Frying pan

[EtownAndrew]

I forged a small frying pan this weekend. It was the first
thing like this I had ever done. So I went looking on the internet for
advice.  The only thing I found was a youtube video featuring Jymm Hoffman. I basically
followed his method. The only difference was that he pounded the sheet metal
into a dished form. I didn’t have one and so used a 4” O.D. dishing ring hardy
tool that I made. It seemed to work well but may have beat up the metal more
than using a form.

I started out with a 14 ga x 8” round blank. The finished
pan was 7” O.D, 5 ½” OD bottom, x 1 ¼” tall inside.

 

 

 

The first step is to create a bowl. This is shown in the
attached pictures. My bowl was 2” deep. The final step was to flatten the
bottom and create the pan shape. I made a 5 ½” round flat form to pound the pan
bottom down onto. Jymm Hoffman did not use one of these for the demo but
mentioned them. It was also usefull to hammer the pan againt the anvil as a
sandwitch to try and create an overall flat bottom.

[Frosty]

Looks like a perfectly workable frying pan to me but isn't the coal fire a little hot for cooking?

 

Frosty The lucky

[bosox]

Very creative.  Your work is wonderful. Cool project.

[eseemann]

What kind of steel is that? Just normal sheet steel?

[tjdaggett]

I am so glad someone has already done this! Cookware is one of the things I will be shooting for first once I get a forge-space. Truly well done.

[Nick]

That's a nice little pan.  What did you use for a final finish?

 

As an alternative to dishing the sides, you could try raising them over a T-stake or side stake.  Then you'd start with a more defined corner where bottom and sides meet, and the bottom would be kept mostly flat, then you can use the big bottoming tool to clean up the edges and the bottom.  I don't know if it would be easier or quicker, just a possibility.

[EtownAndrew]

I used 14 ga (1/16") sheet metal for this. It was a former lawn mower hood cover. I used a portion where it had originally been broke at 90 degrees. The crease still shows. Next time I need to start with a piece that was not previously bent.

 

Nick that sounds like a valid thing to try. Before I tried this I watched a very long series of youtube videos showing Jymm Hoffman forging a fry pan. He said that he had tried many times to just raise the sides and leave the bottom alone and it had not worked for him. His breakthrough method was to also dish the bottom and then go back to flatten it.

 

The pan does not really have an official finish on it other than cooking oil. The care of this pan is similar to a cast iron pan but I don't think that it needs an official seasoning other than giving it a light coat of cooking oil and starting to cook. Try to avoid washing it in soapy water as that does remove the surface oil that it needs. Most of the time the pan is pretty clean after I am done cooking and so I just wipe away the excess oil with a paper towel and put it away warm. If it does need water I take it hot over to the sink and rinse it off and then put it back on the warm burner to dry.

 

The 8" diameter blank that I started with produced a nice small fry pan that is really good for frying an egg or two. It is a tiny bit small for making a pancake but I have still made a lot of pancakes in it. Also I brought the sides up too much. They would be best left at a more shallow angle so they don't interfere with getting a spatula under the food. This pan was about at the limit of my normal blacksmithing hammer to reach into the dished pan. I am about half done with a longer "sheet metal" hammer that has about 3 1/2" of reach from the handle center line and a more radiused face. So some time in the next few months I will probably make a slightly larger pan and put a basket weave handle on it which should be cooler.

[Charles R. Stevens]

A couple of thoughts, from the cooking side of things. The thicker (with in reason) the bottom the better, rinsed or wiped clean is good enough (the pan will be heated to 250+, with practice less steep sides will alow you to flip eggs and pancakes with out a spatula. You will drop a few before you get the hang of it. Make sure to give the dog pepto and clean up the kitchen before the wife finds out...

[HIGHSIDER]

Very nice work,

 

Oh that has me thinking... A good fry up for tea!.. :ph34r:

[Charles R. Stevens]

Got to love y'all from the other side of the pond.
I miss tea in a British mess. Had a survival instructor that said if you could stop and make a cup'a you had everything you needed.
Fond memories.

[beth]

charles - absolutely right :) tea, aparts from love, is all you need :)

 

andrew thats a nice little pan - i could cook with that :) and i reckon i could flip a pancake in it.. 

[Charles R. Stevens]

Developed a taste for cream and sugar in it.
I tried real hard to keep track of British units in the field. If you walked in at tea, they always gave you 10 min. Head start before resuming their exercise.

[DSW]

Nice job. One thing you may already know is those ceramic range tops don't heat pans well that are not fairly flat and make contact with the surface. Thus the flatter you get the bottom for more contact, the better.

 

I wonder if going at the bottom with a flatter wouldn't help take out some more of the hammer marks. Usually with food service items, the smoother the better so they don't have nooks and crannies to collect crud and bacteria. Probably not a huge issue with a fry pan though at the heat it usually gets used at. I might be tempted to make a round faced flatter if I was doing a bunch of these. That or just weld a 1/2" thick 3-4" dia slug to an old "hammer" and radius the edges a bit. The smaller size would transfer more power to the bottom to help clean up the marks better than that big one you used.

 

 

The only other side note is that 1/16" is typically closer to 16 ga than 14 ga. That makes it easy to remember.  14 ga would come out closer to 3/32" on most of my gauge charts. Gauge thicknesses do change with material, so 14 ga alum isn't the same thickness as 14 ga steel or brass.

[EtownAndrew]

Cleaning up the marks is certainly something to work on. I don't have an official flatner but one would not be too hard to make.

[windancer]

You did good. Easily serviceable fry pan. I like it!

Dave

[David Gaddis]

I make these quite often and quite differently. A skillet must have a completely clean flat bottom, but I like the look yours has a for a rustic view.

If you check back there are a bunch of pics that I posted in April this year.

Good luck with your project

Carry on

[Davor]

Great idea and a great work. Love it.

[Bob S]

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[ThomasPowers]

how about a jig for your large post vise---a couple of thick arc'd pieces that you could trap the pan bottom between and then work the edge over on?  (Me I'd probably use my large H frame screwpress to convince the bottom to stay flat...)

 

I bought a couple of large thick sheetmetal disks at the fleamarket but plan to use them for medieval round bottom pots---made a long reach dishing hammer out of a RRbolt (not spike, bolt---nice domed head for dishing)  Pots are a lot of work! 

[David Gaddis]

Thomas...do you form your pots hot or cold? How about annealing or stress relieving?
We could enjoy some pics of the operation please.


Carry on

[ThomasPowers]

I'm a blacksmith and tend to use thick material for my pots and work them hot!

 

Generally dishing over raising.  I have found that if you leave the last little bit of the outer rim untouched it makes for a nice turn in

[Bob S]

I'm a blacksmith and tend to use thick material for my pots and work them hot!

 

Generally dishing over raising.  I have found that if you leave the last little bit of the outer rim untouched it makes for a nice turn in

 

 would like to see some pictures.

[David Gaddis]

from the skillets that I have made I have determined that it is imperitive to keep the steel blank very secured to the anvil form by some technique.  Recently an extra thick spacer is clamped onto the piece while allowing enough area along the edge to apply heat, working the metal.

 

I have heard that some skillet smiths are making some 3 and 4 inches deep. Now that would be a very intersting project for me to witness. When all that metal is raised from flat to vertical(ish) one finds a whole lot of extra metal to deal with. With the raising process it is easy to start a cold shut and the taller the skillet wall difficulty increases rapidly.

 

A true celebration should be in place for the smith to free form a skillet and keep the bottom as flat as my anvils and frame allow. Not saying that it cannot be done by any means, but I honestly feel it to be extremely difficult.

 

As far as a flat bottom goes, there should be little if any wrinkles. The wrinkle may look "old timey" but a magician could not cook a decent plate of cornbread in one...I think.

 

If anyone feels there is a need for more private views of my project please PM me.

 

For the originator of this thread I appoligize for hijacking this item. Maybe someday I may do you a favor as a small repayment.

 

Carry on

[EtownAndrew]

I have a theory that the oriental Wok had a round bottom because the smiths couldn't figure out how to keep it flat. Then from there they just adapted their cooking process to accommodate the round bottom.