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What's Cooking on Kickstarter? Mike Whitehead's CNC-Milled Cast-Iron Skillet
By Rain Noe - November 15, 2013
As an industrial designer, which would you rather do: Design brand new objects and interfaces that have never existed before, or design improvements into existing objects? Both have their challenges, but I for one love seeing folks tweak longstanding, everyday designs to improve their functionality.
The latest Kickstarter smash success falls into this latter category. Portland-based Mike Whitehead is a product designer who loves to cook, but after years of using a common cast-iron skillet, he realized it was "long overdue" for a re-design.
First off, the handle of a cast-iron skillet is essentially a design fail that people are willing to live with. The standard handle is tiny and loop-like, the faster to dissipate heat, yet you still need an oven mitt to handle the thing, so you get the worst of both worlds: An uncomfortable, unergonomic handle that can burn you.
Secondly, the finish of a cast-iron skillet's cooking surface wears its production method on its sleeve: The rough texture screams sand casting. This makes it tough to clean.
Thirdly, a skillet's circular shape distributes heat evenly, but does not lend itself well to pouring out the sauces you've been simmering.
Let's take a look at how Whitehead, with the help of industrial designer David Lewin and 3D modeler Kip Buck, solved these problems with their Finex design:
At press time the Finex had blown way past its $25,000 target with over $150,000 in funding. There are still three days left to get in on it and the first units will ship on December 15th, just in time for the holidays.
By the bye, the Finex logo was designed by Aaron Draplin of Field Notes fame.
Hit the jump for some bonus manufacturing footage: How they prototyped the handle, and a look at the sweet 5-axis CNC mill cutting the mold.
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Rain Noe
I’m a lapsed industrial designer. I was born in NYC and figured I’d die there, but a few years ago I abandoned New York to live on a farm in the countryside with my wife. We have six dogs.
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What's Cooking on Kickstarter? Mike Whitehead's CNC-Milled Cast-Iron Skillet
What will the final weight be with this design? The walls still look very thick, closer to modern cast iron designs. The biggest drawback for me using a modern cast iron is that extra pound or two of weight. Makes the pan very unwieldy.
I'm not saying this skillet is any better or worse than a Lodge. Sometimes people just want to buy something a bit different and that's good enough. I can understand not wanting to spend that much but I don't understand the hate for doing so. Not your cup of tea? Great. Move on.
Oh, Griswold stays glassy-smooth if you treat it right. That means not leaving tomato sauce or a vinegary reduction in there for a week while it rusts in the sink. That's sure to leave the surface all pitted and pebbly. Nevertheless, I'd still expect it to be smoother than a modern-day Lodge pan.
Cast iron doesn't wear away so easily either. Unless you go and machine it yourself, a Lodge pan will never compare to Griswold in finish. It's rough, it's heavy, and the iron used is reportedly much more brittle.
Speaking from personal experience, once you use Griswold, it's hard to go back to Lodge. I've got both, and my Lodge pans have served me well, but my one Griswold pan sees nearly all the use these days. There is a very tangible difference, even with prolonged use.
I suppose I agree with your criticism of the handle, but I wouldn't expect it to break all that easily, and it's a repairable thing anyway. Likewise, the hexagonal shape doesn't seem to be that radical to me. It's different, sure, but I don't expect it to get in the way.
No-one can reasonably predict how good or bad this Kickstarted pan will be until it ships and gets in people's hands. But, that aside, this appears to be quite a nice design. I don't agree with some of the hate it's been getting. The fact that it blew past its campaign goal suggests plenty of people would agree with me.
However, I don't see the value in this product. My lodge pan has pouring marks that are more elegant. The hexagonal design is purely for pouring and I find it strange that such a small and simple problem has a disproportionally large solution applied to it.
My main gripe would be with the handle however. Again, one design problem (the handle gets hot) is solved and then replaced with another problem. The problem being that cast iron easily lasts multiple lifetimes, but the first thing to break on this pan by a country mile would be the multiple piece handle.
Finally, the surface. Milling the surface is a nice thing to bring back but it's not required. Cast iron pans last forever and can take a beating. Using a flat metal spatula like you should wears down pans like lodge to the smoothest of surfaces and even well used Griswold pans no longer show the milled surface as it's been worn down.
Just my 2p.
There comes a time where people who give a damn about a craft graduate to better products. You won't find many industrial designers using Crayola magic markers; you will find plenty using Prismacolor markers, though. Why, when Crayola is so much cheaper?
Griswold, as noted in a prior comment, used to machine their cookware. Well-maintained vintage Griswold cast iron skillets sell for prices not incomparable to this Kickstarted skillet; here, you have a convenient outlet to buy a pan, whereas hunting down a Griswold pan that's survived in pristine condition since the turn of the 20th century can prove to be a challenge.
It's really not a waste to machine castings if the surface benefits from being finished. Nobody looks at a milling table and says, "Good enough," right out of the mold. Seasoning your pan is only half the battle. Machining the cook surface smooth makes the pan outperform pretty much any other pan, since there surface is too smooth for food to grip it strongly, and any spatula would be so flush against it that it could scrape food without tearing it.
There was a time companies gave enough of a damn to make things to a high standard of quality. There comes a point where cutting costs means you live in a disposable world made of cheap crap that's plain frustrating to use. What ever happened to having fewer, but better things?
NOTHING is improved when something that works great for decades and only costs $10 is twiddled with and then they charge almost 20x as much for it. this is everything thats terrible about "design."
I'm all for new stuff, and I actually do really like the handle... not having to use a towel or mitt every time you use your cast iron is something I can get behind. But the machined surface? Eh, cook bacon a few times and don't put soap in the skillet and you've solved the rough surface problem.
The end cap is bronze, not wood. So it will still be oven safe.
Doesnt even come with a lid...
I like the octagonal profile for pouring, but for everything else it is a hinderance (string, flipping, cleaning)
Why not press these from stainless, then ceramic coat and attach wooden handle?
Could make them for 10dollars each and sell for 50?
Just another kickstarter product that people sink money into with out thinking...
Sorry for the harsh words, just think it could have been approached better/more efficiently