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Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Fly320s on November 27, 2017, 09:58:55 AM

Title: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: Fly320s on November 27, 2017, 09:58:55 AM
New.  Improved.  Fancy.  Craft.  Bespoke.

Whatever you want to call the trend of making the most basic item fancy, the trend has found cast iron skillets.

Here is one company doing it:  https://butterpatindustries.com

Thinner, lighter pans with tighter, smoother grain patterns.
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: Ben on November 27, 2017, 10:07:21 AM
Holy moly -- $300? It looks like with the thinning, they are trying to do some amalgam between cast iron and carbon steel. The rougher surface on my newer Lodge pans has never really bothered me, but if it did, I'd just take a power tool to them.
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: charby on November 27, 2017, 10:14:55 AM
Holy moly -- $300? It looks like with the thinning, they are trying to do some amalgam between cast iron and carbon steel. The rougher surface on my newer Lodge pans has never really bothered me, but if it did, I'd just take a power tool to them.

Took me three years of cooking to finally get a smooth finish in my 13.5" lodge skillet. My next new lodge is getting hit with a sander.
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: Kingcreek on November 27, 2017, 10:38:15 AM
Only when I wear my old cast iron pieces out, will I consider the new ones.
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: K Frame on November 27, 2017, 10:46:16 AM
Holy crap.

Not only no, but NFW no.
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: Ben on November 27, 2017, 10:52:46 AM
I'm really curious as to their target demographic. I'm sure some professional chefs might try them, but that's a very small demographic who would likely get them at a significant discount. Otherwise it seems like the kind of thing millennials and hipsters would buy, as long as they have Google and Facebook salaries.
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: Fly320s on November 27, 2017, 11:03:56 AM
I'm really curious as to their target demographic. I'm sure some professional chefs might try them, but that's a very small demographic who would likely get them at a significant discount. Otherwise it seems like the kind of thing millennials and hipsters would buy, as long as they have Google and Facebook salaries.

I saw their ad in Garden and Gun magazine, so I guess well-to-do Southerners are the target demographic. 
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: Brad Johnson on November 27, 2017, 11:27:51 AM
I like the idea and it does appear to be a good product but it's a big, fat NOPE! on the price.

Lodge skillet + disc sander or flap wheel = goodness.

Brad
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: K Frame on November 27, 2017, 11:33:38 AM
I'm really curious as to their target demographic. I'm sure some professional chefs might try them, but that's a very small demographic who would likely get them at a significant discount. Otherwise it seems like the kind of thing millennials and hipsters would buy, as long as they have Google and Facebook salaries.

Do they offer a free clip on Man Bun with every purchase?
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: K Frame on November 27, 2017, 11:34:20 AM
I use valve grinding compound and a wheel to polish my cast iron.
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: Ben on November 27, 2017, 11:36:27 AM
I like the idea and it does appear to be a good product but it's a big, fat NOPE! on the price.

That's why I was wondering about the demographic. It seems like even if Lodge or somebody went to the expense of reworking production equipment to make pans with thinner sidewalls, and went back to fully finishing their pans, it would no more than double their price, so you'd be paying maybe $75-$100 for a 10" skillet.
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: MillCreek on November 27, 2017, 11:37:56 AM
I think the demographic is foodies and hipsters who think that Lodge is too common.
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: Nick1911 on November 27, 2017, 11:38:20 AM
It's just like yetti coolers or iphones... make a fairly high quality product, and sell it for about 10x the going rate of similar products.

Some people will flock to it simply because the price makes it a status symbol, regardless of the intrinsic value.

It's a great marketing trick that I've been noticing lately.
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: Ben on November 27, 2017, 11:44:02 AM
Some people will flock to it simply because the price makes it a status symbol, regardless of the intrinsic value.

Yet some of those same people will go out of their way to drink PBR.  :laugh:

Edit: I have never been able to figure out the Yetti cooler phenomenon.
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: BobR on November 27, 2017, 12:04:03 PM
Yet some of those same people will go out of their way to drink PBR.  :laugh:

Edit: I have never been able to figure out the Yetti cooler phenomenon.

I could almost see the Yetti thing, almost. I used to spend 7-10 days at a time on the Colorado River down by Yuma in the summer. I would put a block of ice with cubed ice packed around it in 3-4 coolers, tape it shut and then wrap with a blanket. I usually brought ice back from the desert. The Yeti may do the same thing without the wrapping, etc. but they hold a lot less ice and cost substantially more. :(

If I were still playing desert rat I would probably do as I always did, what I would spend on Yetti coolers would buy a lot of ammo!!. ;)

bob
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: Hawkmoon on November 27, 2017, 01:20:25 PM
Only when I wear my old cast iron pieces out, will I consider the new ones.

If I ever wear out my old ones I'll consider new, but not at $300 a pop. But, between the cast iron cookware I inherited from my mother and what I inherited from my aunt, I don't think that's a concern.
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: French G. on November 27, 2017, 02:28:42 PM
Walmart has a store brand yeti now and they look well made. For cast iron, it seems to come to me free mostly. If I wanted a status symbol I would go to an antique show and buy a Griswold.
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: MechAg94 on November 27, 2017, 02:48:00 PM
I use valve grinding compound and a wheel to polish my cast iron.
Are we still talking about skillets?   ???
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: Scout26 on November 27, 2017, 02:48:22 PM
If I ever wear out my old ones I'll consider new, but not at $300 a pop. But, between the cast iron cookware I inherited from my mother and what I inherited from my aunt, I don't think that's a concern.

My great-great-great-great-grandkids can buy new when my cast iron wears out....
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: Mannlicher on November 27, 2017, 04:25:16 PM
I have a number of old Wagner and Griswold skillets, Dutch ovens, Chicken cookers and griddles.  Most were bought years ago.  They still are better finished than what is out there today.  Spendy then, even more so now, but worth it.
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: K Frame on November 29, 2017, 09:48:32 AM
Are we still talking about skillets?   ???

Yes. Most modern cast iron skillets don't have a smooth finish. They're pebbled.

A little valve grinding compound and a little time and you get a nice, smooth, mirror finish.
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: Fly320s on November 29, 2017, 12:01:57 PM
Does the compound melt into the iron, like a seasoning does?
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: K Frame on November 29, 2017, 02:09:06 PM
Does it melt into the heads when you're grinding valve seats?

Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: Fly320s on November 29, 2017, 04:39:13 PM
Does it melt into the heads when you're grinding valve seats?



I've never used it, which is why I asked.
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: charby on November 29, 2017, 04:42:37 PM
I've never used it, which is why I asked.

Think rubbing compound to polish paint.
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: Fly320s on November 29, 2017, 07:12:46 PM
Think rubbing compound to polish paint.

Thank you, Charby, for the reasonable response. 
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: K Frame on November 29, 2017, 07:30:34 PM
Sorry, thought you were being facetious.

No. valve grinding compound is designed to polish metal but not leave any residue. It is usually silicon carbide, which has a very high melting point. I don't think you could generate enough frictional heat to melt it into the surface of cast iron.
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: AmbulanceDriver on November 29, 2017, 10:23:01 PM
Sorry, thought you were being facetious.

No. valve grinding compound is designed to polish metal but not leave any residue. It is usually silicon carbide, which has a very high melting point. I don't think you could generate enough frictional heat to melt it into the surface of cast iron.

Challenge accepted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSlJ03SKMHQ

 =D

Sorry, couldn't help but be a smartaleck
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: French G. on November 29, 2017, 10:41:29 PM
I have a no marking skillet that I use a lot and it is very smooth. Got it free, sitting in a barn for thirty years, scrubbed the rust out and started seasoning it. I still use it,  it sadly it is not the pan it once was, threw it on the stove to dry it, forgot stove was on. I passed by an hour later to get coffee and the pan was orange. Warped it good. I may try to straighten it just for fun.
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: K Frame on November 30, 2017, 07:09:54 AM
Challenge accepted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSlJ03SKMHQ

 =D

Sorry, couldn't help but be a smartaleck

I didn't see any silicon carbide based grinding compound in use in that video, so.... no.
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: charby on November 30, 2017, 07:54:32 AM
I have a no marking skillet that I use a lot and it is very smooth. Got it free, sitting in a barn for thirty years, scrubbed the rust out and started seasoning it. I still use it,  it sadly it is not the pan it once was, threw it on the stove to dry it, forgot stove was on. I passed by an hour later to get coffee and the pan was orange. Warped it good. I may try to straighten it just for fun.

How hot does your oven get?
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: French G. on November 30, 2017, 08:41:18 AM
Not as hot as my coal forge or torch. Probably take the whole thing orange and then ease some water on the high spot of the underside. Might even work. Maybe a light whack or too while it is orange, but cast doesn't like hammers. Or just get more pans.
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: K Frame on November 30, 2017, 10:15:42 AM
I think you'd get better results not by hitting it, but by pressing it in an arbor press.
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: Fly320s on November 30, 2017, 11:57:39 AM
Sorry, thought you were being facetious.

No problem.  Normally, you'd be right, but this time I was serious.  I'll try not to let it happen again.
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: castle key on December 02, 2017, 11:17:19 PM
http://www.felionstudios.com/state-pans/

Cast iron pans in the shape of the states!
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: KD5NRH on December 03, 2017, 03:32:29 AM
I could almost see the Yetti thing, almost. I used to spend 7-10 days at a time on the Colorado River down by Yuma in the summer. I would put a block of ice with cubed ice packed around it in 3-4 coolers, tape it shut and then wrap with a blanket.

A friend used to get some styrofoam boxes from his job.  They were about 3' cubes, with walls 6" thick.  He never did manage to get one of the outer shells, but we tested one out with ice and beer for a long weekend in 114F weather, and it worked fine.  We did schedule opening a bit, though; get everybody's next round at once rather than opening it several times per round.
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: Hawkmoon on December 03, 2017, 11:32:10 AM
http://www.felionstudios.com/state-pans/

Cast iron pans in the shape of the states!

What the hell can you cook in Delaware -- or Rhode Island?
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: Ben on December 03, 2017, 12:19:02 PM
So probably the best states to buy are those that have panhandles?
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: 230RN on December 03, 2017, 12:27:15 PM
Colorado?   Boring. 
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: K Frame on December 03, 2017, 01:13:47 PM
At least you could get bacon, or a couple of burgers, in Pennsylvania.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: KD5NRH on December 03, 2017, 01:21:13 PM
Colorado?   Boring. 

It's a griddle for people who don't want to cook as much as Texas.

Maryland, OTOH...too much trouble to clean.
Title: Re: Fancy cast iron skillets
Post by: 230RN on December 03, 2017, 04:48:47 PM
Hawaii?   Ready to assemble.