# cast iron skillets



## SE18 (Jan 31, 2015)

perhaps I can slide and post this here even though not strickly machinist stuff but since most of you are metal experts, I thought it might do no harm to ask.

I've had bad luck over the years with those non-stick pans (for food cooking) having the stuff flake off so I've been replacing with stainless and cast iron. Wife likes stainless but I've fondness for cast iron.

Talking to my neighbor, he uses stainless only for cooking b/c he's afraid chinese made cast might have lead or other poisonous stuff mixed in it and didn't want to chance it

any comments appreciated

xxxxxxxx

(I do have a tiny cast iron crucible I use outside to mix/melt lead/solder, but of course that crucible is not for eating)


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## Cobra (Jan 31, 2015)

If you're really concerned, take the pan over to your friendly, local scrap metal dealer.  They can do an x-ray acan on it and tell you if there is any lead or other heavy metals in the cast iron. 
You might have to slip him a couple of bucks or a case of beer. 
Good luck
Jim


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## SE18 (Jan 31, 2015)

thanks; would've never thought to do that


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## caster (Jan 31, 2015)

Hi SE, buy Lodge cast iron ware made in Tennessee.

Caster


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## John Hasler (Jan 31, 2015)

SE18 said:


> perhaps I can slide and post this here even though not strickly machinist stuff but since most of you are metal experts, I thought it might do no harm to ask.
> 
> I've had bad luck over the years with those non-stick pans (for food cooking) having the stuff flake off so I've been replacing with stainless and cast iron. Wife likes stainless but I've fondness for cast iron.
> 
> Talking to my neighbor, he uses stainless only for cooking b/c he's afraid chinese made cast might have lead or other poisonous stuff mixed in it and didn't want to chance it



Point out to him that his (probably Chinese) stainless-steel contains chromium.  Also point out that the price of scrap lead is about five times that of steel and that the Chinese don't waste stuff they can make money on.


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## Eddyde (Jan 31, 2015)

Lead, I would be more concerned about radioactivity.


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## cathead (Jan 31, 2015)

Eating food cooked in a cast iron frying pan provides some degree of iron to the diet
in the form of Ferrous Sulfate.   I cook with a cast iron Griswold pan almost exclusively. 
It saves on having to take iron pills.  You can find them at second hand or curio shops
and they are made in Erie, Pa.  As far as radiation is concerned, I would advise
anyone with a radiation detector to test their home and auto air filters.  Here in 
Minnesota, my background count is about 20 counts per minute testing a new
furnace filter and about 40 counts per minute after several months.  That tells
me that there are small radioactive particles(called hot particles) floating around
in the air.  I quit buying the cheap fiberglass filters and now use the pleated paper type
for what it's worth.


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## Dave Smith (Feb 1, 2015)

Eddyde said:


> Lead, I would be more concerned about radioactivity.




LEAD!!!!!RADIOACTIVITY!!!!-----that's nothing----the real DANGER!!!!! of cast iron pans and skillets is when the wife smacks you upside the 

head with them---:roflmao:------Dave


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## GA Gyro (Feb 1, 2015)

One of the things I learned about cooking with cast iron skillets (have 5)... is to 'season' them.  

Seasoning means to clean the inside (cooking surface) thoroughly, then liberally wipe with olive oil (the more pure, the better, read the label), then put in the oven and bake around 325D for about an hour.

I prefer to 're-season' my pans about twice a year... or when the shiny look goes dull and food starts to stick.

Google 'seasoning a cast iron ____'... lots of links.


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## SE18 (Feb 1, 2015)

I do season with olive oil after every time using and after washing and heating it. Neat thing is stuff doesn't stick to skillet and if it does, you can scrap it without scratching using any sort of utensil or metal cleaning pads

Impurities in stainless something haven't considered. 

Re: iron in diet, I probably inhale enough of it when grinding steel, outdoors of course

Since most of my lathe is cast iron, I wonder if it is seasoned too or needs to be. I usually just wipe it down with an oily rag and that and plenty of usage keeps the rust off of it. It still has some original paint and no intention of ever painting it despite a lot of it coming off over the years and with patina


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## Shadowdog500 (Feb 1, 2015)

+1 on buying quality new stuff.  Like lodge or Le Creuset if you have the bucks.

never buy cast iron cookware or muffin tins used.   Reloaders such as myself use them to melt lead for bullets and sinkers.  Muffin tins make great ingot molds.

If you want stainless, My wife bought a west bend set at the Airshow in Oshkosh years back it was quality stuff but expensive.  It's made in West bend wisconsin and is called regal cookware today.http://www.regalware.com

Chris


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## Rbeckett (Feb 1, 2015)

American made cast iron cook ware by Lodge is probably the best in the world and is way cheaper than high dollar stainless or clad types of pots and pans.  I have several pieces that were bought new recently and in a short period of time they are as good or better non-sick surfaces than a brand new non-stick Teflon pan.  I only buy the Lodge brand and have a 12 inch skillet with lid, an 8 section cornbread skillet, a Griddle and a 4 qt. Dutch oven.  I should have gone ahead and gotten the larger Dutch oven when I bought the 4 Qt. because it is proving to be a tad small on occasion.  I re-season them as soon as they arrive by coating them in Crisco and baking them in the oven for an hour at 400 degrees.  I do the inside first then do it again and coat the outside and place the cooker ware upside down in the oven over a suitable pan to catch any drips or runs.  Once that task is completed I never ever wash the pans with soap again.  I rinse them thoroughly and if dirty still I use a well worn green scrubbing pad to loosen any residue and rinse well.  I put a small amount of water into the pan and return it to the stove to boil off,  then coat with vegetable oil for storage.  Those pans have a nice cooked on ester of vegetable oils that is almost impossible to damage even with some soap and heavy scrubbing.   Also the extremely small amount f Iron that you could possibly ever be exposed to is not harmful in any way.  Good luck and enjoy the iron, I love mine and plan to give them to my son when I pass beyond the curtain of this life.  They will last several life times if not broken or damaged mechanically somehow, and they only get better with time and use!!!!

Bob


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## silence dogood (Feb 1, 2015)

I suppose that if one has the disease hemochromatosis (too much iron in your blood), then cooking with cast iron would be  problem.  However,  I won't be surprise that in the near future, the government will issue a warning label on your next lathe or mill "DO NOT LICK, MAY BE HAZZARDESS TO YOUR HEALTH "  anic:Mark


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## MattM (Feb 1, 2015)

Here is all you have to know about cast iron cooking:


```
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https://duckduckgo.com/?q=cast+iron+cuisine+cookbook&ia=products&iai=0939837846http%3A%2F%2Fecx.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F41a2JKcGTCL.jpghttp%3A%2F%2Fecx.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F41a2JKcGTCL._SL160_.jpg

Cut it, paste it, buy it now.


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## The Liberal Arts Garage (Feb 2, 2015)

Turning back a little to a pertinent subject, unintentional " seasoning " is the usual problem with welding cast iron.......BLJHB.


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## Andre (Feb 2, 2015)

Eddyde said:


> Lead, I would be more concerned about radioactivity.



Lead is the aftermath of radioactive isotope decay, so I have to assume that if it's lead it's not radioactive anymore? Not quite sure on that, I'll do some research.


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## rabbit16 (Feb 3, 2015)

hi:    I love cast iron frying pans with smooth insides - not the ones with ridges.  To clean them they never touch water or soap  -  instead i rub them down with course salt and a little bit of oil. The salt is abrasive enough to clean a seasoned pan and it also absorbs any water from whatever you cooked in the pan.  I didn't read the whole list of replies to see if anyone else mentioned this but if so - corroborated.


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## machinist18 (Feb 4, 2015)

My wife and I have a bunch of cast iron skillets, griddles and kettles that we use. If you get good old American made Wagner or Griswald brand and they are clean, you will be fine.


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## Reeltor (Feb 4, 2015)

I started using a Griswald dutch oven to bake bread, it does a great job.  I don't know if the price is so high on the older Griswald cast iron because they work so well or if collectors are running the price up just because they are "old".

Only issue with cast iron is the weight, sometimes arthritis in the hands makes it hard to pick up a hot skillet safely. 

Mike


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## GarageGuy (Feb 4, 2015)

I bought a Lodge cast iron skillet at WalMart.  I like it a lot.  Pre-seasoned, so if you don't have a lot of experience with cast iron, you will still be off to a fast start.  American made too!

GG


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## juiceclone (Feb 4, 2015)

I'm NO expert on this, but it would seem that the melting points of iron and lead are such that any lead would have been vaporized rather than staying in a crucible of iron, regardless of the feed source of the iron ??


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## rowbare (Feb 10, 2015)

juiceclone said:


> I'm NO expert on this, but it would seem that the melting points of iron and lead are such that any lead would have been vaporized rather than staying in a crucible of iron, regardless of the feed source of the iron ??



If that were the case, many of our free machining alloys wouldn't exist: 12L14, free machining brass etc...

bob


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## caster (Feb 10, 2015)

juiceclone said:


> I'm NO expert on this, but it would seem that the melting points of iron and lead are such that any lead would have been vaporized rather than staying in a crucible of iron, regardless of the feed source of the iron ??



When you make alloys you mix two or more materials, usually metals.  Its not intuitive but one metal can be dissolved in another, like salt in water and change it's melting/freezing property (there is snow and ice on the ground outside). Think of soda pop where you have gaseous carbon dioxide dissolved in water to produce the fizz. 

Lastly the L in 12L14 stands for Lead and its made of Iron, Lead, Carbon, Manganese, Phosphorus and Sulfur.  You can alter the composition of a material to produce new properties, like nice machine-ability.

Caster


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## eugene13 (Feb 23, 2015)

Lodge has an outlet store in South Pittsburgh Tennessee, near Chattanouga, and another near Atlanta, good prices, friendly people, and factory seconds. my wife and I bought a lot of nice cookware, i should have driven the pickup.  there are also a lot of old creepy buildings, I picked up some wood stove grates for my brother-in-law at this one place, we went down into the celler on and old creaky elevator, there were hundred of pallets of stove grates, you could hear animals scurrying around as my guide turned on the lights as led me to the pallet containing the parts. and turned them off as we returned to the elevator, it was a real adventure.  would have been a good place for a horror movie.


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## RJSakowski (Feb 23, 2015)

Andre said:


> Lead is the aftermath of radioactive isotope decay, so I have to assume that if it's lead it's not radioactive anymore? Not quite sure on that, I'll do some research.


Lead has 16 different isotopes of which three  are stable (206, 207, & 208).  They comprise virtually the entire composition of lead.  Of the remaining, 202 and 210 are the only isotopes with half lives in years.  The remaining isotopes decay in a few minutes to hours. They are the product of radioactive decay as you state and unlikely to be found outside of a reactor or accelerator.


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## machinistmarty (Feb 25, 2015)

Being from the south, It would be sacralege to fry chicken in anything other than cast iron!  'nough said!!!


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## oldhank60 (Mar 8, 2015)

SE18 said:


> perhaps I can slide and post this here even though not strickly machinist stuff but since most of you are metal experts, I thought it might do no harm to ask.
> 
> I've had bad luck over the years with those non-stick pans (for food cooking) having the stuff flake off so I've been replacing with stainless and cast iron. Wife likes stainless but I've fondness for cast iron.
> 
> ...




I suggest finding old cast iron skillets,  the newer are course cast and do not cook things as well,  the older cast irons will have very smooth surface and help to keep things from sticking, if you do a search on cast iron skillets you should find what are the best to use.   even if you find old skillet that looks to rusty, bead blast it, it will still be better than what is sold on today's market,
I collect old cast iron and have been given skilets that looked like scrape iron, they cleaned up to look better than new. and I do cook with them daily

Newbie
Hank


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## oldhank60 (Mar 15, 2015)

I believe you can heat a iron skillet and bang it on ground to get lead out of pores in skillet.  read hot heat will clean it best.  I have used old skillets that were once used to melt lead in.   I heated them red hot beat against hard surface. bead blasted and still cook with it.  For safety I guess you would need to send sample of cooked item for lead content.   I did not and I am still here but I suggest having it tested.   Lead hurts the younger people more than us old rough barked seniors.


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