Wood handles for Griswold #6 waffle iron

[Debbie Sanders]

My Griswold #6 waffle iron, paddle #'s 967 & 971, is temporarily missing its wood handles.  The gentleman I purchased it from has a box of handles he removed from many waffle irons when he moved his collection.  I have read various Griswold waffle irons used different sizes &/or lengths.  Can anyone tell me the proper size for my little cutie so it can be whole again? 

[Greg Stahl]

Calling Jim F, the man of oh so many #6 wi’s

[Debbie Sanders]

Jim is so lucky to have zero'd in on the #6's.......I have a waffle iron problem no matter the size!  :D

[Jim Fuchs]

Hello Debbie. Neat #6 waffle iron! You're variation would take the Alaskan coil handle as shown. There is also a variation that took wood handles, but the socket was solid, not slotted/vented. Your variation is actually the harder of the two to find, by the way. Hope this helps..

[Jim Fuchs]

As a side note, off the top of my head, I am aware of three different wood handles (short/stubby round,  one that is long(er) round/straight, and one that is shaped wood, with "collar" at the socket end, narrow in the middle, with shaped end. Three different Alaskan coil handles...one with a through-rod, washer on the end, one similar, with through rod, and no washer on the end (more pointed at the end), and one that has no through rod (no "eye"), that "screws" onto (on the outside) of the socket.(corrected) (coil is pointed at the user end).  While there are waffle variations , with the slotted socket, that do use a wood handle, but as far as I'm aware of, this was not used on the #6, 971-967 paddles.

[Debbie Sanders]

Hi Jim,
Thanks for the awesome pics and all the info on the different handles!  My little 6, although vented, was never tapped for the rod. I scratched around with an ice pick and its definitely solid cast down in there.  I am assuming at this time, it would use the coil handles you mentioned which are pointed and would screw into each socket. Would the whole coil be of similar diameter or tapered on the area that screws in, flaring out where one would grab the handles and tapering to a pointy end?  I can can see a flanged area inside at the top of the third vent from the opening to act as a stop for the handle.  Waffle irons are sooooo fun!  I do appreciate the help!

[Jim Fuchs]

Hey Debbie...I looked at several # 6's, and the ones for the coil handles don't have a "stop" inside. I also corrected the one coil...it screws on the outside of the socket (the one with no through rod). That was used on the P/N 141 N # 6 waffle iron (as well as a Victor #8).  So, think if yours has an inside stop, that indicates it is for a wood handle. I added a picture of what the wood handle looked like with the vented/slotted socket. That's a #6 variation I have not seen off hand. I do have 50+ # 6 waffle irons, and 9 variations of the Griswold # 6's., but there always more to be found ! A few pictures...maybe this will help.

[Dwayne Henson]

Some beautiful iron y'all are showing!

[Debbie Sanders]

Hi Jim.....oh guess what....the mystery and confusion is growing!  My paddles are different down inside the handle shank area.  When I responded yesterday, I had only looked into one closely.....I assumed...ooops!  After closely studying things here is what I have. 

Paddle #967 I believe is an older pattern with the word New added on to the center by hand because each letter has irregularities that aren't consistent with Griswold's perfectionism. Actually, all of the writing has the hand done look, but not by the same person at the same time. Inside the handle shank, there is a stop at the bottom of the third vent and you stated that would be for the wood handle.  In the very bottom of the handle shank, the area is just flat....the bottom of the hole....nothing to note. 

Paddle #971  This is the paddle with No 6 as it's only markings. The writing also appears to be hand done.  Inside the handle shank, there is no stop at a vent.  It is also shaped different in the very bottom.  After scratching around a bit more with the ice pick, I uncovered what appears to be a threaded slot head plug in what would have been the spot for the coil handle eyebolt to screw in.  The bottom area also has a taper to it, beginning at the bottom of the last vent and tapering down to the once threaded area.

I have attached pictures with my best attempts at photos of the inside of each handle shank......with a trusty flashlight shining through the sides, I kind of captured what I am seeing.

Now my brain goes crazy with questions and theories.....

Did the foundry tap the eyebolt hole after the piece was poured?  Or....did they have a way to pour the piece with the threaded hole in place and just had to clean up the threads after casting?

Did these paddles leave the foundry together or did they find each other later in life?  With the fancier handles you showed me, the stop would not be a necessity for handle placement so I could see how the non stop paddle would work fine .....so they figured why not.....who would ever look down there and see that they are actually different.....we will just plug the hole and roll with it!   

How many wood handled, vented #6's do we need to find with paddles just like mine to assume it was a factory match? 

So many rabbit holes....so many waffle irons to explore

[Jim Fuchs]

Debbie, all of the 967, 971 Paddles were marked the same ...just as you described, whether solid, or slotted socket(s), whether wood or Alaskan coil handles. They are a match, not unlike any other 967,971 # 6 paddles. The ones that accepted the coil handles looked like shown here. They incorporated a threaded nut/section into the shank Yours do not look like they would take a coil handle, but rather the shaped handles of wood that I showed in post #6 ...not the early straight "dowell" shaped ones. As a side note on the Griswold #6 w.i.'s, most variations had the stops with the detents in the support frame at 3 & 9, one has no stop(s), or detents (# 141N), and one has the stop pin, and detents at 3 & 7...that one is 305 & 306 P/N (paddles), and there were two variations of those support frame wise - wire bail handle, or a cast side handle. There were quite a few variations of just the #6 Griswold w.i. I'm with you, love the waffle irons. There has been previous discussions of the threaded insert in the paddles...either in our quarterly magazine, or possibly on the membership side. Tom N. talked about this feature. Off hand, I would say there were proximately 13-14 varaitions of the #6 w.i. alone.

[Debbie Sanders]

Jim......thank you so much for all this info!  I'm absorbing it like a sponge! 

I guess I will always wonder if my 971 paddle was married to the 967 paddle at the foundry or later on as the inside of the handle shanks are totally different, yet look the same on the outside. The 971 appears to have a slotted set screw down in the bottom, plugging off the threaded insert and has no handle stop at the third vent like the 967. My husband keeps telling me my waffle iron's name is Frankenstein because of the different handle shanks.....I keep telling him they were born fraternal twins.  It would be so nice if there had been detailed records for us to pour over, but that would have also spoiled a lot of our fun digging into all the mysteries!

I went searching for Tom's write up on the threaded insert....and found way too many rabbit holes to drop into along the way!  Looks like I have many late nights of reading ahead of me. I love this place!

[Tom Neitzel]

Debbie, if you didn't find the discussion, it would have been regarding a CLOWS waffle iron.

How did they get the threaded insert (nut) in there?  They likely would have used a core to made the hole down the center of the shank and possibly to help true the vents.  It would be easy to place a threaded nut on a stem at one end, leaving openings on either side of the nut for iron to flow into and capture it.   The iron poured, then the core shaken out leaving the threads.  The core would be sand, bound with some material to keep it strong enough to resist the hot iron, but soft enough to be shaken out.

Here's a picture to give you an idea.  The area occupied by the core would be hollow in the final casting.  The items labeled chaplets would instead be stubs to either make or fit into the vent holes in the mold.

[Jim Fuchs]

Thanks Tom...did not remember where that was. Debbie, chaplets are used as "spacers" for the core. A link to a few foundry terms that may help.  https://www.afsinc.org/metalcasting-terms#:~:text=Chaplet%20A%20small%20metal%20insert,support%20during%20the%20casting%20process.&text=Chill%20A%20metal%20insert%20in,and%20sand%20from%20a%20casting.

[Debbie Sanders]

Jim and Tom....

Thanks for giving me the visual on the waffle handle construction and the foundry terms link.  I have so much fun geeking out over this stuff!  You guys rock!