Black iron pot

[metalspinner]

I've been given a large 12 quart black iron pot. 8) 8)

However, the bottom has a rounded shape and doesn't sit flat on the stove. Can this be fixed?

[JimBuis]

I think a knowledgeable and experienced welder or blacksmith could reshape it, but there would be some danger of it cracking.  You might do it yourself if you are handy with a torch.  I will take a lot of heat evenly applied.

Jim

[Dan_Shade]

I would think a "better" way to do it would be to make a "cradle" that the pot will sit in, and braize that to the pot.

if it's cast, I don't know that you can reform it...

but, I really don't know what i'm talking about

[metalspinner]

It is cast iron.  My guess is that it was misshapen by heat.  It's kind of crazy to watch it - I can spin it around like a top. :D  It must weigh 15lbs.

[WDH]

We used to render pig fat into lard in black cast-iron pots that had round bottoms.  Those lard pots had 3 little pointed feet.  We built a fire around the pot.  I bet your pot doesn't have the 3 pointed little feet does it?

[beenthere]

You say 'black iron', meaning cast iron ?  (or not?)

(Sorry, missed your post)

[metalspinner]

I bet your pot doesn't have the 3 pointed little feet does it?

That's right.  They didn't used to be there either. :D :D

beenthere,
Yes, cast iron.  The only makings on it are  "USA" and "12".

[Dan_Shade]

some of those round pots had a stand that they'd sit in as well.
or is it a dutch oven, made to hang by it's handle?

[metalspinner]

or is it a dutch oven, made to hang by it's handle?

Hmm,  There is no handle to hang it.  But that doesn't mean it shouldn't have a handle.  There are two handles on the sides to pick it up.  A lid did come with it.  Would that make it a Dutch Oven?

Here is a pic...

[Dan_Shade]

how out of shape is the bottom?  i was picturing more of a bowl shape.

[metalspinner]

With a straight edge across the bottom, an 1/8" gap shows up on each edge.  Just enough to make it rock around.  I'm sure that it will not get heat efficiently this way on the stove.  Not to mention trying to stir a full pot.  It will probably start spinning around on me. :D

My first thought was to put it on a milling machine, but then the bottom will be irregular in thickness and will probably warp even worse.

[Bill]

FWIW - I'm thinking it might be easier to weld up a little stand to rest it on - maybe with a kinda press fit .

Good Luck . . .

[JimBuis]

Metalspinner,
Seeing the picture, the two handles on there each seem to have two square holes in them.  Almost certainly, it used to have a heavy wire bail type handle that looped through the square holes in each handle up and over the lid to the handle on the other side.  I have attempted a crude drawing to show how the bail would have attached.

I agree with others that if it is cast you'd find it almost impossible to reshape it predictably.  Brazing three or four small feet on the bottom to provide just enough stability to keep it steady on a gas burner might work.  I wouldn't attempt to use it on an electric burner since it would not make good thermal contact with the burner.

IMHO,
Jim

[customsawyer]

I was raised calling that a dutch oven and it was used mostly in the edge of a camp fire so if the bottom was rounded a little you never new it.

[submarinesailor]

I thought Dutch Ovens had a sort of flat top with a rim on it to hold the hot coals?

Bruce

[SwampDonkey]

It is cast iron.  My guess is that it was misshapen by heat.  It's kind of crazy to watch it - I can spin it around like a top. :D  It must weigh 15lbs.

Sounds like overheating has warped the pot. I've seen kitchen stove tops get warped too from too much heat. I don't think there is a remedy. Most them old pots ended up holding flowers in the front yard. Some really big iron pots where used by farmers to cook rutabegos and mangos and corn and such to feed hogs. We had one here and it ended up as a lawn ornament for years until mother got tired of if and I got tired of mowing around it.  Mom graduated to a concrete cast flower pot for outdoors, made locally. ;D

[SwampDonkey]

or is it a dutch oven, made to hang by it's handle?

Hmm,  There is no handle to hang it.  But that doesn't mean it shouldn't have a handle.  There are two handles on the sides to pick it up.  A lid did come with it.  Would that make it a Dutch Oven?

There used to be a handle on that, it's been broken off. I can see the loopholes on the two lips.

[SwampDonkey]

With a straight edge across the bottom, an 1/8" gap shows up on each edge.  Just enough to make it rock around.  I'm sure that it will not get heat efficiently this way on the stove.  Not to mention trying to stir a full pot.  It will probably start spinning around on me. :D

It will rock back and forth like a warped tea kettle.

[Mooseherder]

Instead of Hammerin'.  Make a Steel Carrier Handle and make a swingarm outta some pipe. ;D
This one has the Flat Top for hot coals, but I prefer to cook from down unda. ;D

[SwampDonkey]

was wonderin when you'd show up with your cook wares. ;D

[Engineer]

Looks like it must have been overheated.  You could have the bottom machined, but it will make the center thinner than the edges and I'm not sure that's a good idea.  Forget about using it on an electric stove, it's still usable on gas, but the ideal use for that is to make a new wire bail for it and set it over a cook fire.   If you don't want it, our Boy Scout troop could use it, that's fo' sure.   :D

[limbrat]

We use to use lime to soften the ends on flue tubes so we could seat them into the boiler plate on steam boilers. Ya heat the end of the tube and stand it in a bucket of lime to cool. I dont know if it would work on cast. Ya might heat it to red in the coals and set it in some lime and put some lime in it and let it cool. After it cools i wouldnt hammer on it but might try jacking or pressing it out. While its hot ya might try turning it over on a block of wood  another block of wood on the bottom and try pressing it out without the lime. If ya cant fix it i wouldnt use it inside sounds like a good way to get scalled.

[metalspinner]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.   I will try heating as limbrat suggested and see what happens.

[Slabs]

I'm wondering if that pot might have been one of those that was made to fit into the old cast iron stove eye-holes.  That is, you take out the eye on the old wood or coal burner and drop the pot in so that it comes into contact with the flames underneath.
Some of the hanging pots did that too.  Most Dutch Ovens had feet cast into the bottoms so that they could be set onto the hearth over live coals but may have been set into an eye hole also.  Some pots/ pans/ Dutch Ovens had a ring around the bottom that fit into the groove on the stove that seated the eye.

Machining or welding a piece of cookery like that should only be attempted if it is expendable.  Sucess would be marginal at best.  It may be worth more as a novelty.

Just a few clues on cast iron cookery.  Hope they may help

[Bibbyman]

I'm wondering if it's shaped that way to be used on a wood cook stove.  You'd take a lid off  the stove top and set it into a hole - thus getting the maximum heat.

[thecfarm]

I doubt it was used on a cook stove in place of one of the covers.I have a tea kettle that is made to go on a stove when you remove the cover.You need a good lip and it will sit down into the stove a good inch.That pot is flat on bottom.

[Bibbyman]

Yesterday I was using the Terex with the grapple to clean up some burned bulldozer piles around where my late Uncle Chick had an old log house (now push in an burned) when this Griswold frying pan came to the top. 

I got out and picked it out of the dirt and ash and thought I'd struck gold when I seen Griswold.  But I've looked on the internet and apparently the skillets are not that valuable.  It's not one of the old ones as it doesn't have the ring for a wood stove burner.

But still, who would throw out a perfectly good skillet? 

Guess I'll hang it on the wall in our sawshed along with all the other trophies.

[Mooseherder]

Bibby....Some lady used dat on er husband and got rid of da evidence. :D

[leweee]

 :D.... ....... :D :D :D :D

[Tom]

Those things are valuable too.  They make some of the best fried chicken, eggs, bacon and cornbread a fellow ever put in his mouth.  Don't hang it on the wall, put it to work!   

[sawguy21]

 :D I picked up a cast skillet somewhere for my camp gear and wont be without it.

[SwampDonkey]

Uncle has a pancake griddle in the celler, don't know the brand. But, he was up at 4 am one morning and down cellar fish'n around for the griddle. Was making his way up stairs to the kitchen from the cellar and it slipped out of his hands. I was upstairs half asleep and heard all the comotion and curse'n. He had thought it would bust when hitting the cement floor. Not a mark on it. He talked to himself for 20 minutes, scold'n for being so clumsy the drop his prized griddle. You'd almost think he had a full day's work ahead of himself starting 2 hours before daylight and in the end 3 or 4 hours of baby sitting and he's off playing or home sleep'n on the couch. Best part of his day is on the couch catching up on last night's missed sleep. Pretty nice life.  :D

[PineNut]

I have used cast iron skillets on camping trips for years. Every once in a while, I will have one that is real black with the cooked on grease. Find a kid and ask him to clean it for me. Get some real bad looks from that until they find out how to clean it. Just put it in the hottest part of the campfire and when it comes out (red hot) it will be nice and clean. Let it cool, season it and it will be as good as new.

[Engineer]

I have a generic cast iron pan that was used to melt candle wax or something nasty.  Tried cleaning it to no avail, finally I threw it in the outdoor wood boiler on a full burn, and fished it back out the next day.  Some rust and ash but it cleaned up nice.  Should have taken before-and-after pics but it ain't worth it.   :D  I got a whole collection that I can't use yet because we have an electric glass-top range at our current house, new house is gas and the cast iron will be put to good use again.

[Greg Cook]

Metalspinner, I'd almost bet that it's a pot from Lodge cast iron, just looking at the picture.  I'm thinking there's a Lodge outlet near you in Kodak, but their factory store, which is just beside the foundry, is in South Pittsburgh, TN.  Head out of Chattanooga on I-24, and it about half an hour till you get there.  You can get 1st quality stuff, or seconds, both at great prices.  Go in your truck, so you can haul it all back.  They have cast iron stuff I've never thought of.  I bet you can get a bail/handle for it there. If you decide to make one yourself, it's seem almost like 1/4" rod.  Bend the loops opposite directions at either end, and it will lay down flat out of the way, without going too far and dropping below the rim of the pot.

[Ernie_Edwards]

I have quite a collection of cast iron skillets and dutch ovens,up in trees in Arizona and New Mexico. Used to do a lot of packing into the back country on mules to hunt, fish or just camp. To make the next trip easier and make room for other stuff I would hang the cast stuff up in a tree and it would be there for the next trip. Haven't been riding in those mountains for over 7 years but I bet they are still there. Someday, in a hundred years, some sawyer will have unkind things to say about me when he mill those trees.

[metalspinner]

Thanks for the tip greg.  That sounds like a great place to stop and spend some time.

This pot doesn't have a rim around the bottom for stove attachment.  I think it's just been overheated and distorted.  I will try to overheat it again and put a littlwe pressure on it to push the bottom in.  If it cracks, I know where to get another one.