Old cast iron Sears top loader tips and tricks

[jatoxico]

Yeah, the first washing machines ran on the two cycle engine with the foot pedal starter, but you still had to heat the water on the stove.

You also had to do your laundry only on Mondays. Can you guess why?

Nope, do tell.

 

[coaly]

To prevent everyones laundry from getting black from cinders and soot, the railroads had to run what they called "clean stacks" on Mondays. That way everyone could hang their laundry out to dry that day. That led to townships and local governments to pass ordinances to prevent open burning in many locations on Mondays as well.

 

[Connecticut Yankee]

It isn't a built in boiler is is just a cooktop with removable plates.

A regular kitchen stove would have had at least two more cook-plates, a warming shelf, an oven, and a built-in reservoir for hot water. You could remove the cooking plates and let the fire touch the pans directly, but that was not what my father's aunt or my mother's mother did. Usually the cookware sat on the plate, and the plate was only removed to build up the fire under that particular location, for a higher cooking temperature.

My great aunt cooked on her wood stove all her life (until she modernized to coal), and she kept a box of scrap dowels near the stove for this purpose. She had such control over that stove, it was incredible. The bread she baked in it was so good that, twenty years after she stopped baking it to sell, people were still stopping by to buy some. I believe Grandma switched to an electric range, once Grandpa was able to force the power company to run a line to the farm in the early 1940's, but I know that for some time after they got power, she still used the wood stove to heat water for her laundry business. My father's mother cooked in the fireplace for some time (either that or they were still using it for heat when Dad was young), because she told me about starting the baked beans on Friday and putting them in the Dutch oven; by Saturday night suppertime they would be tasty, but they didn't reach perfection until Sunday dinner. Beans from a can just aren't the same, I'm told.

Bath time in Mom's house was Saturday night after supper, since it took most of the afternoon and early evening to haul in enough water and get it heated to bath temperature. (The stove reservoir would have been inadequate to the purpose, so I imagine they must have heated the bath water on top of the stove.) The tub would be set up in the middle of the kitchen, and there was a strict hierarchy of who got to bathe first, and who had to make do with used water. At least after they got power, they were able to put a pump in the spring house and run water into the kitchen. (Mom said that they also eventually installed an inside bathroom, but surely that had to have been after they got the hot water heater.)

Interesting about laundry day being Monday, I had a different explanation in mind, lol, but it was just a guess. Diesel must have been a real boon, electric locomotives even more so. Grandma had several sad irons, so that some could be heating on the stove while one was in use. There was a detachable handle that one switched from iron to iron, I remember. (When starting a fresh iron, you had to be sure to wipe the soot off before using it on the clothes.) In later years, one of my aunts used a couple of those irons as doorstops.

 

[Connecticut Yankee]

Just checked with Dad, and he says Nana cooked on a wood stove, but the Dutch oven was indeed part of the fireplace. He doesn't remember laundry day being any particular day of the week, but perhaps that was because they lived far enough from the rail line that cinders weren't an issue. Certainly that was true of my maternal grandparents' house in western New York, which was fortunate for Grandma's laundry business, lol!

Oh, and usually they didn't let the fire go out, even in summer. Dad remembers banking it at night and re-kindling the stove in the morning. That was my mother's job, too, when she was little.

 

[bholler]

A regular kitchen stove would have had at least two more cook-plates, a warming shelf, an oven, and a built-in reservoir for hot water. You could remove the cooking plates and let the fire touch the pans directly, but that was not what my father's aunt or my mother's mother did. Usually the cookware sat on the plate, and the plate was only removed to build up the fire under that particular location, for a higher cooking temperature.

My great aunt cooked on her wood stove all her life (until she modernized to coal), and she kept a box of scrap dowels near the stove for this purpose. She had such control over that stove, it was incredible. The bread she baked in it was so good that, twenty years after she stopped baking it to sell, people were still stopping by to buy some. I believe Grandma switched to an electric range, once Grandpa was able to force the power company to run a line to the farm in the early 1940's, but I know that for some time after they got power, she still used the wood stove to heat water for her laundry business. My father's mother cooked in the fireplace for some time (either that or they were still using it for heat when Dad was young), because she told me about starting the baked beans on Friday and putting them in the Dutch oven; by Saturday night suppertime they would be tasty, but they didn't reach perfection until Sunday dinner. Beans from a can just aren't the same, I'm told.

Bath time in Mom's house was Saturday night after supper, since it took most of the afternoon and early evening to haul in enough water and get it heated to bath temperature. (The stove reservoir would have been inadequate to the purpose, so I imagine they must have heated the bath water on top of the stove.) The tub would be set up in the middle of the kitchen, and there was a strict hierarchy of who got to bathe first, and who had to make do with used water. At least after they got power, they were able to put a pump in the spring house and run water into the kitchen. (Mom said that they also eventually installed an inside bathroom, but surely that had to have been after they got the hot water heater.)

Interesting about laundry day being Monday, I had a different explanation in mind, lol, but it was just a guess. Diesel must have been a real boon, electric locomotives even more so. Grandma had several sad irons, so that some could be heating on the stove while one was in use. There was a detachable handle that one switched from iron to iron, I remember. (When starting a fresh iron, you had to be sure to wipe the soot off before using it on the clothes.) In later years, one of my aunts used a couple of those irons as doorstops.

Yes we work on quite a few cook stoves that are still used daily. I have rebuilt most of them at least once. My aunt still uses hers all winter and her 92 yr old mother inlaw still runs hers all winter as well. Both of their stoves have had the water reservoir removed though. The stoves usually work better without that resevoir sapping heat anyway.

 

[Connecticut Yankee]

You can remove the reservoir? Cool! My memory of Great-Aunt Margaret's wood stove was that it was part of the casting, but I doubt I was really paying all that much attention.

 

[bholler]

You can remove the reservoir? Cool! My memory of Great-Aunt Margaret's wood stove was that it was part of the casting, but I doubt I was really paying all that much attention.

You can remove just about anything with the right tools lol. But yes some just bolt on others are much more integrated and removal would not be a good option. They're one of the things that typically need rebuilt I usually make a new tank out of stainless for them.

 

[SpaceBus]

You can remove just about anything with the right tools lol. But yes some just bolt on others are much more integrated and removal would not be a good option. They're one of the things that typically need rebuilt I usually make a new tank out of stainless for them.

Some day I want a wood cook stove, maybe a combi stove with propane and wood. Reading about how to control them makes me want one even more. I always assumed they would be much harder to regulate than an electric or gas range.

 

[bholler]

Some day I want a wood cook stove, maybe a combi stove with propane and wood. Reading about how to control them makes me want one even more. I always assumed they would be much harder to regulate than an electric or gas range.

They are much harder to regulate. It is takes quite a bit of experience to get it right.

 

[SpaceBus]

They are much harder to regulate. It is takes quite a bit of experience to get it right.

I struggle with my glass top. Previously I had a gas range and I loved it. Which is why I want the combi stove, best of both worlds. Plus extra heat when needed in the winter.

 

[bholler]

I struggle with my glass top. Previously I had a gas range and I loved it. Which is why I want the combi stove, best of both worlds. Plus extra heat when needed in the winter.

Yeah we just bought a new house and went from gas to glass top as well. I do like some things about the new stove but prefer gas cooktop for sure. We will switch out sometime

 

[coaly]

They get really hot, really quick directly over the fire box, so you have to keep food moving or it is instant burn. You control heat on pans by moving the pots and pans around the stove top. When something tends to boil over, simply slide it away from the firebox side until you find the surface temperature you want. All the way over to the oven side is like a warming burner less than simmer. I keep coffee or tea cups there to keep it hot without evaporating the liquid quickly.
The oven seals in moisture from food, so it is more difficult to burn things in the oven with moist heat. The only time my wife burned anything from the oven was the first year making Christmas cookies. She ran out of counter space to set the cookie sheets coming out, and sat one on the stove top momentarily to make room on the countertop. Burnt the bottoms before she could get it off the stove top within seconds.

The other almost catastrophe I had was using a cast iron stove top waffle iron. When you oil them, you need very little oil to coat the inside. When you open it to add batter, the excess oil runs down the raised lid onto the 500* plus stove top. Instant flare up. Don't do that. If you open the eye and cook over the opening, it drips down into the firebox. That is another purpose for a "nest" of lids instead of one large one to adjust how much flame contact you get on smaller pans and kettles.

 

[SpaceBus]

They get really hot, really quick directly over the fire box, so you have to keep food moving or it is instant burn. You control heat on pans by moving the pots and pans around the stove top. When something tends to boil over, simply slide it away from the firebox side until you find the surface temperature you want. All the way over to the oven side is like a warming burner less than simmer. I keep coffee or tea cups there to keep it hot without evaporating the liquid quickly.
The oven seals in moisture from food, so it is more difficult to burn things in the oven with moist heat. The only time my wife burned anything from the oven was the first year making Christmas cookies. She ran out of counter space to set the cookie sheets coming out, and sat one on the stove top momentarily to make room on the countertop. Burnt the bottoms before she could get it off the stove top within seconds.

The other almost catastrophe I had was using a cast iron stove top waffle iron. When you oil them, you need very little oil to coat the inside. When you open it to add batter, the excess oil runs down the raised lid onto the 500* plus stove top. Instant flare up. Don't do that. If you open the eye and cook over the opening, it drips down into the firebox. That is another purpose for a "nest" of lids instead of one large one to adjust how much flame contact you get on smaller pans and kettles.

My new Morso has fake nest rings, but I have seen what the real ones look like. I have a lot of experience cooking on a zoned flat top gas grill, so it sounds like something I can do. I haven't had an oil flare up, yet, but I have had my fair share of near catastrophes in the kitchen. I found an old cast iron pan left behind in the house, so eventually I'm going to clean it up and season it and try to make pancakes on the Morso. Would you recommend fine grade steel wool for cleaning rusty cast iron? I've used salt and regular scouring pads in the past, but I also have a lot of steel wool.

The moist heat oven sounds awesome.

 

[SpaceBus]

Yeah we just bought a new house and went from gas to glass top as well. I do like some things about the new stove but prefer gas cooktop for sure. We will switch out sometime

It is definitely easier to clean, but I feel like it gets dirty immediately. The burner temperature knobs might as well be a heat suggestion on my stove. We just got a set of new pans, so I've been extra vigilant.

 

[coaly]

You can clean cast iron with anything, even a wire wheel in drill when really bad. Season pan in oven to polymerize the oil coating. We use cast, but aluminum All-Clad flat griddle type pans as well. They conduct fast and are flat for better surface contact. When it comes to griddles for flat stove top, you have to use antiques that have full contact. All the newer stuff has raised lips around the edge preventing flat surface contact. They are made for gas or electric stove top burners.

 

[bholler]

You can clean cast iron with anything, even a wire wheel in drill when really bad. Season pan in oven to polymerize the oil coating. We use cast, but aluminum All-Clad flat griddle type pans as well. They conduct fast and are flat for better surface contact. When it comes to griddles for flat stove top, you have to use antiques that have full contact. All the newer stuff has raised lips around the edge preventing flat surface contact. They are made for gas or electric stove top burners.

My pans don't have a lip at all. They are made to have full contact for a glass top.