Fry pan blanks

[fatboy]

Anyone know of a place that offers these looking to make some handles on the forge

 

[Blizzard of '93]

cast iron will be hard to find. formed steel (just as good IMO but harder to keep from rusting) you may find online.

 

[paulvallandigham]

I don't know of a source of cast iron frying pans that don't have the handle cast with the pan. What kind of pan are you trying to forge handles for????

How would such a forged handle be affixed to the frying pan???

There are steel frying pans, that are made from thin gauge metal, with tubes attached by rivets to the side of the pan, into which a stick can be placed on sight. The pan is much easier to pack on your back without that handle sticking out. The pans don't last long, are easily bent, or warped, in use, and burn food quickly in use. They resemble a pan used for finding gold by washing gravel from a mountain stream. I don't think you are describing this kind of frying pan, either. ??

 

[fatboy]

looking for 10 -12ga steel

 

[Birdman]

check yer yellow pages for a metal "fabrication" shop in yer area. If they don't have anything they might be able to point ya in a direction to obtain what yer looking for. Or if yer really ambitious get the hood or a door from a 50's or 60's era car n cut one out yerself n hammer it into shape from there. The metals plenty thick during that period I would think, just an idea

 

[pichou]

I'm working on the same project. :grin:

Most originals were beveled, but some are rounded, so...

I got a Gander Mt. 15" steel fry pan, and cut the folding handle off, and sanded off the black coating. Now I just have to fire up that forge... :redface:

 

[ameling]

There is a gentleman down in Bettendorf Iowa who offers heavy-duty fry pan blanks. He's a member of UMBA - the Upper Midwest Blacksmith Association. His ad is in the classifieds section on their web site, but make sure you go to the correct site -- www.umbaonline.org Just searching for UMBA can lead you to some ... questionable ... web sites.

As he describes them:
9" dia. 2" tapered sides, 12 gauge stock (2.5 lb.) with or without 3/16" holes for the handle (he will pre-drill two rivet holes for you)
$10 each 1 to 4
$9 each 5 to 9
$8 each 10 or more
Shipping $5 plus $.75 per skillet

Bob Tuftee
3855 Aspen Hills Drive
Bettendorf, IA 52722
[email protected]

Several years ago, he invested in the top/bottom dies to form these from circles of sheet iron. The diameter of the bottom is 7 inches. I picked up about a dozen a number of years ago at a blacksmith hammer-in. That thick 12 guage really works well as a fry pan. A lot like cast iron, but not as "fragile". And you can always heat it up and shape it some more. For a while he had been offering them in 14 guage - still pretty good and less overall weight.

The big problem with something like this is that somebody needs to initially invest the time/money in making up the proper forming dies, and then have access to the press to "stamp" them, and a cutter for the original sheet iron circles. It will quickly run a couple hundred bucks - and all on the "chance" you will recoup that investment somewhere down the line. As far as I have been able to find out, Bob is the only one doing this without going out of the country to look.

I've run into the same problem with the Tourtieres I want to make - getting those initial "pans" made. No small shop that I have talked with so far wants to get involved in the project unless we are talking about runs of 50 to 100 units. And I would have to pay to have the dies made, of course. And no, Bob's fry pan blanks will not work for my project.

So it goes. Hope this helps.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

 

[fatboy]

Thanks Mike I will contact him I would like something in the 6" size butt this will work for some other types

 

[Trkdriver99]

You could look around to factories who do metal stamping. There is a hot water heater factory near me and I have hauled the blanks and watched as they stamp out the bottom and top for hot water heaters. You could make a pan out of that and they are pretty heavy. There might be a stamping plant that makes a bottom or top for something else near you that would work. Get a second from someone who works there.
Ronnie