Kickstarter for Cast Iron Skillet

I love cast iron cooking!

I read Paul's article on cooking with cast iron.
I bought an old Wagner skillet from ebay, spent a few weeks mastering it, and I love it!

I often wonder why current manufactures don't machine the surface smooth, thus creating products inferior to the old Wagner's and Griswold's.

And today my son sent me the link for this kickstarter.
The bad news is that they already have almost 4000 backers, raised over $500,000 against their $30,000 goal, and sold out everything below $90.
The good news is that someone cares about making modern cast iron skillets that are smooth and useful.

I hope they'll spend a bit of that hugely successful campaign creating a few more sizes to round out my collection.

Enjoy!

Thank you for posting about this. I have one Lodge cast iron pan that I bought twenty years ago for my first home. Even at the lower end of the quality scale, I've never regretted the purchase. It's certainly outlasted every other pot and pan. Unfortunately, I am now the only one in the household strong enough to be comfortable using it. These look light enough to make cast iron an everyday pan again.

I'm also going to be able send one with each of the girls when they start their first homes. I've never been lucky enough to stumble upon one of the true vintage pans at such a price.

editing to add :

They keep adding more production runs. There's a longer wait time, but at this moment they have more than 1000 left for 90$ in a fourth production run.

I should sell me extra cast iron pieces on E-Bay. I've been collecting nice stuff over the years and even picked up some duplicates that I though were too nice to pass up, such as a cast iron wok. My oldest piece is over 100 years old and was a family hand-me-down. Love anything with that usefulness and longevity.

I've had a lot of luck over the years finding Griswold and Wagner cast iron skillets at garage sales, estate sales, and even in second-hand/Goodwill stores. I've got a dozen #8 skillets -- I give them as gifts all the time.

Grandma can no longer live by herself in the house, so the kids come in and sell everything before they move her into the home. Sure enough, there are 3 cast iron skillets out there on the table in the garage, lovingly cared for for the past 70 years. People don't know what they've got. You can pick them up for $5. #8 is the most common size, but you'll find #7's and #6's as well.

Dutch ovens are a different story. You'll need to find them on Ebay. Make sure to ask, "Does it sit perfectly flat on a level surface?" You don't want a skillet or dutch oven that is warped and wobbles.

We bought a rather rough cast-iron skillet and my husband polished it a bit, but it still has some pits. The pits seem to be gradually filling with carbon until the bottom is becoming smooth and shiny. I love this pan!