#8 Wagner Ware Sidney -O- Chicken Fryer

For father's Day this year, Mrs. VCH got me something old, something rusty, and something I needed to do work to before I could use it.

I couldn't be more excited. 

Pictures from the electronic flea market listing for said gift:

Research on the logo revealed it was a somewhat later Wagner pan, manufactured sometime in the 30's - 40's.  Wagner was based in Shelby, Ohio, a short way from where Mrs. VCH's family is from.  Wagner was known for its high-quality castings and smooth cooking surfaces.  Despite this particular example having the appearance of something dredged out of a barn where it had sat for the past few decades, the pitting was minimal and the pan sat flat and true.  I'd been wanting a deeper #8 pan; we have two shallow #8 skillets but sometimes meals come perilously close to overflowing them.  The Chicken Fryer fits the bill nicely.

I won't bore you all with the in-process pictures (a bunch of scrubbing and seasoning), and just skip straight to what y'all came here to see:

The first meal cooked in the pan:  Pasta e ceci

I live 40 miles due North of Shelby, OH.  I had no idea they made cast iron there.  Nice pan!

My 2 personal "daily drivers" are both cast iron.  Just Lodge brand but they are each nearing 20 yrs old now.

In reply to John Welsh :

We have another #8 skillet we got at a flea market about 10 years ago that I redid.  There's no manufacturer marking on it, but it has a very smooth cooking surface and has been my favorite pan.  About 5 or 6 years ago we went camping and realized we'd forgotten to bring a pan, so we stopped in a Wal-Mart and picked up a #8 Lodge pan.  It's heavier and bulkier than the older frying pan, and the casting quality was noticeably not as smooth.  Food kept getting stuck to it.  Finally I took it out to my shop and worked over the cooking surface with some pretty aggressive sandpaper, essentially machining it smooth, and working up to finer grits.  It's now what I would consider an acceptable pan.  But even this formerly-rusty Wagner has a nicer surface, still.

Like most of the former cast iron cookware manufacturers in this country, Wagner got bought out and eventually conglomerated out of existence at some point in the 1950's/ 60's.  But they sold well, and were good quality stuff, so it's easy to find usable examples.

The Wagner stuff is pretty great.  It doesn't seem to have the cache and price command of the Griswold stuff, but it's every bit as nice.  We have a Griswold Dutch oven that I got for Mrs. VCH a few years back; it's a hoss, but a bit much for day-to-day use. 

Our other piece of cast iron is a little pan, perhaps a #5 or #6, unknown manufacturer, found for $5 at a thrift store.  It's perfect for cooking two eggs or browning a bit of meat.  Definitely our "value" find in the cookware department. 

My Wagner 6" fryer never leaves the range top. I have 9 cast iron pieces, 3 of which are Wagner ware and those 3 are my favorite pieces. 

I have some really old ones from Grandma.  I have a Wagner and two old-school Griswolds.  Those old Griswolds are a mystery.  I know they quit making them in the late 50s, but the company formed in 1865.  Just makes me curious how many meals were made in the ones I have.  According to my grandmother (born 1907), they were given to her from her mother (born 1884).

John Welsh said:

I live 40 miles due North of Shelby, OH.  I had no idea they made cast iron there.  Nice pan!

My 2 personal "daily drivers" are both cast iron.  Just Lodge brand but they are each nearing 20 yrs old now.

Its actually sidney ohio, in shelby county. I live about ten miles from the old factory which is pretty huge for a place that made pots and pans.

Since they are local to me they are fairly common around here, but still at auction the frying pans bring $25-50 and the Dutch ovens can be over $100. But they last pretty much forever.

captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:

My Wagner 6" fryer never leaves the range top. I have 9 cast iron pieces, 3 of which are Wagner ware and those 3 are my favorite pieces. 

Glad to hear Im not the only one with a good piece of cast iron in permanent residence on the cook top.  With a nice larder of bacon fat sitting on the counter next to it.  Used almost daily.

I have a Wagner fry pan that I bought new for $20 in 1992 when I was college. I wonder how long it had sat in the warehouse and store? 
 

The quality difference between it and my Lodge pan is obvious. 
 

Edit: I had to look it up; Wagner was sold and resold, but actual production stopped in 1994. I guess I got one of the last ones. 

Before he passed, my father-in-law had collected an entire set of Wagner pans, as well as spares for most of them.  Most of them saw regular use.  He made a great pineapple upside down cake in the #8

My favorite thing with a cast iron pan is steak. You seer it a couple minutes on each side then a couple minutes in the oven. The first time I had it this way I realized I had been making steaks wrong my whole life. It is so good.