Quad found a Griswold Cast Iron Griddle !!

QuadShotz

QuadShotz

Banned
Well, this was a treat.

We all know how wonderful old cast iron is for cooking, right?

Well, while rummaging around today, I found this inside the broiler pan in the bottom drawer of my ancient 1950's Hardwick Stove. Sheeez! I've lived here like 5-6 yrs and never knew it was there!

Did some research, and found it's a 1880-1905 vintage Griswold "ERIE" 12" Bail Handle Griddle No. 741.

As-Is Pix:


Top
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Bottom
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"ERIE"
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No.741 & 12
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If it cleans up well, it could be worth $70-120 to a collector...w00t!

The top is in beautiful shape, but needs some cleaning.
The bottom..eh..well..it needs help.

Hopefully nothing a good Lye bath and a wire brush can't fix. ;-)

Griswold is known for making some of the best cast iron goods ever, and this is a very early model...collectors love this stuff. If nothing else, I'll have a piece of American history, and a damn fine griddle. :-D

(Hmmm, jealous much, TB?...heheheh)

Cheers,

-QS
 
ACK! no cleaning! cast iron needs no cleaning!

find someone with a self cleaning oven and stick that thing in there to eliminate that rust and than oil the shit out of it and season that sucker up.

don't ruin good cast iron. please?
 
IF you do any cleaning, most of that rust will come off with a good scrub with cooking oil and coarse sea/kosher salt. It will take elbow grease, but this will eventually take that rust off. From there, give it a light rinse to be sure the salt is all off, the re-season her up with a coating of some neutral flavored cooking oil (Canola) or hell, do what yer grandma woulda done and grease that thing up with lard! After that, there are many methods of heating that will season the pan. Google this, and be astounded at the conflicting accounts. I oiled an old pan of my grandmas after doing the salt/oil scrub and baked it for an hour at 325F I believe. Then I just turned the oven off, and left the door closed. Next day she was pefrectly seasoned, and cookin sausage and eggs like a champ.

No need for harsh cleaning agents like lye though!
 
OH! And that griddle is so much like a comal, the griddle used in Mexico for tortilla making! I've got one with a handle that's a Griswald, that I use to make my homemade tortillas.
 
fineexampl said:
ACK! no cleaning! cast iron needs no cleaning!

find someone with a self cleaning oven and stick that thing in there to eliminate that rust and than oil the shit out of it and season that sucker up.

don't ruin good cast iron. please?
Click to expand...

I don't intend to ruin or "clean" it like using soap and water... I know about iron a fair bit. Unfortunatly, I don't know anyone with a self-cleaning over either.

It does need some restoration of that kind though, like this: http://www.gcica.org/clean-iron.html

I'm pretty sure the Griswold & Cast Iron Cookware Association knows how to clean up the iron, eh?

I grew up with cast iron...the 4-topper pot belly stove, and most of mom's cookware were iron. ;)

texas blues said:
Beautiful score there Quad. Gimme' that 'thang! I'd have that cast iron singing like a rio grande senorita.

Cheers, TB.
Click to expand...

Thx man, i figured you'd appreciate it. :D

FiveStar said:
IF you do any cleaning, most of that rust will come off with a good scrub with cooking oil and coarse sea/kosher salt. It will take elbow grease, but this will eventually take that rust off. From there, give it a light rinse to be sure the salt is all off, the re-season her up with a coating of some neutral flavored cooking oil (Canola) or hell, do what yer grandma woulda done and grease that thing up with lard! After that, there are many methods of heating that will season the pan. Google this, and be astounded at the conflicting accounts. I oiled an old pan of my grandmas after doing the salt/oil scrub and baked it for an hour at 325F I believe. Then I just turned the oven off, and left the door closed. Next day she was pefrectly seasoned, and cookin sausage and eggs like a champ.

No need for harsh cleaning agents like lye though!
Click to expand...

Yeah, Seasoning isn't a problem. I watched my mom do it 35 yrs ago. First, I will have to fix it up a bit though as you say. IDK if a Lye Water bath cleaning is needed yet, but if so, it couldnt hurt the iron if it wanted to.

It's been sitting for ages, and needs some TLC to get it back to proper shape before being seasoned. Rust is bad. ;)

But, for being well over 100 years old, it's not in that bad a shape really. :)
 
Just an update...I brushed off the surface dust and debris and gave the whole thing a major scrubbing with oil and a scrubber.

Man, my arms and hands are aching now...no wonder mom had forearms like a trucker...lol

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But, it worked rather well except the for the carbonized spots on top and will need a bit mor work on the bottom. I however, just need a rest..and beer. :D

But, it's looking better, it's in better shape than I thought once I got some of the rust and crap off. I feel good that it's on the way back to life.
 
Yeah, I'm slacking...I only have one beer left and the store don't open til 9.

Ya know one beer is just a tease, eh?

Pretty neat this 'ol thing though.

During searching on the 'Net, I only found two of them...and they were going for over $100 on ebay. :)
 
Is this for hanging over a campfire?
 
POTAWIE said:
He can't call it Rusty anymore:)
Edit:I just saw what "rusty griswald" means on the urban dictionary:D
Click to expand...

I guess you could say that Rusty Griswald would be great for "browning the meat"!

:lol::lol:
 
Dang dude, I'm hella jealous. Nice score. I don't think I could ever consider letting go of something that old. That thing has so many uses.

It's a great shield, like when you have to go to war axe and sword style. A great signal blocker for when the aliens try to scan your brain. A great defense and attack weapon for when the robbers break in whilst you are cookin up some mean hot quesadillas. Man, I'm totally jealous, I just broke my last brain scan blocker too....:P
 
thehotpepper.com said:
Is this for hanging over a campfire?
Click to expand...

Well, it could have for sure based on the wear on the bottom, but it would have been likely used on a old wood/coal burning stove since it was made between the 1880's and 1905. Here's a quote or two on stove history:

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blstoves.htm

Jordan Mott invented the first practical coal stove in 1833. Mott's stove was called the baseburner. The stove had ventilation to burn the coal efficiently.

British inventor, James Sharp patented a gas stove in 1826, the first successful gas stove to appear on the market.

The Carpenter Electric Heating Manufacturing Co. invented an electric stove in 1891. On June 30, 1896, William Hadaway was issued the first patent for the electric stove. In 1910, William Hadaway went on to design the first toaster made by Westinghouse, a horizontal combination toaster-cooker.

Gas stoves were found in most households by the 1920s with top burners and interior ovens. It was not until the late 1920s and early 1930s that electric stoves began to compete with gas stoves, however, electric stoves were available as early as the 1890s.
Click to expand...

That 12 corresponds to the "eye" size of a stove...where the grates go over the holes. More or less goes with the width too..mine is 12", but many aren't.

Like this one:

DSCF0025.jpg


My folks had a big Box-style wood/coal stove like that, but less fancy.
I learned to respect it by about age 5....:mouthonfire:

Ironically, the big cast iron grates on my Hardwick, fit those notches in the underside of my griddle perfectly too.

Fun. :D
 
OK, it's been awhile..sorry for not updating sooner.

Here's where I'm at: Got some oven cleaner...did that several times and got 95% of the crap off except a bit of the top carbonized stuff.

THAT took some careful manual labor with a industrial scrubbing pad, window scraper and a butter knife.

The razor blade scraper was perfect...as long as I went WITH the original spiral grooves, it didn't hurt the iron a bit.

Hell, that ancient iron is so friggin' hard it actually worn the end off my butter knife while doing this:

S6303197.jpg


The knife was the purfect curve to scrape off the crud from the slope of the rim without gouging it. :-)


OK, now here's where it's at now..all clean. I just needs to sponge off the leftover dust and stuff, and it'll be seasoning time. w00t!

Pix:

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Ok, it's been a lot of work, but it's almost there now.

This is me, a very tired, dirty, sore, yet happy guy....holding two pieces of History; a classic bit of CI, and a Guinness.

S6303228.jpg


Cheers mates!

drinking-8.gif



- QS
 
nice work -- hmmm sell it or cook on it that is the question ? I would at least cook on it at least once maybe twice to see if I'd want to keep it in use or $$
 
Nah, I'm gonna use it.

Unless it's in like mint condition it's 'prolly only worth about $50-80.

A perfect one would be double that to a colector though. Mine's got too much wear on the bottom for that however.

It's a wonderful bit of american history...stuff like this just isn't made anymore.
 
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