OLD wok? " AMOUI " China

[Mike Goulet]

So, I picked this up today

huge 16" wok,    but some interesting type of glaze both on int./ext.  OR an enamel job hand painted on gone wrong ?

the bottom was lathed,  but still could date to late 1800

I did  find this page of old 1871 Australian news papers,  and if you use the " find on this page" from web browser  and type " OMOUI"  it has a listing for " wok amoui "  but I'll be darned if I can find it in the news clippings

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/73439380


SO... I'm counting on Tom N. to  help out on this one

I'm trying to figure if it's lye safe,   unsure

[Mark_Wiegers]

If I had to guess, I would say this is from the 1990's to present. Just based on China's production of cast iron cookware.

[Mike Goulet]

I've since learned here (  http://www.coxsackie.com/reference/cooaadt.htm )   that  MADE IN CHINA started back in 1891,,,  , 

The bottom reminds me of COPCO stuff from the 60's the way it's lathed

The labels under the pot look to have been applied after the wok was made,  more like tubes of metal placed inside the  slots,   rusted fairly well,  so thinking it's not from 90's

patina on handles seem older  and that cracked plastic  has been around

I also scratched some of the what I thought was enamel coating only to realize its metal, ( powder welded  coating to get this effect ?  )

If I come up with anything else  I'll let you know


Plan to  take it to my local chinese food place, older guy working there, may have some insight

M

[Chris Stairs]

Some of the finest cast iron cookware ever made was made in China hundreds of years ago and was made in clay molds.
 Obviously, this one is not that old, but it could be trying to simulate the look of these older items.
   This is certainly not in the same league as the junk comming out of China today for big retail outlets. It is outside of the interests of most on this forum, but you never know, someone may come along that knows exactly what you have. I would not be surprised to learn that it was made circa 50's-60's.

[Mike Goulet]

So the guy at the restaurant said it was a quality piece, but could not help date or value it..  he said they were high maintenance, and this is why they use carbon steel woks  because they would rather spend time cooking the food and not the wok lol

Anyway, a few photos of the finished look.

I used  peanut oil X 400F  X 2 bakes,,,,   I wrapped the plastic handles with wet rags cut in strips then covered in foil ( idea from a wok forum) so I could put it in oven

On 2nd bake after an hour,  I put on stove and cranked it up...  infra red thermometer made it up to  650F,,,  then I used Sesame seed oil to do a few layers on bottom inside and half way up

I like it, nice character looking piece

Mike

[Tom Neitzel]

Mike, I can't be very much help.

English is such a wonderful language, I couldn't figure out what you meant by lathed.  I finally decided it was the same as what I would call machined.  The base was cleaned up with a machine cutting tool.

The letters on the bottom were part of the original casting.  I don't have a clue as to the coating.  Are the decorative lines cast into the wok?  Looks like a heavy coating of a gel of some kind that has cracked as it dried.  A protective coating to prevent rust?  Looks nice no matter what.

The is just an impression, but it looks like 1930's work to me, maybe post-WWII, but that is just an impression, not fact.

If it is really old, about the only plastic around until after WWII was Bakelite (patented in 1909).  Modern plastics pretty much replaced it after WWII.  One test for bakelite is to rub it until it gets warm.  You should get a chemical smell from it (formaldehye is used to make it).  Might not always work.  Your oven seasoning shouldn't have hurt it.

Interesting pan no matter what.

As far as the amoui in the old newspapers.  I'll bet that it is just a misreading of the words "work amount" by the OCR software that scanned the old newspaper.

[Mike Goulet]

Tom
Thanks for the insight,,   er ,  i 'll try and learn that  phrase " machined " for next time lol

here's a photo of what the wok probably looked like new  ( at least the finish of it )  , same sort  of texture,  but i think like old ceramic  glazed pottery, it crakles  with time,  hence the reason for thinking it's an older than mid century piece,

As mentioned above,  i  scraped a bit of it and used a magnifying glass to see it was actually  metal,   

It cooked like a charm,  and yes, it's a nice looker

Mike