Newly acquired Krumkake iron

I found this old (circa 1910) Andresen Krumkake iron up in Wisconsin last weekend. Got it cleaned up, seasoned, and made my first krumkaker this morning. Mmmm....

 

Oh Ken,
You are just doin me wrong.

But yer havin fun though.

You keep makin those healthy pasties, yer gonna be in troooooouble!

 

These are darned good, Charlie! I did use electrolysis to clean it - something I just learned about a couple weeks ago. I'm in the process of cleaning & re-seasoning almost all of the cast iron I have, which is only 8 or 10 pieces. Have you used electrolysis for this before?

 

Who? Me? Doing you wrong?? Never, George! I had to be sure the iron worked, right?

 

I am curious as well Ken. How old is your charger? What amp?

 

There does seem to be plenty of variations out there Tina. Being half Italian, I've had Pizzelle's growing up, and they usually are flavored with anise, which I like. I've got about half the batter left over, so will probably make up the rest of them today. Which is good, because Peggy and I ate all 10 of them over the course of yesterday! But we won't be eating these - I'm giving them to friends...

 

Betsey, those are great memories. It's funny how particular foods let us keep cultural traditionals going, especially when we learn to prepare those recipes from someone who actually used them. I have my mom's mom to thank for that in our family, she and my grandfather had a small neighborhood restaurant from the time my mom was a teenager until shortly after I was born. That lady could cook...

 

Hi Charlie, I am doing it according to the people on the WAGS forum, they've been very helpful in getting things set up a bit different than the setups seen initially. The principle's the same, though. I looked around for a used charger but never found one, at least not close enough to make it worth paying for gas to go get it and drive home. So I bought a new charger at the local Sam's Club - it's a Schumacher with a variety of amps to choose from. I use the 20 amp setting, which is what the experts over on the WAGS forums seem to recommend. It works very well, usually getting pieces clean in a few hours. Some take an overnight 'cooking', but without it some of the baked in crud would never come off!

 

George, I just bought a Schumacher SE-4225 charger at Sam's Club for $89. That's my investment into the whole process, and can be used for all my other battery charging needs, too, Peg-er George. It's got a few amp settings - 20/40/65 & 225 for starting. I've only used the 20amp setting and it does a good job of removing the gunk. Most battery chargers I have seen will automatically adjust the amps, but this one has a 'hold' feature that keeps them at a constant rate, which we need. The rest of the set up is done with stuff found around the house, although I did have to buy some pure Washing Soda, which is not as easy to find as I thought it would be. Peggy's been calling me Dr.Frankenshtein, so I've taken to calling her EYE-gor.

 

Sure Charlie. It may not happen until early next week, but I'll get it here. I think you're right about the trickle charge taking too long - somewhere between 20 & 40 amps is what most of the people doing this suggest. You might try Craigslist, I found a couple, but they were just a bit too far to make it worth the trip, you might find one close by.

 

OK Charlie, here's my current setup (no pun intended):
I've got a plastic bin, filled with a (very dirty)washing soda solution mixed 1 Tablespoon wash. soda per gallon of water. Be sure to add the washing soda slowly and agitate the water while doing it to keep the soda suspended/dissolved.
In the picture, there's a rod clamped across the bin (I just used what I had around - a threaded rod, which I slipped into some plastic tubing I bought at the hardware store). I covered it in plastic to insulate it electrically, so I could use clamps, etc. to hold/suspend the piece being cleaned.
I clamped 2 metal sheets at either end of the bin, and connected them to each other with a piece of #10 stranded electrical wire. You don't need 2 plates, but the electrolysis is a 'line of site' process, so it's quicker to clean a piece if it's 'seen' from both sides. Those metal plates get attached to the positive terminal from the charger.
The negative terminal from the charger gets attached to the piece you are cleaning. In this case, I've done that using a clamp that I attached to a length of #10 wire by drilling a hole in the clamp handle, a ring type terminal connection on the #10 wire, and stainless steel machine screw and wing nut. The other end of the #10 wire got clamped by the chargers negative cable. The actual negative cable from the charger got clamped to the exposed end of the rod clamped across the bin.
Once connected, plug in the charger, turn it on the 20 amps (and on this particular charger, set the 'charging time/minutes' dial to 'Hold'), and watch your piece immediately begin to bubble away. The gas released is pure Hydrogen so be sure to keep the area ventilated.
Let me know if any of this is not clear, as I am a terrible instruction giver.



As you can see, the solution is really cruddy, and the metal plates are gunked up as well. They need to be wire brushed occasionally to keep the process more efficient. The solution actually never needs to be replaced - you can just add water as it evaporates. Supposedly the washing soda never gets used up.
Some pieces clean up quickly, and others require more time, but it works very well!

EDIT: Charlie, I would suggest getting a large enough bin to completely submerge the piece you are cleaning, as it will save tons of time. I have a larger bin that I will be moving to as soon as I decide to take the time to do it. And, the old solution can be dumped anywhere, as it is just washing soda, a bit of iron, and old food crud.

 

Charlie, I am curious, if your wife is using the skillet, and is getting good results from it, i.e. it hasn't any rust on the cooking surface, or it isn't rancid....... why would you reseason it? I can understand if it is a pan you don't know what has been cooked in or by whom. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.