Jerry the pasword to the saloon has not changed. Remember that it is "case sensitive though." I'll send you a PM with the password to help refresh your memory. If you have any more problems with it let me know.
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Post by karlgustav on Feb 4, 2005 18:10:30 GMT 12.75
;D ;D ;D Hello Folks! As you'll see, this story is worth 3 Grinning Idiots,rite at the start! The other day,I was walking along a street not far from my house in town. On the sidewalk beside the bakery where I was headed stood a sign that said "Garage Sale" There's no garage near there, outside of the shop where the Hell's Angels work on their scooters in the winter.It turned out to be a very small Pawnshop that I didn't know existed.Small wonder it went tits up if I didn't know it was even there! I limped inside to check it out. I bought a new wheel chock,aluminum that said "Lear" on it. I asked the half asleep Vietcong proprietor "How much" He grunted "Dolla" OHH Kaay ! I picked up a 1000 ft reel of weed trimmer line & just pointed to it."Dolla"! As I dug for my "Dollas",I spotted underneath several obviously cheap,& new Chink dutch ovens,Three orange colored,nested frypans. My heart kinda gave a lurch,& I thought,"NO! CAN"T BE" I picked them up, & trying to act nonchalant,turned them over and YES!! I mosied over to the "Dolla Man"& asked "These Three dirty pans?" He never even looked at them."Five Dolla" I Paid the man, made an about face, & skipped out the door with my 3 Lecrueset,made in France, 9",12" & 16" nesting cast iron frypans,worth at least $300.00!! I got them home & into the sink,& shortly I had 3 shiny,clean pans that had never been abused,just never scrubbed & that's fine with me. The funny part as an aside to this,I read my old reply about never having seen "GRISWOLD" cast. About 5 yrs ago,my daughter,who was working as a chef in a nice uptown restaurant,asked me if I'd part with one of my "dear frypans" I laughed & said they're not That Dear,Dear! & told her to pick one out,which she did. This X-mas,at her place,with her hardly broke in husband,I helped her with supper.I was about to fry some bacon,butter & onions for her cabbage rolls and progies,when I looked at the bottom of the pan. Guess what?? Yep, GRISWOLD! I had that pan for 30 yrs,across rivers on horseback,up & over hill & dale & mountains on my back,down 200 miles of the Athabasca river by canoe & cooked Lake Trout on the shores of Great Bear & Great Slave Lakes & I never knew anything but the fact that "Keep yer F"N hands off that frypan & I assure you, you'll be a much happier person" was said to more than one aspiring chef!! Best Frypan I had,& I still feel like it's in good hands! God Bless, KARL
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Post by Two Tales on Feb 5, 2005 5:10:40 GMT 12.75
I don't know who bought Wagner out, but the plant in Sidney, OH didn't close until the mid 70s...they bought out Piqua, Grizwald and several other companies as far back as 1920..those "machine marks are just that machine marks...Wagner used to just dump the saggs (pots, pans and DOs that where mis-shapen, useally caused by compressing the sand in the top of the mold which made the botom bulge inward) into the scrap pile..to save money in the 40s and 50s they started to turn the bottoms of these pots to remove it..so yes they are machined..they also expermented with welding cracks and voids but that didn't turn out well..then in the 60s the again returned to the procedure of tossing the saggs and flawed pots in to the scrap for resmelting and pouring..you could, if you knew someone (like the foremans son) get permission to pick the scrap pile...we had at one time about 100 skillets, legged and legless DO in our house along with some of their fancy stuff...oh and about 200 of those cast iron Skillet Ashtrays they used for advertisement... Wagner is still in buisness but all I have seen come out of Sidney is their cast aluminum cookwear (WagnerWare) and dutch ovens...these are made from the original Gizwald, Piqua and Warner patterns...or duplicates of them, the orignials are some place in that foundry....
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Post by Paws on Feb 5, 2005 5:43:11 GMT 12.75
Wagner was bought out by (I know I'm going to screw this up) something like "Household brands" in 69 or 70. They sold all of the patents they had acquired from Griswold that remained at that time. They are currently owned by American Culinary and located in Sidney Ohio near the original plant. WAGS toured the plant last year during thier gathering and got to speak with a number of the original workers. I noticed you mentioned that you had around a hundred skillets. Did you have any "Fry Pans"? ;D You know those ashtrays are being forged by a Korean and Chinese manufacturers and are selling like hot cakes.
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Post by Two Tales on Feb 5, 2005 16:22:54 GMT 12.75
Paws some of them "skillets' was fry pans I lumped them together just cause I don't remember the number of each..our prize pan was a 20" 3 legged chicken fryer this seem to have been a special order or something as I have never ever seen another like it...it is about 4 inches deep..cooks enough chicken all at once to feed 12 hungry kids ;D ;D ;D..during high school and my machinest apprenticeship I crome plated about half of those ashtrys for Christmas gifts and the like...they all had the wagner name in the bottom of them..came out pretty cool looking...the ex still has the last set of six...one of these days I'll get them back..As far as the name of the buyers I would have guessed something Culinary but wasn't sure...The company made a run of the aluminum not to long ago and that foreman's kid..still works there..he got them for my mom...well made stuff...they are just sitting in boxes upstairs in her house...never been cooked in...
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Post by Paws on Feb 5, 2005 16:30:39 GMT 12.75
The good aluminum stuff came out in the 50's. There are some real nice light aluminum oval roasters that are great; but, I limit my self to the iron. DaGriz has twisted my arm near off trying to get me into Griswold but so far I've held out!
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Post by hotdoggy on Mar 18, 2005 5:17:23 GMT 12.75
Well, looks like I'm the proud, new owner of a Griswold #8 Dutch oven. I sure hope it makes it through the shipping process okay. I guess I'll do a roast first. I'm gonna backtrack on some of the posts here for advice on using and maintaining my oven, but anything else will surely be appreciated.
Jerry
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Post by Paws on Mar 18, 2005 6:08:10 GMT 12.75
I looks like it is in real good shape Jerry. It has the non-stick coating on the underside of the lid. Griz can tell you more about it. I don't have a clue what it is but it is very very thick nearly completely filling the cast hollow logo. Griz says that is normal. It resembles liquid glass or some kind of epoxy resin. Must be some tough stuff whatever it is! Send me your mail delivery address and I'll get this to you.
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Post by hotdoggy on Mar 21, 2005 13:11:13 GMT 12.75
Paws, did you get my address? I'm sittin' here salavating.
Griz, can you give me a little insight on this lid Paws is referring to? Did they come from the factory like that, or could this be an add-on of some sort? Either way, I can't wait to get cookin'.
Jerry
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Post by Paws on Mar 22, 2005 17:10:17 GMT 12.75
I got your address and old Hitler; errr, I mean Dick got your check and cleared me to send you your pot. The lid is as came from the factory Jerry. Griz says this is common and is what makes the thing "self basting"! I guess the goodies won't stick to the lid so they have to fall back into the pot!!
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