5 ms·

I looked at some of those brands to see what made them different from Lodge. One had a different handle, while another one had a thicker bottom and thinner side

by jdhn 8y ago

I looked at some of those brands to see what made them different from Lodge. One had a different handle, while another one had a thicker bottom and thinner sides for better searing, but they're also in the hundreds of dollars. A 12" Lodge skillet is $40, that's at least half the price of the 12" skillets for the other brands. For the price, I don't think that Lodge can be beat.

briandear 8y ago
I’ve been to the Lodge factory in rural South Pittsburg Tennessee and I don’t understand what makes “artisanal” cast iron any different from Lodge. It’s pretty much just a marketing hook to convince hipsters to spend hundreds more. The folks that make Lodge are just as “artisanal” as the fancy-pants brands. Lodge has been doing this for over a hundred years. They were “artisanal” before anyone ever used that work. I agree, Lodge can’t be beat. Their iron isn’t any better or worse than the more expensive brands, they just don’t have some bearded “skillet master” in their marketing department convicting people about how good their products are.
foobarian 8y ago
I got a cheapo Lodge for this reason, but I wonder if the more expensive makes add some postprocessing steps to smooth the casting. I found the rough Lodge finish to be unworkable since food kept sticking, and it was hard to clean. I ended up sanding it down to a glass finish and reseasoning it, and now it works properly.
- cauthon 8y ago
  How did you sand iron? (sorry if this is a naive question)
  - Retric 8y ago
    Same way you sand anything, as long as the grit is harder than what your sanding it works just fine. Iron is only 4 on the Mohs Scale which is below glass, so many types of sandpaper work fine.
  - foobarian 8y ago
    I tried by hand first, but it was going too slow so I used an angle grinder with a sandpaper wheel.
  - fencepost 8y ago
    Check assorted youtube videos. Abrasive disks of various sorts are easy to come by, though you're likely going to want a plug-in drill or angle grinder - maybe an 18v 6AH battery would give you the oompf you'd need, but I wouldn't count on it. The key things I'm going to highly highly highly recommend are a good filter mask, good ventilation (or excellent ventilation and a big shop fan blowing past if you have a beard) and a way to securely hold the piece you're working on. I don't have a link, but I like what one guy put together with a heavy duty board - a hook at one end through a hole, and a hook at the other through a slot that could be adjusted to fit the piece. Don't tighten down hard at all unless you want to risk breaking things, just enough to keep what you're working on from shifting around as you sand.
- lainga 8y ago
  I think that's the go-to process with any new Lodge product. I did it too with similar results. I hear that Lodge actually gives their pans a rough finish precisely to make it harder to clean - and thus more likely to retain oils used in cooking - for the benefit of normal people who don't know that you need to season cast iron.
- shostack 8y ago
  How do you refinish a lodge skillet? Someone accidentally used the rough side of a sponge on it and there's a shiny metal peeking through now. Also, is it safe to cook with before refinishing with that spot?
  - megous 8y ago
    Clean it. Put cooking oil on it. Heat it to 170-180°C (depends on oil type, and I use infrared thermometer to check). Keep it at that temerature for 30min or so. It's non-sticky again. That's what I do with my cast iron pan. Alternatively you can put it into oven and bake it at that temperature.
    - shostack 8y ago
      Interesting. How much oil should I use for a 9" pan? Looks like 170-180 is below the smoking point of any oils I'd potentially use, but does the actual oil matter? Is vegetable, canola, or peanut totally fine?
      - megous 8y ago
        Very very little oil (no poodles). I use a paper towel to spread it thin. You can even bake the pan upside down to ensure no poodles can form if you have non-level bottom of the pan. Use some refined oil or lard. Goal is to keep it below smoking point. It works to reseason the pan after minor damage (not yet rusted, but lacking non-sticky surface). I use the pan almost every day, so I don't have experience with fixing heavier damage. If the pan gets sticky to the finger afterwards (it shouldn't if you avoid poodles of oil), don't worry. It will resolve itself after a few cooking cycles.
  - fencepost 8y ago
    I'm a little late to this, but it's called seasoning (or reseasoning) and you can either try to take it down all the way to bare metal or just work on building up additional layers. Plenty of articles available for either, I'm sure I'm leaving things out. Don't get too distracted by fancy processes, remember this is something people have been doing for hundreds of years. If you want to go bare-metal and have an oven with a self-cleaning cycle, that's probably the simplest way to go - put the cast iron in there open-side down and run that cycle. I'm not sure just how much smoke this will release, but you might not want to do it on a day when you can't open windows. I've also seen notes that this can sometimes cause warping, so buyer beware. To build up the seasoning, it's basically going to be multiple repetitions of putting on a thin layer of a high-smoke-point food-safe oil, heating and repeating. Darker color generally just indicates more layers. In some ways it's almost like you're varnishing the cookware with an oil-based varnish, but without some of the other components of varnish. A lot of guides will recommend flaxseed oil for seasoning, it's also known as linseed oil and used to be pretty common in varnishes and wood finishes. For a contrary (and easier and cheaper) view, see https://www.reddit.com/r/castiron/comments/5owtnm/why_i_dont_recommend_flax_seed_oil/ https://www.reddit.com/r/castiron/comments/5owtnm/why_i_dont... (see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drying_oil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drying_oil about oil-based varnishes)
ryanobjc 8y ago
The primary difference between vintage, “artisanal” and modern cast iron (eg: lodge) is the former is machined and the latter isn’t. Cast iron, seasoned, is supposed to be slicker than non stick. You should be able to fry an egg in it. With lodge you have to build up that non stick over the sand casting “bumpies” that are left over from the iron casting process. They used to machine those out, especially on the cook surface. Until this latest crop of modern cast iron manufacturers, one would typically have to retreat to vintage or perhaps machine your own. I think most people just look at the sorry state of “lodge” then grab a pfa laden non stick and go home.
- m0zg 8y ago
  +1. I have a lodge cast iron and I prefer a $25 TFal Titanium. Everything sticks to the former, nothing (not even oil!) sticks to the latter. No PFOA in TFal either.
  - WiseWeasel 8y ago
    They use reinforced PTFE, versions of which are potentially also toxic, but not banned yet. From Tefal/T-fal's FAQ: >All non-stick coatings contain PTFE, the abbreviation for polytetrafluorethylene, a plastic polymer. It is a slippery ingredient, made up of molecules of tetra fluoro ethylene that only contain carbon and fluorine. Tefal/T-fal have been one of the main proponents and suppliers of teflon cookware (hence their name), switching formulas every so often, once the toxicity of the various generations of coating have become an issue.
    - m0zg 8y ago
      Everything is "potentially toxic", especially in California. Currently, however, "scientific consensus" suggests PFTE is safe.
      - WiseWeasel 8y ago
        I’ll reconsider after a millennium or two of usage.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
fencepost 8y ago
Others have covered this as well, but I believe they're all significantly lighter than the comparable Lodge products, and some of the handles apparently actually work pretty well - although the review I've seen of whichever one has that coil handle wasn't very impressed. I have a couple of Lodges that I use weekly, and neither has a handle that's impressed me. They're also all machined to a smooth finish after molding, where the Lodges are cleaned, possibly sanded a bit to get rid of any lingering material from the mold, then seasoned. Part of the reasoning I've heard for the rougher finish on Lodge pans is that it makes that initial factory seasoning much easier to get on there. If you look around in the cast iron arena you'll come across a fair amount of information on how to do your own machining at home with drills, abrasive pads, hand sanders, etc. Beyond that, some of them have different configurations of spouts, secondary handles, etc. - they're all somewhat different.

by jdhn 8y ago

briandear 8y ago

I’ve been to the Lodge factory in rural South Pittsburg Tennessee and I don’t understand what makes “artisanal” cast iron any different from Lodge. It’s pretty much just a marketing hook to convince hipsters to spend hundreds more. The folks that make Lodge are just as “artisanal” as the fancy-pants brands. Lodge has been doing this for over a hundred years. They were “artisanal” before anyone ever used that work. I agree, Lodge can’t be beat. Their iron isn’t any better or worse than the more expensive brands, they just don’t have some bearded “skillet master” in their marketing department convicting people about how good their products are.

foobarian 8y ago

I got a cheapo Lodge for this reason, but I wonder if the more expensive makes add some postprocessing steps to smooth the casting. I found the rough Lodge finish to be unworkable since food kept sticking, and it was hard to clean. I ended up sanding it down to a glass finish and reseasoning it, and now it works properly.

cauthon 8y ago
How did you sand iron? (sorry if this is a naive question)
- Retric 8y ago
  Same way you sand anything, as long as the grit is harder than what your sanding it works just fine. Iron is only 4 on the Mohs Scale which is below glass, so many types of sandpaper work fine.
- foobarian 8y ago
  I tried by hand first, but it was going too slow so I used an angle grinder with a sandpaper wheel.
- fencepost 8y ago
  Check assorted youtube videos. Abrasive disks of various sorts are easy to come by, though you're likely going to want a plug-in drill or angle grinder - maybe an 18v 6AH battery would give you the oompf you'd need, but I wouldn't count on it. The key things I'm going to highly highly highly recommend are a good filter mask, good ventilation (or excellent ventilation and a big shop fan blowing past if you have a beard) and a way to securely hold the piece you're working on. I don't have a link, but I like what one guy put together with a heavy duty board - a hook at one end through a hole, and a hook at the other through a slot that could be adjusted to fit the piece. Don't tighten down hard at all unless you want to risk breaking things, just enough to keep what you're working on from shifting around as you sand.
lainga 8y ago
I think that's the go-to process with any new Lodge product. I did it too with similar results. I hear that Lodge actually gives their pans a rough finish precisely to make it harder to clean - and thus more likely to retain oils used in cooking - for the benefit of normal people who don't know that you need to season cast iron.
shostack 8y ago
How do you refinish a lodge skillet? Someone accidentally used the rough side of a sponge on it and there's a shiny metal peeking through now. Also, is it safe to cook with before refinishing with that spot?
- megous 8y ago
  Clean it. Put cooking oil on it. Heat it to 170-180°C (depends on oil type, and I use infrared thermometer to check). Keep it at that temerature for 30min or so. It's non-sticky again. That's what I do with my cast iron pan. Alternatively you can put it into oven and bake it at that temperature.
  - shostack 8y ago
    Interesting. How much oil should I use for a 9" pan? Looks like 170-180 is below the smoking point of any oils I'd potentially use, but does the actual oil matter? Is vegetable, canola, or peanut totally fine?
    - megous 8y ago
      Very very little oil (no poodles). I use a paper towel to spread it thin. You can even bake the pan upside down to ensure no poodles can form if you have non-level bottom of the pan. Use some refined oil or lard. Goal is to keep it below smoking point. It works to reseason the pan after minor damage (not yet rusted, but lacking non-sticky surface). I use the pan almost every day, so I don't have experience with fixing heavier damage. If the pan gets sticky to the finger afterwards (it shouldn't if you avoid poodles of oil), don't worry. It will resolve itself after a few cooking cycles.
- fencepost 8y ago
  I'm a little late to this, but it's called seasoning (or reseasoning) and you can either try to take it down all the way to bare metal or just work on building up additional layers. Plenty of articles available for either, I'm sure I'm leaving things out. Don't get too distracted by fancy processes, remember this is something people have been doing for hundreds of years. If you want to go bare-metal and have an oven with a self-cleaning cycle, that's probably the simplest way to go - put the cast iron in there open-side down and run that cycle. I'm not sure just how much smoke this will release, but you might not want to do it on a day when you can't open windows. I've also seen notes that this can sometimes cause warping, so buyer beware. To build up the seasoning, it's basically going to be multiple repetitions of putting on a thin layer of a high-smoke-point food-safe oil, heating and repeating. Darker color generally just indicates more layers. In some ways it's almost like you're varnishing the cookware with an oil-based varnish, but without some of the other components of varnish. A lot of guides will recommend flaxseed oil for seasoning, it's also known as linseed oil and used to be pretty common in varnishes and wood finishes. For a contrary (and easier and cheaper) view, see https://www.reddit.com/r/castiron/comments/5owtnm/why_i_dont_recommend_flax_seed_oil/ https://www.reddit.com/r/castiron/comments/5owtnm/why_i_dont... (see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drying_oil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drying_oil about oil-based varnishes)

ryanobjc 8y ago

The primary difference between vintage, “artisanal” and modern cast iron (eg: lodge) is the former is machined and the latter isn’t. Cast iron, seasoned, is supposed to be slicker than non stick. You should be able to fry an egg in it. With lodge you have to build up that non stick over the sand casting “bumpies” that are left over from the iron casting process. They used to machine those out, especially on the cook surface. Until this latest crop of modern cast iron manufacturers, one would typically have to retreat to vintage or perhaps machine your own. I think most people just look at the sorry state of “lodge” then grab a pfa laden non stick and go home.

m0zg 8y ago
+1. I have a lodge cast iron and I prefer a $25 TFal Titanium. Everything sticks to the former, nothing (not even oil!) sticks to the latter. No PFOA in TFal either.
- WiseWeasel 8y ago
  They use reinforced PTFE, versions of which are potentially also toxic, but not banned yet. From Tefal/T-fal's FAQ: >All non-stick coatings contain PTFE, the abbreviation for polytetrafluorethylene, a plastic polymer. It is a slippery ingredient, made up of molecules of tetra fluoro ethylene that only contain carbon and fluorine. Tefal/T-fal have been one of the main proponents and suppliers of teflon cookware (hence their name), switching formulas every so often, once the toxicity of the various generations of coating have become an issue.
  - m0zg 8y ago
    Everything is "potentially toxic", especially in California. Currently, however, "scientific consensus" suggests PFTE is safe.
    - WiseWeasel 8y ago
      I’ll reconsider after a millennium or two of usage.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

fencepost 8y ago

Others have covered this as well, but I believe they're all significantly lighter than the comparable Lodge products, and some of the handles apparently actually work pretty well - although the review I've seen of whichever one has that coil handle wasn't very impressed. I have a couple of Lodges that I use weekly, and neither has a handle that's impressed me. They're also all machined to a smooth finish after molding, where the Lodges are cleaned, possibly sanded a bit to get rid of any lingering material from the mold, then seasoned. Part of the reasoning I've heard for the rougher finish on Lodge pans is that it makes that initial factory seasoning much easier to get on there. If you look around in the cast iron arena you'll come across a fair amount of information on how to do your own machining at home with drills, abrasive pads, hand sanders, etc. Beyond that, some of them have different configurations of spouts, secondary handles, etc. - they're all somewhat different.