We’ve tried on several occasions to fix a warped skillet, with little success. However, we recently came across an article that talked about heating and pounding out a warped pan.
The technique is to heat them up, put a 2×4 long enough to go from edge to edge of the pan on to the crowned side, and beat the heck out of it — all over it’s entire length, while revolving it so the entire pan surface gets its share of whacking.
If the pan is warped so the crown is on the outside, you have to rest the lip of the pan on a flat surface, so that the handle doesn’t touch the surface; a stair step is good. If the pan is warped so the crown is inside, you have to cut the 2×4 to fit — as closely as you can but without making a big deal out of it.
Just keep reheating the pan and keep on whacking ’til you get bored. The flattening will hold longer if you do both the inside and outside, but you can get most of the goodness if you only flattened the crowned side.
If anyone tries this, please let us know if it works.
I have this 14″ Reverware skillet that is a family heirloom. I treasure it for making speghetti sauce etc. The other day I let it heat over a small flame and small amount of grease and it began to warp. I quickly turned the heat off and let it cool for a few minutes then put it back on with high heat with good coverage of liquid all over the bottom. This made it happy, and after a few more tries of heating it all over at once it is just about perfect again. I believe it is very important to have the heat reach the whole bottom of the pan as it heats, and like the others say, a smaller pan should be on a smaller flame.
For smaller pans the danger is more the overheating of the Bakelite (hint, you won’t like the smell) than the warping of the pan. There are two situations I am aware of where warping is likely to occur:
1. If the pan is left on the heat with nothing on it; this causes some areas to get hotter than others, which can cause the warping.
2. Cooling down too quickly. Probably the most common reason why pans warp. I think this is mostly due to one side of the bottom contracting where the other side doesn’t as much, which pulls the side in contact with the water together, pushing the other side out.
We have one of those new, flat glass cooktops. It’s very fussy about uneven pan bottoms– which is disappointing for a few of my inherited Revere pans. My son is threatening to take a mallet to them– maybe I can get him to follow these suggestions!
Yikes! I have 40 year old Revere Ware and my flattop stove caused every single one to warp. I’m keeping them in case someone comes up with a solution that is reliable. My mother had hers for over 60 years and I followed suit. I’m so sad!
It seems as though the new flattop glass stoves are very good at pointing out the slightest imperfection in the bottom of the pans. The good news is they ARE in fact fixable to sit perfectly flat without wobbling once again.
I would not suggest using the 2×4 as that might be more warped then your pan. What I found to work very well only takes a mallet straight edge (to find the high spot) and a nice solid counter (mine is granite).
1. Heat pan up slowly with water.
2. Remove pan from heat dump water out and place pan upside-down on countertop covered by cloth (I use a microfiber towel).
3. Take straightedge and hold it along the bottom of the pan which will reveal the high spot/s.
4. While pan is still warm, gently tap the high spot with the mallet and keep checking with straightedge. Once happy let pan cool down naturally.This usually only take a couple taps, I have only spent 30-60 seconds per pan. They sit flat on the glass now!
I do take extra care using my Revere Ware on the glass top making sure the correct burner size is on for the pan size and letting the pan cool down and making sure I am not cooking air 🙂
Would love to see a video of this being done.