I love Cast Iron and have been using, restoring for years. I think everyone should have CI skillets and such. I don't consider myself an expert but I know a thing or three. So, if anyone has any questions about what they have or what to get, or how to strip and reseason, I'll try to help.

As far as value's go, I can give mho of approximate worth, but mileage of course may vary.

Love my cast iron
These handle.covers are handy too

Are these collectable? We cook with them. If I sell them, which I probably won’t, what would be a fair asking price?

I agree cotton. I have cloth ones, leather and silicon. Very handy!

What years did Griswold make their unmarked Iron Mountain series.

Just joking, I already know the answer.

Danny, the first two, a small logo Griswold and the Wagner. The Griswold is from about 1940 to 57 and isn't very valuable, maybe around 60 bucks. The small logo is the least collectable in the Griswold line. Great users though!!

The Wagner, same thing. From the 50's, 25 to 40 bucks, but again a great user.

The chicken pan is a Griswold, Iron Mountain series, 1930's. That is a bit more collectable especially if ya have the lid. I would say anywhere between 80 to 150 bucks. All estimates are considering the pans sit flat, no cracks or chips.

No all in good shape. We cook with them. Have a few more without any letters. all with smooth insides. glad I am not buying one. 50 bucks seems steep for a skillet.

Thanks for the info. I knew the chicken skillet was old but had no clue who made it

I get really confused with everyone's best way to season cast iron. Been some years back I bought a new Lodge pan. Mostly because it was on clearance and it was big.
I had heard all the ways to season a pan use this use that.. I don't recall my mother ever seasoning her cast,? Maybe just to young to recall. She just used them.
So what I did with that big lodge pan to season it. Basically warmed it up whipped on some cooking oil. Filled it with oil and fried fish. It's actually what I bought it for was to fry fish on LP burner.
So that is how I seasoned that big pan just used it.. Just filled with oil and fried fish in it several times. Now good to go if just want to fry an egg.

What is your preferred method if not going to use a pan right away, with a volume of oil.

I've also used lots of methods to clean my cast pans. Sand on the beach to gravel in driveway. Wife just got one of the chain mail scrubbers.
What's your take on them?

Mac

Mac, I started out years ago stripping them in a fire, till I warped one. I've tried it all, fire, sandblast, oven cleaner, etc. The only way I strip them now is in a lye bath. 1lb of 100% lye to 5 gallons of water. IMO, best way ever.

As far as seasoning goes, I use Crisco, nothing else. Once stripped I clean them very well and heat them up and coat with crisco. Then wipe them hard like you want to get it all off. Then I bake them for an hour at 450-465. I do this a minimum of 3 times, that's where I feel the sweet spot is.

As far as cleaning them after use, it depends on what I cooked. If I do some eggs, I just wipe it clean with paper towels. Made taco meat last night and I used a plastic scraper after soaking in hot water for a few minutes. If by chance I get something really stuck on there I do use a little dawn dish soap.

Back when the older pans were made ya didn't use soap cause soap had lye in it and would mess up the seasoning. Nowadays ya don't need to worry bout that. If I use soap I dry the pan over heat and coat with a small amount of crisco and it's ready to go!

I sold an old 10 inch CI to our fur auction coordinator. Hes using an electrolysis to clean it up, ill have to check him as for how it worked out.

Sniper, electrolysis is a great method as well, I forgot to mention that. Because of my situation I use a lye bath in the winter and use a E tank in the summer. E tanks are awesome and do great with metals. I also restore old kerosene lanterns and it works great! Thanks for bringing that up!!

Catch22 I have some to CI strip I have bought. I was trying to decide what to try for a method. I will try the lye since that is what you think is the way to go. I have about four pans and four round griddles and a square griddle. I wish they were ready to season, it was -31 this morning. It would not be a bad thing to have the oven running today.

YES! That's one of the reasons I like a lye bath in the winter, I can do it in a tote in my kitchen and then fire the oven up on the cold days. If the CI is super cruddy after a couple day soak just scrub them good and put them back in the lye bath. Keep doing it until all the crud is gone.

Again, thanks to Sniper for reminding me, in the spring through fall, E tanks are hard to beat. They remove EVERYTHING very well. They are great for traps, tools, axes, etc too.

**** ALSO**** always add the lye to the water, slowly. Never the water to the lye because it will cause a caustic reaction and ya don't want to breathe that stuff!

Or get it on your eyes. Chemistry 101

Do E tanks take rust off too? I know I can get it off with vinegar, I have some with crud and some with rust. I have a dutch oven and a chicken fryer that have a coat of rust. I was hoping to clean both rust ad crud in on shot.

I season or re-season my cast iron in the grill. I can do a bunch at one time. I put them upside down or stacked on thier side if doing a bunch. This lets the excess seasoning run off and it doesn't get gummy in the edges if it has too much seasoning. If i have one that just needs a tune up inside the pan, I turn it upside down over the side burner to re-season. This works for me, your mileage may vary.

E tanks take off crud, paint, rust, everything. The lye will do ok with a bit of rust but ya may have to also do a vinegar bath. It's not a biggie, I have a tote or a 5 gal bucket for each. I have a lantern that has both paint and rust so I'll do a lye bath, scrub and then drop it in the vinegar which I use 5% acidic vinegar in a 50/50 solution with water.

Yep, if you can hold a steady temp a grill is an oven. I've stacked them up in my oven so much before I thought the rack was gonna bust lol.

Saw a Griswold oblong roaster with lid seel for over 900 bucks are they rare?

Yes, especially if it has the slant logo! I seen one bring 1200 bucks a few years back.