- Every piece starts with Tony’s simple artwork
- Actual artists and CAD engineers somehow magically figure out what I meant to draw and transform my ideas into actual, usable 2D and 3D artwork.
- Each piece is tested via extensive computer modeling for appropriate draft and to insure that tooling is accurate in the pattern shop.
- All of our pieces are cast in the US with a combination of iron ore and recycled iron and steel. Every single batch is tested for harmful and heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, mercury, etc. Interestingly, these substances aren't just bad for you, some of them also produce a very flawed piece with visisble defects.
- Every batch of iron is tested with a spectral analyzer to insure proper and safe metallurgy and contents.
- Basic cleanup is performed at the foundry
- Final clean up, polishing, and seasoning appropriate products is performed at our facility in Tennessee. We use grapeseed oil exclusively for seasoning.
- Our springs are sourced and produced in North Carolina. They take some effort to attach and are designed to prevent casual removal. Use a jar lid gripper mat to assist attachment.
What is milling and why we do not mill our cook ware.
Milling is the process of using a rotary machine cutting head to actually cut and remove metal shavings from a metal part. Milling is analogous to a lathe or planer in woodworking. This is a far more aggressive process than polishing, which can be done with hand held tools. Much like sanding wood. Cast ware that is milled, typically is cast 50-70% heavier than the final piece. This utilizes 50 -70% more energy as well as iron ore. I have visited with one foundry that casts a 7.5 pound raw casting which the manufacturing customer then mills down to 4 lbs. He must cast this heavy, because an initial lighter casting would not provide enough “bite” for the cutting head and the tool would chatter, leaving unacceptable chatter marks on the milled surface. This manufacture accepts 3.5 lbs. of waste as part of manufacturing every skillet. For a 1,350 skillet manufacturing run, that is over 4700 pounds of wasted metal. ….. and the energy required to heat it to a pourable state…..and energy (and time) to cut it down on the milling machine. The waste shavings only have marginal recycling value due to their size. Much is cooked off, via oxidation. (Large pieces of scrap are much better candidates for recycling.) The waste from that machining run, all 4,700 lbs. would have a market value of less than $100. Does a 1,350 piece run of skillets seem like an odd number to order? After scrapping 35% of the pieces that didn’t survive the milling process or otherwise make the cut, they are left with 1000 sellable units. The milling rate and scrap rate can account for over half of the iron and energy used in production.
We have sought out a US jobber foundry that uses casting materials and methods that meet our specification for smoothness and initial dimensional accuracy. Smoothness is part of the initial process, not a second step. Typical scrap rates of raw castings is around 5%. With a simple, well thought out pattern, that rate is often 3%. It has been very important for us to choose both the right casting process and the right foundry. This results in a Premium product, requiring half the energy input, and at significant savings to other premium products. It is a great example of using appropriate technology for the task.
Life, Liberty and
Cast Iron Cooking...
