Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Found a Wagner ware skillet.

"That skillets marked "ERIE" were made by a predecessor to Griswold Mfg. Co.
False. The too-often seen term "pre-Griswold" used in reference to Erie skillets is a misnomer. Griswold made them."

I don't know anyone that thinks "Erie" was a predecessor to Griswold.
Saying pre-Griswold means it's before "Griswold" was written on the pan.

+1
All mine are slant logos or "Erie" because I prefer the weights. We buy them to use. As I run across a better version of what I have, I put the other away for sets for the kids. Living only about 15 miles from Erie, there's lots of competition and interest for these pans. It's hard to find them at a garage sale.

Years ago my good wife bought me a cheapo Cabelas brand 14" cast pan made in China for Christmas. She had no idea what a cast pan is about so I didn't say anything negative when I opened it up.

That pan was a total pc of junk. The inside had a very rough dimpled surface that would not season no matter what and EVERYTHING stuck to it. On the bottom of the pan they casted on a big Cabelas logo so now the pan would not sit level on the stove top but would rock back and forth on the embossed logo. I gave up on it and tossed it under the work bench until I had a thought to take a 5" angle grinder and grind off the logo off the bottom and smooth out the inside with a flapper disc. It was a lot of work to get it all smoothed up but now it works very well. We use it all the time. Just need a lid for it now. Happy ending!

I likely wouldn't have thought of that. Good job.

I just cleaned up a cast iron skillet my wife acquired when my aunt died several months ago. It was heavily crusted on the outside and the inside was very rough so nobody wanted it. I used a 4 1/2" angle grinder and progressively more aggressive wire wheels until I got down to the bare metal. Then I polished it with a worn out flap disc. She cooked bacon in it this morning.

THIS... I also use a grinder with progressively milder grit to get a mirror finish before I season it. Mine are like black mirrors.

I had one with rough inside. I used a 1/4 sheet random orbital sander.

Locked on the sandpaper, put the sander in the pan, turned it on and walked away to another project. Turned out pretty well.

I cleaned up a couple of rough ones, some years back, with a little air die grinder, and rolloc (sp) discs. Worked well, after seasoning, and still in use.