Nickel vs chrome plating

[Steve_Stephens]

Here is a good illustration of the different look of nickel (Wagner skillet on left) and chrome (hammered pan by Chicago Hardware Foundry on the right).  Nickel is warmer and more yellow in color while chrome is colder and bluer in color.

http://cgi.ebay.com/LOT-of-2-NICKEL-PLATED-USED-CI-FRY-PANS_W0QQitemZ6279162081QQcategoryZ976QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Steve

[C. Perry Rapier]

Actually Steve, I can see one is different, but to me, it looks just the one on the left has had more wear, and the one on the right is a little cleaner looking. As far as looking at them and seeing that one is nickel and the other is chrome, I can't actually see the difference. Maybe others can.

[Gerald Melsheimer]

Are the cooking surfaces dark from use/not cleaned or from wear/loss of the plating?     Thanks Jerry

[MD]

Is it really worth it to buy [to cook with] a chrome skillet? Is there any advantage?

[Jerry Cermack]

Nickle or Chrome?

http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-GRISWOLD-DOUBLE-SKILLET-W-COVER-80_W0QQitemZ220006004634QQihZ012QQcategoryZ3631QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[C. Perry Rapier]

Well Jerry, I'd call it nickel, others might call it chrome. But, as I said earlier in this thread, its tough to tell. I think that piece is supposed to be chrome though. I have some pieces that are chrome, chrome, ain't no two ways about it, but this piece its hard to tell. I think chrome stays looking like chrome and nickel kind of fades into a nice patina.

What was the question again. I oughta be a politician, oughtn't I?  ;D

[Steve_Stephens]

Jerry, looks like Silverlike (nickel) to me.  Inside may be been scoured or sanded to new iron metal.  Color of the outside is exactly as a nickel piece would look.  These probably were made in both chrome and nickel as were the No.90 double skillets.

Steve

[Steve_Stephens]

Is it really worth it to buy [to cook with] a chrome skillet? Is there any advantage?

Only advantage would be, in my opinion, that the outside of many plated pieces of GRISWOLD (and some other makes) are ground and polished very smooth.  The food won't taste or cook any different but some people might like the smoother finish better.  Rust will not be as much of a problem on plated pieces.  Plated pieces are "prettier" looking when new.  There are't many "new" pieces of plated iron cookware left today.  I like Griswold and early Wagner nickeled pieces for their smooth outsides and I think deteriorated nickel looks ok while deteriorated chrome looks bad.
Plated pieces were a delux item which didn't hold up well in the long run.
Steve

[Jerry Cermack]

Jerry, looks like Silverlike (nickel) to me.

Steve

Well, I stay confused on this all the time.  Dave's book lists SILVERLIKE as a chromium finish?  I thougt Silverlike was just unpolished chrome?

[Roy G. Meadows]

Jerry,
There is disagreement as to whether Griswold's Silverlike finish is a nickel or chromium plating. My best info has it as a chromium plating used from c1929 until they closed in 1957. It has the appearance of "frosted silver or fine pewter". The only way to know for sure is for someone to have a piece with the Silverlike finish tested. I'm not aware that anyone has had this done. Now that I'm retired (along with all my metallurgist friends), I don't have access to the metallurgy lab any more. I've stated this before and I'll state it again, that I've been told by reputable metallurgists that you can't necessarily tell the difference in nickel and chrome plating on cast iron by just looking at the item. There are many factors in the plating process that affect the color and appearance of the plating. However, Griswold only made a discrete number of plated finishes. Experienced collectors can identify these finishes by comparison. The manufacture date of an item usually gives a good clue, but many items were being made when Griswold went from nickel to chrome plating. Therefore an identical item will have been produced with both nickel and chrome plating. I believe the double skillets are an example of this.
                                                         Roy Meadows

[Steve_Stephens]

Well, I stay confused on this all the time.  Dave's book lists SILVERLIKE as a chromium finish?  I thougt Silverlike was just unpolished chrome?

Here, I'll add another opinion to the mix:
From Griswold catalog bulletin E-11 (marked on cover "rec'd 4/27/32)

  GRISWOLD "Silverlike" Cast Iron COOKING UTENSILS
  These utensils are nickeled over inside and out making a clean, attractive "Silverlike" finish.  They are not polished

Since this same Griswold bulletin also has a section on GRISWOLD Chromium Finish COOKING UTENSILS I would say that Griswold was clear on the two different plating metals and would not have said "nickeled" when they were chroming the Silverlike items.  Chrome is a cold color while both nickel and silver are warm finishes or colors.

I would say that Dave's book is in error.  I find it very easy to tell nickel from chrome having been looking at the differences between chrome and nickel plating on stoves, antique autos, cookware, and other antiques and newly plated items for decades.  I was hoping that this thread with the two plated pans side by side would clear up any questions about nickel vs. chrome.

Steve

[Jerry Cermack]

Jerry,
There is disagreement as to whether Griswold's Silverlike finish is a nickel or chromium plating. My best info has it as a chromium plating used from c1929 until they closed in 1957. It has the appearance of "frosted silver or fine pewter". The only way to know for sure is for someone to have a piece with the Silverlike finish tested. I'm not aware that anyone has had this done.Roy Meadows

I was hoping that this thread with the two plated pans side by side would clear up any questions about nickel vs. chrome.

Steve

Steve, I dont have any problem seeing the difference in the older polished nickel yellowish appearance and chrome.....What I do have a problem with is two skillets with dull silver color and neither exhibit the yellowish hue to me, nor do some polished items I've seen.  I'm sorry, but I dont think it's that cut and dried and I agree with Roy's assessment above.

PS....I've attached a picture of 3 ashtrays.  I have no trouble saying the older style on the left is Nickel.....what would you call the other two?

[Paul Hummel]

Jerry it looks like the left is Nickel like you state. Now the middle looks like Aluminum (did the make them in Aluminum?). And the last one on the right is Chrome

[Jerry Cermack]

Jerry it looks like the left is Nickel like you state. Now the middle looks like Aluminum (did the make them in Aluminum?). And the last one on the right is Chrome

Paul, its not aluminum.......its plated cast iron and what I always thought was Silverlike....unpolished chrome......like the center on the ashtray to the right and I'd call it DuChrome based on the description in the book.

[C. Perry Rapier]

To me, them three ashtrays look like this. The one on the left looks like regular cast iron but if you say its nickel, thats fine with me. The one in the middle is clearly a silverlike finish and I would not call it chrome, Kentucky chrome (silver paint) yes, but not real chrome, and the one on the end is real live true chrome on some of it and then the silverlike finish on the rest of it.

Of course the bright shiny stuff is real chrome, where you can see good enough in it to brush your teeth. You can't do that on silverlike stuff, hey there's your difference. Chrome you can see yourself in and silverlike you can't. Does that work, help, hinder or what. I like this thread because I wonder a lot the same thing.

So are the griswold double skillets nickel or chrome. I don't know, thats why I'm asking, I have a set, the 90, and I'd say its nickel before I'd say its chrome, I do have some chrome pieces and there ain't no doubt about them.

[Roy G. Meadows]

Jerry,
Here is my judgement of the finishes on your ashtrays;
Left- Du-Chrome Finish
Center- Silverlike Finish
Right- Chrome Ware Finish
All of these are chrominum based plated finishes. Although the Silverlike Finish is described as being "nickeled" as Steve points out, we feel the use of the term "nickeled" is to describe a look and does not mean the pieces were nickel plated. Some pieces need to be tested to be sure. The Santa, rabbit, and lamb molds in the plated finish are good examples of the Silverlike Finish.
                                       Roy Meadows

[Steve_Stephens]

Left- Du-Chrome Finish
Center- Silverlike Finish
Right- Chrome Ware Finish
All of these are chrominum based plated finishes. Although the Silverlike Finish is described as being "nickeled" as Steve points out, we feel the use of the term "nickeled" is to describe a look and does not mean the pieces were nickel plated. Some pieces need to be tested to be sure.
                                       Roy Meadows

Roy, who are "we"?
Check the dictionary for definition of nickel and nickeled.  Nickelled=coating something with nickel; to plate something with nickel.  Nickel:  Silvery white metallic element, a hard silvery-white mettallic element that is resistant to corrosiion...

Silvery=silver like
Chromium in my dictionary is "a bluish-white metallic element".   Silver does not have a bluish tint.

Jerry, from your photos I would say that your first ashtray is black iron (but you say it's plated so I'll go along with that and say that it does not look like chrome).  The second two are chromed.  For the exact term that Griswold used I would have to find where they list the different chrome finishes.  To compound the problem I think that Griswold changed how they finished and chromed their pieces several times as well as what they called the particular chrome finish.

Du-Chrome:  The proper term from Griswold is Du-Chro  which stood for Dull Chrome according to a 1940 Griswold catalog (p.32)  This particular catalog on the cover says "EXTRA FINISH BLACK--SILVERLIKE--CHROME"
Since the catalog includes two different Chrome finishes (Du-Chro and Satin Chrome) why not include Silverlike with the chrome also instead of naming and cataloging it under a separate section?

I am completely satisfied that Silverlike is nickel plated but would love to see a piece get tested to prove to everyone once and for all what the plating is.  If it were chrome I would expect that Griswold would have said "Silverlike" is made by a special chroming process which gives a bright, silvery finish"  Why call something "nickeled" (to nickel) if it were chromed when both nickel and chrome are different elements with defined definitions that everyone should know?

Edited:  Found my pages from the E-39 1939 commercial catalog which tells of the chromium finishes used:
Three standard finishes are used on Griswold table serivec utensils.  These finishes are obtained by different polishing operations, and they do not indicate a difference in quality, but merely a choice of decorations.
Du-Chro Finish- (formerly Regular Chrome) (Various pieces are polished in places and left as-cast in other places and some finished in satin).   "A dull chrome finish having a light grey caste".
Satin Finish-"A finish resembling in many respects the appearance of frosted silver or fine pewter".
Full Polish Finish-"All surfaces and parts highly polished except bottoms and undersides of covers".
Of course this catalog only includes commercial type pieces and the cookware is mostly table service ware and not the regular cooking line.  I would expect that the regular cooking line would adhere to similiar terminology with some changes over the years.  No mention of "nickel" or "Silverlike" in this catalog.

The three pages of the table service utensils is reproduced on pgs. 77-79 of Cast Iron Cookware news on this site in a PDF.

Steve

[Jerry Cermack]

Jerry, from your photos I would say that your first ashtray is black iron (but you say it's plated so I'll go along with that and say that it does not look like chrome).  The second two are chromed.

Steve, the ashtray on the left is plated and they are all cast iron.  The only reasons I guessed nickel is the actual color and its the older version.  

Has anyone ever asked Dave where his descriptions of the finishes came from?   I thought DuChrome was short for DualChrome.......polished in places and not polished in others
 ;D

[Steve_Stephens]

Has anyone ever asked Dave where his descriptions of the finishes came from?   I thought DuChrome was short for DualChrome.......polished in places and not polished in others
 ;D

I haven't asked him.  I like when authors document where they got the information in their books.  That takes away a lot of wondering if what they wrote is the whole and true story.  You can't usually beat what you read in a companie's original literature.  That's probably the first and best place to look but the books also give a LOT that the original literature doesn't.

I quoted from the Griswold catalog to show what THEY said.

Steve

[Steve_Stephens]

Jerry,
Here is the early Griswold ashtray skillet in chrome-
http://tinyurl.com/p475s

Steve