Three Square Skillets Walk Into My Workshop

An inventory session with opinions

I started cataloging the square skillets with a perfectly reasonable plan: identify them, tag them, take the pictures, keep moving.

Then I immediately decided to keep one. So the system is working beautifully, provided the system allows for me developing attachments to cookware.

There are three in this little group. They share a general shape, but side by side they give me three quite different reasons to pay attention.

The keeper: SK-012

The first is the older Lodge-style square skillet with no Lodge logo visible. Its underside reads 8 SQ SK. I'm recording it as Lodge based on the identification so far, with the exact age still unverified.

It sat flat on my workbench, and I didn't see cracks during my initial inspection. It has a flat cooking surface rather than grill ridges, and I like it enough that it is staying with me for now.

For now is doing a little work in that sentence. If another square skillet comes along that I like better, I may reconsider. The permanent inventory number stays the same regardless of my ability to make a lasting decision.

The mystery: SK-013

The second has softer, more rounded corners and a handle that made me stop and look. It is a different form from the first pan. There's enough carbon buildup on the back that I couldn't read a maker's name.

I do know one very satisfying fact: I paid ten dollars for it. The sticker was still there. In a collection full of acquisition details I am trying to reconstruct, that sticker deserves an administrative award.

This one also sat flat during the workbench check, and I didn't see cracks at intake. I want to see what cleaning reveals before assigning it a maker or a birthday. For now, unknown is a perfectly good answer.

The back is the part I'm particularly looking forward to seeing again. We have its before photographs, so whatever becomes readable later can be compared with what is actually visible now.

The one that brought its own name tag: SK-014

The third is a modern Lodge square grill skillet. It has the Lodge logo on the back, a helper handle, and raised ridges across the cooking surface.

After peering at the mystery pan, a readable logo feels almost suspiciously cooperative. This one can tell us what it is without a full detective series.

It is marked as a sale candidate after restoration and assessment. That is an inventory intention, not a claim that it is finished or available today. Its condition still needs the same individual attention as the others.

The useful part of giving them names

The biggest improvement isn't that I suddenly know everything about these pans. It's that I can now say which pan I mean.

The keeper is SK-012. The mystery is SK-013. The grill skillet is SK-014. When I pull one for cleaning or photograph a newly visible mark, we can connect it to its own earlier record instead of playing another round of Which Rusty Pan Was That?

That makes the next chapter easier. We can let each piece reveal what it has to reveal, and keep the before pictures attached to the right story.