Cast Iron Pot

[sbhg]

Does that stuff have an ingredient list on it?
I'm just wondering/hoping it doesn't have any lead in it. But it sounds like it might be a tin alloy. I have never heard of the stuff so i'm just thinking btw.

 

[crockett]

Personally, I would hold off on any repairs until I figured out what I had. It might be very valuable, "as is". Try Valley Forge, Ft. Ticonderoga, etc. for leads on what you found.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Yeah that's very sage advice... you might find a buyer if it's really rare, and could possible then afford a complete kitchen...

:idunno:

LD

 

[Woodyrock]

A Tinkers dam would be the traditional method of fixing the wee hole. The tinkers dam is a soft iron rivet made to patch hole in pots, and yes, they are still available, but hard to find. Being a pin hole you could make your own rivet from a piece of soft iron wire. Head it in a pair of pliers, insert in hole, cut to length (1 1/2 diameter long) and head it over. This would give you the same metal, and not devalue an antique.
Woody

 

[satx78247]

WOW! Thanks. -I've always wondered where that term came from.

yours, satx

 

[Rifleman1776]

A Tinkers dam would be the traditional method of fixing the wee hole. The tinkers dam is a soft iron rivet made to patch hole in pots, and yes, they are still available, but hard to find. Being a pin hole you could make your own rivet from a piece of soft iron wire. Head it in a pair of pliers, insert in hole, cut to length (1 1/2 diameter long) and head it over. This would give you the same metal, and not devalue an antique.
Woody

Never heerd that version. :hmm:
A tinkers dam as I have long understood it to be was from the repairman (tinker) building a small 'dam' around the hole in a sheet steel pan then using lead :shocked2: solder he filled the hole. The dam was to keep the melted solder from running loose in the pan.

 

[gearheart]

I remember the soft iron rivets. Back when I was a kid they had them in the local hardware store. Fixed the neighbor's roasting pan with one. The store had a wall of little drawers from floor to ceiling and a ladder on rollers that went back and forth on the wall. The owner knew where everything was and you could buy only one if that was all you needed. Now you must know what you want and find it yourself. Then you must buy a blister pack of 5. 1 to use and 4 to lose before you ever need another one. :surrender:

 

[satx78247]

TRUE. And more to the point, the "associates" at "the big box stores" generally know LESS than I do about actually accomplishing DIY projects.
(It takes LITTLE subject matter knowledge to know more than I do about "home improvement".)

I miss being about to ask "Mr. Thomas" in my hometown hardware store how to do things on "the honey do list".
(Reading "home improvement books" at the SAPL or learning from "the worldwidewierd" is NOT a good substitute for his decades of knowledge/good advice. - For example, no telling how long it would have taken me to learn to lay ceramic tile, absent his help.)

yours, satx

 

[Canute Rex]

With all due respect, the expression "Not worth a tinker's damn" comes from a different set of meanings.

"Tinker" in old England didn't just refer to the profession of repairing pots and pans. It also referred to a gypsy-like culture/ethnicity of itinerants. "Tink" is an insult in Scotland, related to coarseness, ignorance, dirt, and brutality. Years ago I was lucky enough to spend some time in rural Scotland and once the "tinkers" came by with a trailer full of scrap, looking for copper and iron. They looked kind of Black-Irish-y.

The tinker's reputation for the free use of profanity made a "tinker's damn" a common commodity and therefore not worth much.

Even so, the rivet idea is great. Brazing or tinning is the other method, but with a pot like that a wide heat source like a forge would be best.

 

[jferguson]

The product "JB Weld" is said to be perfect for sealing moderate holes in cast iron. Get it at auto parts stores.

 

[Preacher Jeremy]

Is JB Weld food safe?

 

[Claude Mathis]

Is JB Weld food safe?

http://www.jbweld.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/J-B-Weld-MSDS.pdf