Shopping Tips for Vintage/Antique Cast Iron Cookware

When out shopping for cast iron cookware there are certain things you want to look for. Your treasured find may be covered in grease, dirt and grime as well as rust so you may want to take along gloves or hand wipes. If you are at a big event such as a flea market you may want to take along something to carry your finds in such as a backpack or a wheeled cart. Make sure your back can take the strain or that the wheels on your cart are solid and won't break under the strain of the heavy cast iron.

Expect to pay full retail prices for items that are clean! Items not cleaned you should figure on the price being discounted 20% to 30% or even more from retail pricing. But be careful with pieces that are covered in grease as you never know what is under that grease. I have overpaid a number of times for items covered in grease that were not as perfect as they appeared to be. One nice #9 Griswold block logo skillet covered in grease turned out to be quite pitted on the bottom from use on a coal stove. I can't resell this pan as people look at it and make a inward sucking sound when they see it, so it has become an everyday user in my kitchen, it is a great pan probably the best pan I use.

Take any pan you are interested in and handle it, check it over thoroughly. Feel the pan, is it smooth or rough? Put the pan on a flat surface and grab the sides does it rock back and forth? Knock the pan does it have a nice ring or a thunk? You want the pan to be smooth, sit flat and ring. The ring means it has no cracks but don't be fooled, knock the pan all over with a metal object because knocking on the bottom only you might miss a crack, like I have on a beautiful #9 Erie pan. I knocked the bottom of the Erie pan and it rang like a bell but I later discovered it had a crack near the handle. So I knocked the Erie pan again and it rang like a bell on the bottom but as I knocked around the sides I discovered the thunk from the crack that I could now see because I had cleaned the pan.

One thing that is extremely important to remember is not to get overly excited about a find. Stay calm. Don't let your heart race away with your emotions. Look at any cast iron purchase as a business transaction. Easy words to say but extremely hard to do. I get carried away far too often and make mistakes overpaying or buying damaged goods. So do as I say not as I do because I have a growing pile of broken pieces of cast iron in my garage.

If this sounds like too much, you can always buy from my store! I have already taken the risk on dirty, grimy, greasy and rusty pans and cleaned them to a beautiful condition and offer them for sale at very reasonable prices in my store at Etsy.

The pan that causes the sucking sound from people who see it!

Why Cast Iron Cookware?

Why would anyone want to cook with cast iron? There is much newer technology in cookware. Cast iron is so hard to take care of. Cast iron cookware will scratch or break my glass top stove. On and on the questions and perceived problems of cast iron go.

Well let my say this about cast iron cookware; until I discovered cast iron I didn't know what I was missing. My family was a military family so we moved a lot when I was a kid, all of our cookware was aluminum because moves are based on weight. When I got married I had a set of Farberware and my wife had a set of Revere Ware, after we got married we starting buying All Clad. All Clad I must say far out performed both the Revere Ware and Farberware. The Farberware heats evenly but the handles fall off or break, the Revere Wares big weakness is that it warps and the copper bottoms need special care.

Then I discovered cast iron cookware by accident. On our 6th wedding anniversary the iron anniversary we didn't have much money (the story of our lives) and my wife was at a book signing event for her book "The Orphan Seal" at the Kittery Trading Post. I hadn't bought my wife a gift for our anniversary yet, so here we are at the trading post without much money and I saw this #10 Lodge skillet. Well that was it! And I really splurged and even got the lid to go along with it. You must agree I am quite the romantic!

I'd like to be able to tell you that it was an instant love affair between myself and cast iron but it wasn't. I seasoned the skillet and let it sit around. We moved that great big Lodge around our kitchen for years! We moved with it from Massachusetts to Maryland. My wife couldn't get rid of it you see because it was an anniversary present.

Finally after about 5 years and seasoning the stupid pan and lid at least 3 different times because it would start to rust, I broke down and used it. I can't remember what I made but I remember that it seemed to taste better than it ever had before. That was the start! So now we have quite a collection of pots and pans including a few odds and ends we have cast iron stuff (Lodge, Wagner Ware, Griswold and unmarked pieces that we use all the time), Revere Ware, Farberware and All Clad. We just can't get rid of any of our cookware.

Enough of my personal life, this is supposed to be about cast iron. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers iron to be a healthy food additive. Small amounts of iron come off the cookware into your food as it does from any other metal cookware, other types of cookware may not be as healthy for you as cast iron. I like the thought of my cookware helping to keep me healthy.

Now let me start answering the things I posed in the first paragraph. Things seem to taste better cooked in cast iron and they brown better. Cast iron cookware for the most part (some old cast iron cookware has wooden handles) can be taken from the stove top directly into the oven.

Yes there is much newer technology in cookware but not any better. Cast iron is tried and true and performs as well as any of the modern cookwares.  Cast iron cookware retains heat and cooks relatively evenly. Cast iron will last for generations if minimally cared for. Cast iron is easily recycled and is the first ever recycled material.

Cast iron cookware is relatively easy to care for (see my Cast Iron Care post). It is the original non-stick surface so minimal care is required. Keep using it and it won't disappoint you, the more use the better it becomes.

I have used cast iron cookware on 2 different glass stove tops and haven't scratched one yet. I pick up the pan and slide it on only a very small pan surface area as I must admit the Lodge pan is very heavy and difficult to pick up when hot and or full of food with one hand. Older cast iron is much lighter than the newer cast iron. As for breaking the glass store top with cast iron, I'm pretty sure if I drop one of my All Clad pans on the glass top it would break it too.

I hope I've convinced you. This is a picture of the pan and lid that got it all started. Visit my store on the Etsy button below for some great deals in vintage cast iron cookware.

My lid needs some work because it is hardly ever used!

G. F. Filley #10 Gem Pan

Here is the latest addition to my collection! Another pan I am in love with! This is a G. F. Filley #10 Gem Pan which was manufactured between 1865 and 1900. So if I can do the math correctly it is 110 to 145 years old! Wow just think about that for a moment. The pan is 12 1/4 x 8 3/8 x 3/4 and heavy. The bottom is quite ugly and rough but is part of its charm. If you look closely you can read No 10 and G. F. FILLEY on the bottom. These pans were to make individual sponge cakes with a hollow top for berries and cream. The book value is $150 on this one which I decided I like better than the #11 which books for about $225.

Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh! It's Broken!

Something you never want to see is a very old piece of cast iron that you have bought broken. Even worse is when you never got to enjoy it and it arrived broken. People think cast iron is invincible, maybe it's Iron man's fault. Cast iron is actually very brittle (that is one reason that modern cast iron is so thick) but treated with a little bit of care it will last an extremely long time, generations in fact.

I have received quite a few pieces of cast iron that luckily were not broken, one was a camp dutch oven with feet that tore through the canvas bag it was in, through the bubble wrap and through the box so that the feet were sitting on the ground. I have received a 150 year old piece that was wrapped in minimal bubble wrap sliding around loose in box. My favorite is a beautiful Griswold Victor #8 skillet that I bought which included a handling fee and it was just thrown into the box with nothing to protect it. You judge the results!

To ship cast iron it should be wrapped thoroughly in bubble wrap or newspaper. There should be at least one inch between the cast iron and the box on all sides with that area filled with crumpled newspaper so the cast iron piece does not move.

Molasses as a Rust Remover

I saw this posted somewhere online that molasses could be used as a rust remover. Seemed pretty incredible to me, in other words I was extremely doubtful. The recipe is 2 parts water to 1 part molasses. Spread it on whatever you want to remove rust from, let it dry to a sticky mess and wait. The theory is that the molasses forms a bacteria or yeast or something that eats the rust.

I tried it on a very rusty Favorite Piqua griddle that I probably shouldn't have bought. But I'm a sucker for hopeless causes, found it in a junk shop marked $40 (Actually couldn't read what the price was and asked the guy at the counter and he told me $40 and I said I would put it back. He said he would see what he could do so I went on shopping and when I got back to the counter he asked me what I would pay for this rusty mess of a griddle (my words) and I foolishly said I could go as high as $10 and that is what he had written on the tag which he had hidden under the griddle.) I bought the griddle for $10 and have had it sitting around for about a year with quarter inch thick rust on it. The griddle has been fun to use for my experiments though.

On the sections with light rust it cleaned up nicely after several weeks of sitting around with the molasses on it. The heavy rust loosened quite a bit and could be scrapped off. This griddle may be salvageable after all. It seems very smooth so far and I'm pleased with how it is coming out. A lot of work to go on it though.

This method actually works! It took quite a while but did a fantastic job of removing the rust. Would I recommend this method, probably not, unless you had only one piece to work on every 2 or 3 months. As for removing all of your rust from multiple items at a time no way. I might use this on my Griswold Rabbit Mold.

I should have taken some before pictures so I could show you what I was dealing with and what I have now. Hindsight is 20/20. More experiments to come.

You Don't Realize Just How Beautiful These Things Can Be Until You Actually Have One In Your Hands

Here are the pictures I've been promising for the No. 240 Turks Head Pan! I haven't had a chance to clean it yet. More pictures once I've cleaned it. This pan is big, 14 5/8 X 10 X 1 1/2. It is heavy, 6 pounds. Most of all it is beautiful even in it's smelly rancid oily uncleaned state.

These pans were manufactured in the 1930's and 40's. They have a book value of $450 to $500. There is only 1 version of this pan and it has a rarity of 8 on a scale of 1 to 10. The book Griswold Muffin Pans says, "It is fairly uncommon but is obtainable." Hope you enjoy the pictures.

For now I am keeping this for my "collection". I guess my collection is this pan along with a #10 Marietta PA Skillet. My other collection consists of pans I cook with every day Lodge, Wagner and yes Griswold.

Every collection has to start somewhere, so in truth I must confess I'm awaiting the arrival of a G. F. Filley #10 Gem Pan. I have my eye on a couple of other pans to add in the near future. I'll let you know. After much thought throughout the day I've had to add 2 other pans that are part of my collection because my family insists that I keep them. I have a Griswold Rabbit Mold and a Griswold Sheep Mold. So suddenly my collection is up to 4 pans with another on the way.

Fran's Awesome Pancakes!

Cook these on a well seasoned cast iron griddle. Makes enough for 2 people because they are really good. Don't be fooled by the whole wheat flour - these pancakes are truly awesome.

Fran's Awesome Pancakes!

2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour - we use Bob's Red Mill

1 Tablespoon Sugar

2 Tablespoons of Baking Powder

1/2 Teaspoon of Salt

2 Tablespoons of Whole Ground Golden Flaxseed Meal - we use Bob's Red Mill

1 1/4 Cups Milk

2 Large Eggs

2 Tablespoons of Oil - we use canola

1/2 Cup of Unsweetened Applesauce


Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl - and wet ingredients together in another bowl. Add the dry mix to the wet mix - don't over mix. Place about 1/3 cup of batter per pancake on hot well seasoned and oiled cast iron griddle - medium high heat. Flip when bubbled on top side. Serve when bottom side is nicely browned. Serve with genuine maple syrup and butter (we use Olivio Light). These pancakes will leave you wanting more!