Well finally got around to cleaning up a thrift store find. A nice slick bottomed no wobble three notch lodge #7. It took me three days of lye soak and scrub to determine that as it had a quarter inch of buildup on it. Got it down to bare grey iron this afternoon so I warmed her up rubbed it down with flax oil and popped her into the ovenue for an hour before going to town.
Come home to a cool oven and my skillet has developed a hairline crack just to one side of and curling under the handle.

Perhaps the crack was already there ?

That sucks, but this is when you get the nickel rod out and slow weld.

My uncle was great at welding on caste iron kettles and pans.

No crack when it went in and the only welding I know how to do is JB.

Yep nickel or brass

JB would work I just prefer welding but this might be a place to use it, because unless you are going to cook over a blow torch it will hold. BTW can you braze?

It will take someone that know how to weld cast iron, will have to be heated before welded. Just adding a little history to the pan!

You can cold weld cast just takes longer.

Toss it out and get a non stick Teflon.

Leave it to a canuck to say something stupid.

You can clean one in a few minutes, by putting it in the wood stove on some hot coals then scrub it out with steel wool, then reseason.

Wow. That escalated quickly.

Did you tap it with a wooden spoon before buying it?

Now you gotta find another one at a Spring Sale

Know that feeling. Cracked my convention one. In a cook flame or, in back of truck or, just did.

One these days I get a new camera I'll show mine off on here.

Picked up a kettle I thought was cool, until I seen it at a box store for 20 bucks lol.

U got any pictures?

Calm down warrior,dont have a coronary,it was only in jest,lol.

With the crack, when you get whopped over the head with it, it wont hurt as much and should break completely.

I apologize then.

This thread got me onto the threads of restoring cast iron pans last night. I have about 20 to clean up......seems that they got put aside when Teflon come on the market.

Someone at the Minn summer convention 3 years ago got a couple I hauled down....his wife was so pleased that I got a couple dozen used large mink boards. So someone in Thompson has a supply of marten boards now from that.

I've always cleaned mine by heating over coals till smoking then put a cup of salt in them and rub them clean.

Then oil them down and let sit.

Cast can be welded pretty easily now days by good welders who know how to treat it, however it will never be the same with a weld bead on it. I have done several with my Heli-Arc or Tig as it's known, it's quite a bit easier to do with this machine than a stick welder, and it looks much nicer, still a bead though, you can dress the beads down some if you like though, but then you have grinder marks on the finish, unless you have access to a sand blaster !

And who would put a bronze bead on one, geeez !!!

To me cookware is a tool not a look pritty. As long as a tool functions who cares what it looks like.if putting bronze braze on something would keep me from using it cause it looked funny to me, well then I guess I didn't need it anyways.

It's helps a bunch to locate the end of the crack, drill a small hole there to stress relieve the crack and start welding there. Put a small drop of cooking oil on the bottom side of the crack and the oil will "wick" thru to show the end. Preheat iron before welding and after bury it it dry floor dry/kitty litter to let is normalize slowly.

I bet it could be tig welded if its worth the trouble. I had an aluminum rim tig welded once, are they cast aluminum?

Aluminum cookware? I've seen cast that looks like cast iron, heavy smooth that I assume is cast and milled or heavy pressed and thin lightweight stamped.

Sounds like you didn't do your due diligence before you bought it.

I've handled cast iron all my life. It was sound when bought, came out of the lye in good condition but broke in the oven. Not at all unusual as I've had glass "ovenware" by corning shatter in the oven.

Cast iron, especially older stuff will crack easily if not brought up or down gradually and even that's no guarantee it won't. even today's iron can be susceptible to this, if taken to far.

It's due to all of the junk that's in the iron mix, not like today's mix's that are a lot cleaner.

It's not usually the fault of the person handling it, because it's sometimes pretty difficult to age old iron.

I'd not burn a person for a crack in any cast cookery if they were trying to make it presentable for use, really the only time a crack would be bad if it's in the bottom or side or when your trying to sell it to some one thinking they have a treasure, LOL.

I have several chipped lid's for mine from dropping and some kettles that are chipped from same, it's not a life or death deal from using them.

I have a Lodge cast iron griddle that has been cracked for many years.







As you can see by the rough surface, it is a newer one, about thirty-years-old. It cracked soon after I got it. I've been using it ever since and the crack seems stable, doesn't grow. It gets used just about every weekend.

I don't think I'd trust the stability of the handle on yours though, be afraid it'd break off at some inopportune moment. Maybe find a good welder if you want to save the pan?

You can stop the movement on that crack if you drill a small hole at the end of it, and then you can take a piece of tin solder and pound it in to seal it, or bronze if you wish, then it won't drip oil thru.