Crisbee to season my vintage Wapak Skillet

09 23 2017

I had heard about a product to season cast iron when I ordered my Stargazer CI skillet. It is a mix of oils and beeswax. My skillet came unseasoned and I used the Crisbee Stik to season it. The outside was a nice black color but the inside was a light brown. After using it it looked like the seasoning was coming off. I ran it through a self cleaning cycle in my oven to remove all and redo with grape seed oil.

A good authority on cast iron said he had the same problem with the Stargazer and said the inside was actually too smooth for the Crisbee to stick to it.

Our son gave me a vintage Wapak Holloware Z logo skillet for a gift. I had one that was a smooth bottom but it was warped some and just used it to bake in, mostly cornbread. This one has a heat ring and sets solid so I hope I can use it on my glass top stove.

The skillet actually looked like I could just clean and use but the bottom had grease caked on some so I decided to redo it. I used a wire wheel to clean the bottom and ran it through a self-cleaning cycle in my oven. It had a lot of rust on it so I used some fine steel wool to take off what I could get off.

I decided to give Crisbee another chance. I heated it to 200 deg. applied some Crisbee and wiped off all I could with Scott’s blue towels. It went back in the oven to 300 deg. then wiped again with the blue towels and went to 500 deg. I let it set at 500 deg. For an hour then shut off to cool. I did this two more times but just went to 400 deg. It looked nice and black when done. I fried up a pound of bacon in it to break it in good. Had to have BLT’s with it! I am happy with the Crisbee the second time around and will see how it holds up as I use it more.

Click to see Crisbee product

Re-seasoned and one use

Wagner Ware Ashtray & Bullet Mold Ladle

Mar 13 2017

A large percentage of the early cast iron cookware was made here in Midwest Ohio. Wapakoneta, Piqua and Sydney are all pretty close. Piqua Ware was made from 1916 – 1935, Sydney Halloware was made from 1884 – 1960, Wagner Ware was made in Sydney from 1891 – 1958 and Wapak Halloware was made from 1903 – 1926. Ahrens and Arnold were also made in Wapakoneta but only a few years.

I have a Wapak Z logo skillet I use to make corn bread and a Wapak sad iron. My wife got me an Ahrens and Arnold skillet for Christmas; that was the first time I knew they were made here. My wife’s aunt is an avid antique collector. Her and my wife goes to a lot of auctions together. The last time my wife was down to see her she sent a cast iron ashtray for me; she knows I like cast iron. Here it was a Wagner Ware. It has an oval logo with one W for Wagner and Ware. It says “made in the USA” 1050 and an E at the bottom.

I had a 3 leg cast iron bullet mold ladle I bought about 40 yrs. ago for making lead round balls for my black powder rifles. I think I bought it from Lahmen’s Hardware; the back says “Reproduction from original old bullet mold ladle”.

I cleaned both of them out and re-seasoned in the oven twice to get a nice black color. I have a place above my Ahrens and Arnold skillet to display the ashtray.

Cast Iron & Glass Tops

Feb 04 2016

Can you use cast iron on glass top ranges? Most of the makers will say no they don’t recommend it. I have and had good luck with it.

First you have to understand even if you use the recommended cookware on glass tops and you are careless you can end up with a scratched top. I place my skillets & pans on the burner and let set thru the cook. If I need to set one off the burner I pick it up and move it off. When I stir stuff I hold onto the handle so it doesn’t move much. If half your range is cool move the skillet to a hot pad to serve from. If not move it to a trivet on the counter top to serve.

Last summer I got a new glass top range. My old on an Amana was 17 years old and the top looked brand new. Our son and wife took it since it looked better than their glass top. I had used cast iron on it at least 8 years. I have several pieces of Lodge CI I use. When they came out with their carbon steel I got the 10 and 12 inch skillet. They are my go to skillets since they are lighter than the cast iron but cook about the same and clean up as well.

Pictured below is all you should need to keep your cast iron and glass top in good shape and looking like new. On my new GE range is my 10 inch Lodge carbons steel skillet to the rear and my Stargazer 10.5 cast iron skillet in the front. The Scotch blue nonabrasive pads are for the skillets and glass top. The chain mail will clean the skillets of any stubborn stuck on foods and it will not hurt the seasoning. The razor blade scrapper will remove stubborn burnt on foods from the glass top. The Cerama Bryte is for a good cleaning of the glass top. The Windex Complete is for everyday cleaning the glass top.

Most of the time to clean my skillets all I need to do is run hot water over them and scrub with the Scotch blue pad. Any stubborn stuff the chain mail takes care of.

After cooking my wife washes the stove with a soapy dish rag to get all the grease off, dries and then cleans with the Windex and paper towels. Any streaks left can be wiped away with a clean wash towel.

When I clean it with the Cerama Bryte I apply with paper towel and when dry I buff with paper towels and finish with a dry wash towel.

If you want to use vintage cast iron I would choose one with no heat ring, a smooth bottom. The heat ring was for using on cast iron stoves; it raised the skillet slightly and was supposed to give a more even heat. If you buy new just make sure there are no sharp points on the bottom.

Re-seasoning My Stargazer and Wapak Skillets

Jan 10 2017

Back in November I got my new Stargazer 10.5 inch cast iron skillet, made in the USA. I used the Crisbee to season it three times. It never looked good and after using some of the seasoning came off. I tried to salvage it by seasoning with grape seed oil over top but was not satisfied with it. I decided to wait until after Christmas and then redo it. For Christmas my wife had bought me a vintage Wapak #3 skillet at an auction. After inspecting it I was a little excited about it because it had what looks like two A’s crossed with an arrow for a center logo I had never seen on a Wapak skillet. I hope I can learn more about it.

With the holidays over and very cold weather it was a good time to redo both skillets. I ran them through a self-cleaning cycle in my electric oven for 3 hours. This stripped them down to bare cast iron. I decided to use Crisco to season them. Jeffery B Rogers, my guru for cast iron seasoning and care said if Crisco was good enough for his Mother it was good for him! He has a Facebook site under the Culinary Fanatic. I wrote him about my Stargazer and using Crisbee and he had a similar outcome. He also tells about some Australian carbon steel skillets that are stamped from one piece. They were so smooth would not take seasoning well so now they shot blast them for a satin finish that takes seasoning.

That makes me wonder how the old vintage cast iron came, were any pre-seasoned then or did the cook just start cooking and season as they used.

After cleaning my skillets I placed them in my oven and set at 500 deg. F. I took them out at 200 deg. and rubbed well with Crisco then wiped clean with Scotts blue shop towels, they are highly absorbent. Then at 300 deg. I took them back out ant wiped again. Be sure and place them upside down in the oven this keeps any excess oil from pooling inside the skillet. They were in the 500 deg. oven for 30 minutes and then let cool.

I did the same procedure two more times but just went to 400 deg. for the half hour. Jeffry says the 500 deg. the first time helps set the color. My Wapak skillet came out a nice black and the Stargazer was a deep brown on the inside but nice and even.

For my first cook in the Stargazer I fried a pound of bacon. I had no stick at all and it cleaned up great afterwards. For easy cleaning my cast iron I use Scotts blue nonabrasive pads, for stuck on food I use a chain mail.

For any of you that have vintage cast iron here is a good site to help date it.
http://www.castironcollector.com/trademarks.php

Stripped Clean

First seasoning

Second seasoning

Third seasoning

2nd Seasoning My Stargazer with Grape Seed Oil

Nov 08 2016

I seasoned the Stargazer skillet with Crisbee cast iron seasoning. I have cooked in it twice and was very happy with the nonstick quality of frying in it. It turned a dark brown instead of black. I noted after my first cook there were some light spots; I thought some of the egg whites or flour I used had stuck. It was still smooth and used some 0000 steel wool to see if they would come off but did not.

My second cook was pork chops and fried potatoes and all went well; no sticking at all. After cleaning with hot water and a blue Scotch pad, which are non-abrasive, it looked like most of the brown had come off the bottom. It was a grey color. It looked like the seasoning was coming off.

I had got the idea of using the Crisbee from Jeffry B Rogers, the Culinary Fanatic, who is pretty sharp on cast iron. He had used it on a Stargazer Skillet and I never saw any results on his UTube site but found on his Facebook page he had the same results after his first cook. Some of the finish had come off.

I am not sure what I will do, I just did a seasoning using my grapeseed oil on top to see the results. I liked the results so I am going ahead and do it over the top with the grapeseed oil. I have it in now for a second round and will do at least 4 and maybe 6 times total.

I did it 5 times and quit there it looks pretty nice. Now I need to cook with it and see how it holds up. If it doesn’t I will strip it in my self-cleaning oven and start over; I think I will try the old Crisco if I do.

I fried my lunch in it today. I did 2 batches of bacon then fried 2 pieces of cornmeal mush. I had a bone in pork chop to fry for a sandwich. I was going to pour off the ¼ of bacon grease but decided to shallow fry the chop. I did it for 5 minutes per side. The sandwich was great; I had gotten the idea from my BBQ forum Lets Talk BBQ. Everything fried up nice and after it cleaned up easily.

I am happy with the skillet and will cook through the Holidays with it and see how it turns out before deciding to strip and redo.

After the 5 seasonings

Made my Lunch

Cleaned up afterwards

My New Stargazer Cast Iron Skillet

Nov 03 2016

I am a happy 74 yr. old kid today; I got my new Stargazer 10.5 Cast Iron Skillet in the mail. It is a beauty!

Peter Huntley and two friends started the company in 2015. Their goal was to make a quality cast iron skillet 100% made in the USA. I ordered mine back in June or July and was supposed to be shipped in August. My skillet would be from a second run.

They ran into problems with the foundry supplying the raw castings on time so had delays in shipping. I was glad to finally get mine and looks like it will be worth the wait. They since have went with a different foundry and should be getting caught up with the orders.

You can get the skillet bare or seasoned and I got a bare one wanting to season it myself. It came lightly coated with their seasoning oil for protection. It also included a Crisbee seasoning puck; I had already bought some Crisbee sticks and planned to use it. The inside was perfectly polished to a smooth finish and the back side was a pretty smooth surface with nice detailed writing and their logo.

I didn’t waste any time getting the first seasoning done. I first washed it in hot soapy water and rinsed well to get rid of the oil on it. Don’t grimace about me using soap; if you have a Lodge the last step they do before seasoning theirs is a soapy water bath and then a rinse. I heated my oven to 400 deg. with the skillet in it. When it got to 200 deg. I took it out and applied the Crisbee; I wiped it all off with Scotts blue towels; which are highly absorbent.  I left it in for an hour then shut the oven off. I let it set a half hour before opening the oven to cool down.

The Crisbee seasoning contains beeswax and oils that they claim will help keep CI from rusting when stored along with a good nonstick surface.

I just got it out and it took on a step of darkening. I plan to do three more seasonings the same way before I use it. Mt first cook with it will be a batch of bacon and some eggs. I will update this post through my first cook.

In the box

First look

Smooth inside

Smooth on the back too

Cleaned and ready to season

Heating up

Applying the Crisbee

In at 400 deg. for an hour

First seasoning

Shown with my well used Lodge skillet

Second seasoning

Third seasoning

Fourth seasoning, ready to cook

I did a fifth seasoning of the inside

Nov 05 2016

I did the first cook on my Stargazer skillet tonight. I am more than pleased with it! Our daughter was here and we had breakfast for supper. I had to get some bacon in the skillet first! I did bacon, cornmeal mush and eggs. I fried some breakfast links for the daughter; I did them in my Lodge CS skillet so it all was done timely.

I fried up two skillets of bacon, about a half pound with some olive oil spray in the skillet. I left the grease in to fry the mush; I had dipped the mush in flour, it keeps it from popping so much. When I put the mush on I started the sausage links. I did the mush about 8 minutes per side on medium heat. When both were done they went into a 200 deg. oven to keep warm with the bacon. The bacon never stuck at all; even my old cast iron it will stick some.

I poured off all the grease but about a tablespoon and fried two eggs for the wife and daughter and served them. I then did two eggs for myself, the cook got two! I covered the skillet with a glass lid that fit to self-baste. None of the eggs stuck at all, came out easy. We had some English muffins with all.

It all tasted great and I was very happy with my skillet! After supper I cleaned it as usual with hot water and a blue Scotch pad. After I dried it I noted some light spots and rubbed it some more, I thought some of the egg whites had stuck. I had some 0000 steel wool and rubbed a couple of the spots. They didn’t come off but neither did any of the brown around them. I placed it on a hot burner and rubbed with some grape seed oil and heated until it smoked and wiped well.

The light spots are still there but I will continue to use it and if it cooks as well as did tonight I won’t worry about it. Maybe the spots are just part of the seasoning process and either from the egg whites or the flour I had on the mush.

I would sure recommend this skillet. You will not find one of better quality at this price.

Frying the bacon

Frying the mush

Some eggs

Eggs came out clean

My supper

After washing

After stove top seasoning

My New Lodge Sportsman Hibachi

Feb 26 2016

I turned 74 yesterday but when I got my new Lodge Sportsman L410 Hibachi grill today I was like e little kid with a new toy. I don’t feel too well, have a cold; but that didn’t stop me from getting it assembled and in the oven for a seasoning before using.

That cast iron grill is a piece of artwork; just 6 pieces plus the bail and only needs two bolts to assemble.

I could not find much history on this grill but it looks like Lodge Bought out Sportsman. I did find a video of someone who had an original Sportsman and compared the Lodge to it. The casting is a lot cleaner and they improved the pockets where the cooking grate legs set.

I run hot water over the cooking grate, brushed it well and dried. I then brushed lard on the inside, the two grates, the access door and damper. It was set on a sheet pan and into the oven. I set it at 350 deg. and a half hour later turned the oven off. It will set there until cooled. I had wanted to do the outside too but it was too hard to handle on top of my cupboard. I will coat the outside on my first cook.

Now all I need is some decent weather to try this thing out. I plan on doing some pork burgers, sausage, for my first cook.

My New De Buyer 10 inch Skillet

Jun 19 2015

I wasted a lot of money buying skillets over the 40 years I have been cooking. Non-stick Teflon was popular and I used them but had to buy new every year or two. My Mother-in-law gave me one of her old cast iron skillets. I used it for a few years but then everything started sticking, not sure if I gave it away or threw it out. I tried re-seasoning it but probably didn’t do it right.

I paid $90 US for a scan pan coated with ceramic. It did a great job for a few years then started sticking more. My next one was a Green-Pan and the same thing it started sticking. Then they had one called Orgreenic that was advertised on TV. My wife asked if I wanted one and I said no. Then she came home with one and said it was only $17 so got it for you. To my surprise it was nonstick and have been using it for over 3 years and it still looks new. We use it mostly for frying a quick egg for breakfast.

I had a cast iron Dutch oven and a bean pot I used a lot and liked them. I then got a Lodge 10 inch pre-seasoned and started using it a lot and really got to love cooking in it. I had a large 12 inch old Lodge skillet that I didn’t use much and gave it to my neighbor to use; he let his daughter and husband use it for camping.

After he died his wife asked if I wanted it back so took it. It was dirty and in bad shape so I read up on how to clean and re-season CI. I cleaned it in my electric oven on self-cleaning mode and it came out like new. I did a six step seasoning on it and came out great. I only use it for outdoor cooking. I then bought and old Wapak hallow ware skillet. I had wanted one for a long time since they were made here in Wapakoneta. It was a little over a pound lighter than my new Lodge skillet. I cleaned and re-seasoned it and it came out like new. It has a slight bow in the bottom so I don’t use it on my glass top stove. I save it for baking cornbread.

Then Lodge came out with some carbon steel skillets. I bought a 10 and 12 inch one; they were pre-seasoned and love them. They are my everyday skillets that I use a lot.

A lot of the members of LTBBQ forum were buying De Buyers mineral B carbon steel skillets. They are not cheap so I held out for a while but finally had to have one. I got a 10 inch skillet for $60. They recommend just one seasoning on the stove top before using so that’s the way I did it.

The only minus thing is it is heavy and the older I get that becomes an important factor. It is a pound lighter than my Lodge 10 inch CI and a pound heavier than my Lodge 10 inch CS skillets. I do like that it is deeper than my Lodge CS. One other thing is my chief bottle washer, my wife, cannot handle them to clean so I have to clean them! They all clean up pretty easy, a quick brushing under hot water and a final scrub with a Scotch blue pad. Just lately I discovered a chain mail for cleaning stuck on food.

The De Buyer skillet is a thing of beauty; well made. It did not take on much color after seasoning. I used it for the first time; I did three batches of jowl bacon in it and then sautéed some onions and garlic. It cooked great and was easy to clean up. I was surprised it did not take on much more color. It looks like it will take a while to develop a nice color and may never get the nice black color of CI.

The new skillet

L to R Lodge CI 5.25 pounds

De Buyer CS 4.25 pounds

Lodge CS 3.25 pounds

After one seasoning

First cook

Cleaned after first cook