u/Kona7021

So I just started buying up cast iron at the thrift stores in like the last two months. The smallest pans I have are two #5's, a lodge and an unknown (probably homemade). And then this BSR #3.

My question is; what do you guys use these little pans for? I reheated like taco meat in a #5, but I can't for the life of me figure out what I would make in the #3. It's just so tiny. I mean people must have used them if they bought them, I'm just trying to figure out what you guys would use these for. I bought it because it was cool. Then I fixed it and reseasoned it, but I would love to use it for something LOL.

Anybody have any ideas about who made this, or is it just some foreign no name pan? The only marking on it is the "5" on the handle. I just started buying cast iron pans and really using them maybe a month or two ago...so I'm new to all of this.

It doesn't really have the normal heat ring on the bottom that I am used to seeing, more like the bottom of the pan is just kind of inset so the sides come down and form a sort of "ring." It has these weird wavy patterns on the bottom too. I stripped it with oven cleaner and these pictures are right before I rubbed it down with avocado oil and stuck it in the oven. It's currently in the oven now. I really wish I took some before pictures because it was absolutely CAKED with a thick layer of carbon that was all crackily and flaking off, especially on the bottom. I may not have cleaned it perfectl, but damn if you would have seen it before LOL.....

Check out this handsome gentleman and his two head feathers.

Pretty much what the title says. Apparently this pan is a pre-1960s unmarked Wagner. I have a question as to whether the factory could have put grind marks on the bottom, or if one of the owners did it. I Am brand new to cast iron and picked this up at the local value village and it's one of my very first pans. In the past couple weeks I have gotten six pans and I'm starting to get acquainted and used to them. This is the only one that seems to have grind marks on the bottom and flat spots that seem to be ground off. The pan works well and is almost completely level except for a small wobble toward the grind marks. But it seems like the way it's wobbling the grind marks would have made it worse so IDK why someone would put those there. They don't bother me it's just my curiosity more than anything

they took over my local value village and I thought maybe it would get better. No. They probably have the same person pricing all this stuff strangely. I'm not paying retail at a thrift store. Or over retail. The only thing is that suddenly everything is donated is actually appearing on the shelves so that there is so much stuff. If the prices were decent it would be great. Contrary to my local Goodwill where I see cars pulling up every few seconds out back unloading stuff, but their shelves are empty and full of plastic useless dollar store crap and printers. Still can't figure out where it all goes. The black thing for 32.99 is a generic like.... paper shredder you could get on Amazon.

Came across these two dishes at the Goodwill yesterday. I've never seen this pattern, but I need more baking dishes like I need a hole in the head. 🤣. So I left them for someone else.

So I am relatively new to cast iron, and 100% new to cleaning/stripping one. I found 3 very very VERY dirty pans at eco thrift for like $6 a piece. I wish I took a before picture. The carbon was so caked on, it must have been 1/8 of an inch thick, all crackled on one side on the bottom, and gummy under the first layer. I used yellow cap oven cleaner, and let it sit for 72 hours applying twice. I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed with a brillo pad and a scraper until my hands were sore, and I got it to the condition in the pictures.

Can I just season it and use it like this? Or do I really need to get rest off? I'm dreading doing the other two.

It says 9 inch skillet, made in holland on the bottom. So IDK the brand. The other one says 10 1/2 inch skillet on the back with a random letter underneath and I learned that is a 1950s Wagner. The third says made in Korea on it.

(I have included a quick picture of the other two that I haven't scrubbed and cleaned yet, just to show the condition they were in, I don't want to pull the whole thing out of the trash bag yet though).

Boy am I a sucker for an electric skillet. I found this NOS thermoware for 15 bucks yesterday. I use the term NOS because it was never used, came with the instructions and all of the accessories, even though it obviously wasn't kept in a box and likely tossed around when donated which caused the fry basket to scratch the interior a bit and put some scuffs on the outside. Unlike the Sunbeams, this interior is milled roughly with the metal being grooved a little bit creating an aluminum surface that is rough like a lot of the "sunray" pans in the '70s. I must have 10 electric skillets now, and I was debating getting this one but I really really wanted that fry basket mostly lol.

(I'm about to make some bacon in it).

Here's a cool NOS casserole dish with a wicker trivet that I found at GW for $10, probably 70s or '80s. It's giving 70s to me. It must have been right when they stop using the fire King name, because the box doesn't say fire King, and the dish just says anchor Hocking, but the little insert still has fire King on it.

Passed on these for $5 a cup at value village. Not paying that at a thrift store.

Enjoy this beautiful presto pressure cooker from 1974. The one that I currently use is an electric one from the '60s with a Teflon interior, and I recently turned the heat too high so there's little bubbles in the Teflon that haven't flaked or anything but I'm worried that they will. It was in mint condition until just a week or two ago 😢. So I ordered this bare aluminum one. This was never used. Can't wait to make a roast in it, although I almost hate to use it. I tested it out with some water with a dash of vinegar so it didn't oxidize the inside and make it lose its shine (which I know it will turn gray the first time I make a roast in it). I searched high and low for a mint condition avocado green pressure cooker because I am so picky about my vintage items and I want new old stock if possible. I was so lucky to find this and it wasn't expensive at all.

This is from the same Goodwill yesterday where I saw the carafe and the Verde 442 and passed on them. The carafe is still there and then I found these little beauties. $8 for both. Bonus pictures of the glasbake mixing bowls I found for my old Sunbeam. ($10). I'm using the newer metal replacements and I'm happy to find the original glass ones. All at a great price. I'm not a big fan of butterfly gold so this will be gifted to my friend that collects it.

Not something super vintage or special, but this thing has been knocking around in my oven drawer for a very long time and I finally just opened it to steam some asparagus.

I already have the Verde 442, although I think with some bar keepers this one would have cleaned up really nice, only $3. Same with the coffee carafe, it was absolutely gorgeous and I was so bummed I couldn't find the lid to it. I searched high and low in that store. It was also only three bucks. I left them both for someone else because I don't need duplicates, And I like things to be complete.

Found this roasting dish(?) with trivet at Goodwill for $7 yesterday. I already have the dish so I mainly bought it for the trivet, although this dish is in much better shape than my other one, So I will likely give the other one away as a gift. What do you call a dish like this and what is it used for? I've never used mine. Is it for baking like a turkey or a ham? Is it just for carving and serving like a platter? Can someone enlighten me? Thanks :-)