My wife and I first lived in Minster, OH for 3 years and
then in New Bremen, OH for 3 years. Our home décor was country, early American.
We went to a lot of auctions to buy things. That’s when I first noticed Wapak
cast iron skillets. They were bringing pretty high prices even back then; the
older ones with the Indian head logo brought more. I was not too interested in
them then.
We moved to Wapakoneta, OH in 1973; my wife was born and
raised here. Sometime in the 80’s I got interested in black powder shooting and
joined a local club. Camping out and outdoor cooking went along with black
powder shooting. I bought my first cast iron piece, a 12 inch skillet with lid.
My son started playing soccer and all his games were on Sundays, the same day
of our monthly shoots so I got away from shooting. I can’t remember ever using
the skillet; later I loaned it to my neighbor. After my neighbor died, his wife
gave the skillet back to me. It was pretty dirty and lay in my work shop for a
few years.
The last five years I have bought several Lodge cast iron
pieces, a 9 inch skillet, a 10 inch chicken friar, a 5 quart Dutch oven, and a
small bean pot. I like cooking with it and use it in my oven, on my glass top
range and in my Traeger pellet smoker. I also bought a 10 and 12 inch Lodge
carbon steel skillets I really use a lot.
Early this year I noted the 12 inch skillet in my work shop
and decided to clean it up. I had good luck cleaning two pottery dishes in my
self- cleaning oven and decided to do the skillet and see how it came out. It
came out completely clean of the old grease.
I read up on re- seasoning cast iron and found the best to
me was using flax seed oil. You wipe on a small amount then dry it all off;
this still leaves a light coat. You put in a 500 deg. oven for 1 hour then turn
it off and let cool down. You do this six times and it will leave a nice black
color and non-stick that will last. I could not find flax seed oil locally and
when I tried to order some it was too expensive. I settled on grape seed oil
and it worked just fine.
Last Friday I took my wife to get her hair done uptown. I
did a little window shopping while she was getting it done. I saw a guy
carrying two skillets that looked old. I stopped and ask if he had just bought
them. He said I am trying to sell them, I looked them over and one was a Wapak
no. 8. He wanted $50 for both and I tried to buy the Wapak for $25 and he said
no I’d like to sell both. I said how about $30 and he took it. I knew that was
a decent price from researching the net for one. It was pretty dirty but was
sure it would clean up like I did the 12 inch.
I don’t go to many auctions anymore but my wife and her aunt
do. I told them to watch for Wapak skillets for me. I had also been watching
the internet for them; so I thought it a bit ironic I saw the guy on the street
with one for sale.
Wapak cast iron skillets were made by the Wapak Holloware
Co. from 1903 to 1926. The one thing you notice is how light weight it is
compared to today’s cast iron skillets. It is not hollow but thin walled. I
weighed my new lodge 8 and it was 5.25 lbs. The Wapak 8 hollow ware weighs 3.75
lbs. All I can find is it says the decline
in quality of iron ore and more modern manufacturing methods were the causes of
them becoming thicker and heavier. Two other noted makers of hollow ware were
Wagner of Sidney, OH and Griswold of Erie, PA and are sought after by
collectors.
Very little history can be found about the Wapak Company.
The logos on the back were an Indian head being the oldest, Wapak in block
letters, one with the Wapak more pronounced and Wapak Z which had a Z like
extension formed from the bottom of the K. The Wapak letters are also slightly
tapered. Mine is the Wapak Z and I would
say it was the latest of the logos but that makes it at least over 87 years
old. Some of the older skillets go at $100 or more, the odd sizes bring more
since they are scarcer. The Indian heads are more yet and highly sought after.
Another thing people like about cooking with the old Hollow
Ware is the very smooth interior. The Lodge cast iron ware sold today has kind
of a grainy dimpled inside and some people claim it makes it more non-stick
than the smooth. My 12 inch was made by Lodge and has a machined inside. The
Lodge also comes pre-seasoned and I have seen some say they don’t like it so
they remove it and do their own. I find that is too much work and have had good
luck cooking with mine. If they ever need it I can clean then and re-season.
I did my Wapak skillet in the oven self-clean cycle for 2
hours and let cool. It came out good, one thing I noted doing both the Lodge 12
inch and the Wapak 8 inch skillets was the rust. Either the rust was already
present or the high heat cleaning introduces it. I think it is already present
since the older Wapak skillet had a lot more of it. It seems to be permeated
into the cast iron so I didn’t try to clean them more. After the first
seasoning of the Wapak skillet I did sand the inside some. I started over doing the six coats and below
are some photos of the steps.
I used my seasoned Wapak skillet to fry some bacon and it
did well and cleaned up with ease. I will probably do some bacon in it a couple
of more times before using it for other cooking.
Original Condition
After self-cleaning in the oven
Lightly oiled for seasoning
After sanding the inside
After one seasoning
After the sixth seasoning
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