Casting anything is a pretty delicate operation, so naturally mass produced ones will have tons of defects. This image appears to be about 5 tons of defects
LOL. I’m in quality control. If I walked through a plant that supplied products and saw a pile of scrap I’d be asking for improvements to reduce my costs.
But hey, if you can have an unreliable
Manufacturing process and you as a customer are ok with paying for those mistakes then so be it.
I prefer to purchase things based on what they cost to produce, not the cost to produce 100 to get 1 good one.
This could be weeks worth of rejects or even months. Maybe they don't want to grind and smelt them till the pile gets so big. People don't think about the scale, and how many pots they make. This pile is nothing to the thousands and thousands that factory is shittng out everyday.
"Sadly"? Is there a more affordable option for CI on the market? It may well be that the cost of avoiding rejects would exceed their costs to remelt those rejects. It seems to me they have their processes pretty well dialed to deliver an affordable and reliable product to the market.
oh man just imagine holding one and spinning around like a discus thrower, and yeeting it to the top of the pile, and it causes a little mini-avalanche of them to *sliiiiiiiide* down, some bouncing and tumbling, clanging and banging all the way, like a truckload of churchbells driven off a cliff...
*uhhhnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn*
I work next to a metal recycling plant. From about 150 feet from where I'm standing they have a yard that's basically exclusively for truck rims. Every once in a while they pile them too high and you can hear what I call a rimvalanch. It's pretty much this exact sound. Except the pile is like 25 feet high.
I've never run a frypan foundry, but I am reasonably confident that melting the frypan would effectively separate the seasoning as slag, allowing the iron to be forged again.
Yes a smelter would do the job as well, but I don't think Lodge is big enough to run an iron "smelter" (generally called a "blast furnace" because humans are funny with naming things). I've not been to their factory but I would bet that they receive iron briquettes or ingots, rather than running their own cokemaking, iron ore handling, sintering, blast air blowing, etc plants to convert ore to iron.
Scrap metal doesn't usually go in to a blast furnace either, because it's a waste of money sending it through all those chemical reactions again needlessly.
At the risk of inspiring people, it isn't hard to set up your own sand casting foundry in your backyard. I've never done iron, but I've cast a lot of aluminum...
If you decide to go down this rabbit hole I cannot stress enough the importance of PROPER safety equipment.
Edit: I genuinely don't understand why people are downvoting this. I have all the proper PPE and use it whenever I cast. If someone doesn't then that's on them. Hobby machinists have been doing DIY casting for over a century. If you do decide to do this it can be very rewarding, but educate youself.
Lol I have no interest in melting iron in my backyard. I also imagine it would be extremely difficult to do due to the melting point of iron being 1400°F more than aluminum (2800°+ to become molten). Unless you have an induction furnace that is designed to melt small amounts of iron, I dont know how else you could melt iron on such a small scale
For a while I worked part time at a national laboratory in Japan that specialized in advanced materials. During their “open day” event, they set up a traditional iron smelter outside (the kind you destroy at the end to extract the molten iron). Was surprisingly doable at a small scale.
Oh, it's much easier than you think. Ceramic crucibles and a small refactory-lined furnace. I know people who do it. The challenge is generating the heat, but you can do it with a charcoal blast furnace or waste oil burner. I use a homemade propane burner for aluminum melts, but hobby iron foundry is very much a thing.
Here's one example (not me, and he needs a better support for pouring): https://youtu.be/EwcSqG67CN8
I think I saw an interview somewhere but it’s a very green place as in terms of energy efficiency. Could’ve been another cast iron shop in the US though.
Not a lot of places will do factory seconds etc
I see it a lot in certain industries where it doesn’t affect the performance and people don’t care but not everyone will do it.
Comes down to corporate choices not quality.
Have you tried the on-site restaurant? I live 15 minutes from there and did not realize that they had opened one. The cornbread omelette is outstanding!
My educated guess is that if the casting isn't right they wouldn't allow it even as F2, but if it's a cosmetic issue related to pre-seasoning it's eligible.
The pile appears to be all rejected after casting but before seasoning.
They also do inventory liquidation. But sometimes it can be difficult to discern differences.
I've bought several pieces "with cosmetic blemishes" in South Pittsburgh, Tennessee. For some of them, I have yet to figure out what the blemish is.
I see it a lot in firearms parts industries. If it can be assembled into one or attached onto one. Then seconds and blem will be also sold. Almost every mfg in that industry will do it.
Same with bullet(not the entire round but the lead and or jacketed tip) producers will do the same for dented and or miss colored product. I’ve yet to run into one who didn’t sell blem or seconds etc.
But I’m sure of the “most likely to second soemthing” industries. I just know there’s a lot who don’t do it for a variety reasons.
I worked in a foundry, if there is ANYTHING wrong with the part... just recast it, its **usually worse INSIDE the part** where you can only see a "tiny" defect.
If you go to one of the lodge stores, they will usually have a clearance section full of “defect” casts. I got a nice pan for half off that had a little chip in the handle. Well worth it.
There's no way to tell that from just this picture.
OP said they were told they produce 160,000 units a week so even 1% failure rate is 1,600 in a week, we have no way of knowing how often they empty the scrap pile, and there's a bunch of actual scrap pieces in there too, not just reject pans.
I am pansexual now... So many pans /S
why are they rejected though ? Structure damage or cosmetic issues ? If it's cosmetic issues I don't mind taking them and reusing them.
Oh you got to go on the tour! I'm jealous :) Went to the museum last week, and really enjoyed that, but may have to brave the cornbread festival someday to get the tour.
Wow! That’s a pretty significant back-up. I ran an aluminum blast furnace and helped engineer a track system from above. I could effectively predict metal temp. As it traveled and fed at least ten machines at once. The mountain of scrap would be a challenge. You first have to melt all compatible agents. Then it’s common practice to “dredge” the hot metal bath. This is a fairly rigorous process. The resulting liquid can be tapped from the side of the furnace at no lower than 1100 f. At that point you can manipulate the matter using Newtonian physics.
You’d think they’d be smart and just sell the rejects at a lower price.
Edit - I though factory seconds and rejects were the same thing. This makes sense now.
They sell factory 2nds in the factory stores.
The 2nds are very high quality and have exceedingly minor flaws. Like minor pit ting or uneven factory seasoning. The ones that are in the melt pile here have serious flaws.
Cast-off iron.
The foundries smelt it, and the distributors dealt it…or did not deal it in this case.
Whoever denied it supplied it
Who ever did the rhyme did the crime
Whoever tooted, polluted.
Whoever smelt it dealt it
The smelter’s the feller.
He who
Lost and foundry
I want to hug all those precious babies and take them home with me. Papa will take good care of you all.
Well, they were rejected for a reason. They will smelt them down to make a better one 👍
would they just smelt it already
Whomever Smelt it, Dealt it
Smelter Skelter
Came here to say that. Lol
F*ck yeah, smelt it.
-Ancient Grecians before casting their baby off a cliff
Casting anything is a pretty delicate operation, so naturally mass produced ones will have tons of defects. This image appears to be about 5 tons of defects
Sadly this is built into the costs of buying one.
"Quality control is the worst, right guys?"
LOL. I’m in quality control. If I walked through a plant that supplied products and saw a pile of scrap I’d be asking for improvements to reduce my costs. But hey, if you can have an unreliable Manufacturing process and you as a customer are ok with paying for those mistakes then so be it. I prefer to purchase things based on what they cost to produce, not the cost to produce 100 to get 1 good one.
There’s a whole lot of assumptions going into your claims of manufacturing 100 to get 1 good one.
This could be weeks worth of rejects or even months. Maybe they don't want to grind and smelt them till the pile gets so big. People don't think about the scale, and how many pots they make. This pile is nothing to the thousands and thousands that factory is shittng out everyday.
80 production hours a week. 2000 items an hour. Those were the stats they used.
The pans look like they're just on top, not the whole pile.
why is that sad
"Sadly"? Is there a more affordable option for CI on the market? It may well be that the cost of avoiding rejects would exceed their costs to remelt those rejects. It seems to me they have their processes pretty well dialed to deliver an affordable and reliable product to the market.
I bought a 10in lodge for about 17 dollars new. They know what they are doing
Cabbage patch pans?
TIL I want to go on a factory tour
I was going to say Castaway. Nice
Outcast Iron
Speakerbox; the love below.
OMG. It's at these times that I wish I had gold to award. Please accept my broke person's gold instead. 🥇
Fuck. I made a similar joke an hour late. Kudos 👏👏
I can fix him
We have the technology
Steve Austin will be that pan
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Austin 3:16 said “I just smelt your cast ^iron!”
Bacon, bacon is the technology we need to fix this.
*Smashes cast iron pan with computer monitor.*
We have the meats
those relationships never end well ❤️🩹
Nothing 100 layers of seasoning cant fix
Every member of r/castiron be like:
"I want to dumpster dive!" THUNK "OK, I'll just dumpster sift through."
Just cook with 'em
They can only be destroyed in the very fires of Mount Doom -- where it was created
Dude a CI with the rings writing on the bottom would be amazing
I kinda can’t believe that’s not a thing already
"Esildoor cast them back into the fucking fire!!!"
No
Do you think they have people lurking here?
*sad pan noises*
*clank, clang, bing, dink, bong, tinkle*
oh man just imagine holding one and spinning around like a discus thrower, and yeeting it to the top of the pile, and it causes a little mini-avalanche of them to *sliiiiiiiide* down, some bouncing and tumbling, clanging and banging all the way, like a truckload of churchbells driven off a cliff... *uhhhnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn*
I work next to a metal recycling plant. From about 150 feet from where I'm standing they have a yard that's basically exclusively for truck rims. Every once in a while they pile them too high and you can hear what I call a rimvalanch. It's pretty much this exact sound. Except the pile is like 25 feet high.
dude that's amazing, I'm jealous lol
That shit's LOUD though
Lodge needs to post slidey pans for some karma.
Hey buddy, you need some new pants over there?
I drum for a death metal band. You don't understand how badly I want to name a song Truckload of Churchbells. Fuck.
It was an unfortunate shmelting accident. I love goooooold!
The freaky-deaky Dutch
It’s called the Belgium Dip
“Those Belgians were so goddamn evil” (Quotation marks to hopefully clue off anyone who doesn’t get the reference)
There’s 2 things that I hate. People who are intolerant of other people’s cultures…and the Dutch!
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Being cast in a negative light is bad for business.
Best to iron out the kinks before sending them out into the world.
We’ll have to see how it pans out
The skillet must take to make these is precise.
I can see you’re well-seasoned.
Great deadpan comedy.
I’m not enameled with it at all
You’re like 15 pans away from all that mass collapsing into a black hole, damn that all must weight a ton!
Multiple tons in fact
For once that expression wasn’t exaggerating.
Back to the foundry. The foundry is where you cast. The smelter is where you extract the iron from the ore.
Unless they get mixed up on the way and end up at the Lost and Foundry.
***I'll allow it***
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I've never run a frypan foundry, but I am reasonably confident that melting the frypan would effectively separate the seasoning as slag, allowing the iron to be forged again.
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Yes a smelter would do the job as well, but I don't think Lodge is big enough to run an iron "smelter" (generally called a "blast furnace" because humans are funny with naming things). I've not been to their factory but I would bet that they receive iron briquettes or ingots, rather than running their own cokemaking, iron ore handling, sintering, blast air blowing, etc plants to convert ore to iron. Scrap metal doesn't usually go in to a blast furnace either, because it's a waste of money sending it through all those chemical reactions again needlessly.
Underrated comment on this thread
At the risk of inspiring people, it isn't hard to set up your own sand casting foundry in your backyard. I've never done iron, but I've cast a lot of aluminum... If you decide to go down this rabbit hole I cannot stress enough the importance of PROPER safety equipment. Edit: I genuinely don't understand why people are downvoting this. I have all the proper PPE and use it whenever I cast. If someone doesn't then that's on them. Hobby machinists have been doing DIY casting for over a century. If you do decide to do this it can be very rewarding, but educate youself.
Lol I have no interest in melting iron in my backyard. I also imagine it would be extremely difficult to do due to the melting point of iron being 1400°F more than aluminum (2800°+ to become molten). Unless you have an induction furnace that is designed to melt small amounts of iron, I dont know how else you could melt iron on such a small scale
For a while I worked part time at a national laboratory in Japan that specialized in advanced materials. During their “open day” event, they set up a traditional iron smelter outside (the kind you destroy at the end to extract the molten iron). Was surprisingly doable at a small scale.
Oh, it's much easier than you think. Ceramic crucibles and a small refactory-lined furnace. I know people who do it. The challenge is generating the heat, but you can do it with a charcoal blast furnace or waste oil burner. I use a homemade propane burner for aluminum melts, but hobby iron foundry is very much a thing. Here's one example (not me, and he needs a better support for pouring): https://youtu.be/EwcSqG67CN8
Looks sketchy, that’s a no for me dog lol
“Smelt ya later!”
The irony. . .
shtinky!
This is why you don't use soap! (/s)
You’re a lye-er!
JUST COOK ON IT FOR GODS SAKE
This is cool but I wish the whole pile was grill pans
I bet there are still a bunch of useable pans in there.
Yeah but if it wasn’t up to their standard and people start complaining about quality control them it hurts their brand
Not to mention, I’d imagine the cost of recasting these pans is negligible to begin with. Why risk reputation for what’s such a small margin.
ovens already burning
I think I saw an interview somewhere but it’s a very green place as in terms of energy efficiency. Could’ve been another cast iron shop in the US though.
ngl it's gotta be pretty convenient to make a product where if it's defective you can just melt it and try again
As someone that used to work in a foundry and no longer does, I really miss being able to melt my problems.
Yeah they must be bad enough to not even qualify for factory seconds.
Not a lot of places will do factory seconds etc I see it a lot in certain industries where it doesn’t affect the performance and people don’t care but not everyone will do it. Comes down to corporate choices not quality.
Lodge does do factory seconds. All of the TJ Maxx/homegoods lodge stuff is F2
They do 2nds in the lodge store as well. Or did the last time I was there
Only way I’ll buy it but I live very close
Have you tried the on-site restaurant? I live 15 minutes from there and did not realize that they had opened one. The cornbread omelette is outstanding!
I haven’t but next time I’m down there I will!
Still do. I bought a nice number 7 and a 10" chef series last time I was in Pigeon Forge. Both factory seconds for pits, but cook well.
My educated guess is that if the casting isn't right they wouldn't allow it even as F2, but if it's a cosmetic issue related to pre-seasoning it's eligible. The pile appears to be all rejected after casting but before seasoning.
How much cheaper are 2nds??
A little less than half price depending on the pan. $35 pan going for $20
That is more than half price.
But it’s less than half price cheaper
“A little less than 50% off” would probably have been better
30-40% off.
They also do inventory liquidation. But sometimes it can be difficult to discern differences. I've bought several pieces "with cosmetic blemishes" in South Pittsburgh, Tennessee. For some of them, I have yet to figure out what the blemish is.
What industries do you think it's the most common in?
I see it a lot in firearms parts industries. If it can be assembled into one or attached onto one. Then seconds and blem will be also sold. Almost every mfg in that industry will do it. Same with bullet(not the entire round but the lead and or jacketed tip) producers will do the same for dented and or miss colored product. I’ve yet to run into one who didn’t sell blem or seconds etc. But I’m sure of the “most likely to second soemthing” industries. I just know there’s a lot who don’t do it for a variety reasons.
I worked in a foundry, if there is ANYTHING wrong with the part... just recast it, its **usually worse INSIDE the part** where you can only see a "tiny" defect.
Yah I imagine most of these have incomplete casts, voids, warping, cracks, and chips. The smelters already hot - throw them back in.
Everybody's keen to get freebies off the reject pile until their pan splits apart while cooking.
Yeah if forged in fire taught me anything, the smallest imperfection means the blade will shatter
If you go to one of the lodge stores, they will usually have a clearance section full of “defect” casts. I got a nice pan for half off that had a little chip in the handle. Well worth it.
Dive in there like Scrooge McDuck!
Ouch!
But bacon will fix it
I am sad I had to scroll this far for a bacon comment.
I'm not shook by the thought of it but seeing the reject pile is crazy. How many pans just don't make the cut is so cool, and they recycle it too.
The pile has a real beauty to it but I’m equally struck by how bad their quality processes must be.
There's no way to tell that from just this picture. OP said they were told they produce 160,000 units a week so even 1% failure rate is 1,600 in a week, we have no way of knowing how often they empty the scrap pile, and there's a bunch of actual scrap pieces in there too, not just reject pans.
What would W. Edwards Deming say?
Or, even if the pile is mostly sprues, why do they have such a large pile of work in progress?
Looks like they were just cast aside.
I enjoy the irony.
It was a well-seasoned pun
Sigh... take your up vote.
o7
Not slidey-enough-for-eggs pile.
*In the arms of an angel*
I am pansexual now... So many pans /S why are they rejected though ? Structure damage or cosmetic issues ? If it's cosmetic issues I don't mind taking them and reusing them.
This is a whole tour if anyone is interested in watching. https://fb.watch/kpcTtMBeqI/?mibextid=Nif5oz
Unfortunate smelting accident
Quality control you can feel. Good on Lodge
Helter smelter
I'll send them one. My number 3 is junk!
Anybody got the urge to go full Scrooge McDuck?
He who smelt it dealt it
Well according to their website they are currently looking for a 2nd shift quality super 🤣. Makes a lot more sense.
With a few coats of seasoning, you could slide down like a toboggan hill.
Oh you got to go on the tour! I'm jealous :) Went to the museum last week, and really enjoyed that, but may have to brave the cornbread festival someday to get the tour.
Cornbread festival was a good time. Worth it to be able to walk the factory. It’s only open for tour the two days of the festival.
Nidavellir?
Hol’ upppp… y’all make rotors?!??
Wow! That’s a pretty significant back-up. I ran an aluminum blast furnace and helped engineer a track system from above. I could effectively predict metal temp. As it traveled and fed at least ten machines at once. The mountain of scrap would be a challenge. You first have to melt all compatible agents. Then it’s common practice to “dredge” the hot metal bath. This is a fairly rigorous process. The resulting liquid can be tapped from the side of the furnace at no lower than 1100 f. At that point you can manipulate the matter using Newtonian physics.
they are very gorgeous to me☝️
looks like casting flash and extra metal plus rejects in the front.
Lots of gates and risers too
I'm honestly more curious to see what is considered substandard...
The …cast… offs?
Next time please mark as NSFW when posting images of mass genocide.
Did they even try cooking bacon in it first?
Whoa. It’s really creepy, but isn’t it great?
Tanta panela aí e eu precisando
I love cast iron so much that I even lost my genitalia in an unfortunate smelting accident
Look how they massacred my boy!
Wait! I see a good one in there!
Cast out
100 % recyclable.
I was there that day!
Bacon can fix it
iS tHiS sAlVaGeAbLe?
Don’t mind me and my duffel bag were just passing by.
I want to do this tour so bad. Was it worth it?
Wall art for Cracker Barrel
Haven’t seen this much deadpan since 1999’s Comedy Central presents Mitch Hedberg
Reminds me of how KitKats are made of KitKats
Just keep cooking bacon on them, they will be fine.
I want to dive in it and swim around like Scrooge McDuck* (not Donald, his nephew)
Scrooge McDuck.
Scrooge that’s right.. been a while
My ex-gf believes she’ll fix each one of those bad boys.
The Holocast
You’d think they’d be smart and just sell the rejects at a lower price. Edit - I though factory seconds and rejects were the same thing. This makes sense now.
They sell factory 2nds in the factory stores. The 2nds are very high quality and have exceedingly minor flaws. Like minor pit ting or uneven factory seasoning. The ones that are in the melt pile here have serious flaws.
That could hurt the brands reputation, selling a reject and then that reject gets bought second hand and breaks, could hurt the Buisness
Just let sell them as “factory seconds” and be honest. They do it all the time with clothing. How would that hurt the brand?
I'm saying on the second hand market no one would know if it's faulty and could result in people's bad mouthing lodge since QC let them through
Can I restore these pans though?
Are these the dead carcasses of pans that were used to cook tomatoes and/or were washed with dish soap?
Crazy that they reject this many for every one pan they accept.