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Is stainless steel safe after overheating

By on June 14, 2023 in Uncategorized

This question on Quora makes me think people don’t really understand the nature of stainless steel.

We get this exact question quite frequently.

The chromium in stainless steel is not the same as the kind features in the movie Erin Brokovitch.  It is a safe form that is actually an essential mineral that the body needs in trace amounts.

When you overheat stainless steel, it doesn’t release chromium, it actually promotes the formation of more chromium oxide, which is the whole purpose of the chromium in stainless steel.  Chromium oxide is a clear layer that coats the top of the stainless steel surface and prevents the iron from rusting.  When you overheat, you form more of it which can cause the rainbow shimmer (often referred to as heat tint) you sometimes see on the surface of stainless steel; this is uneven thicknesses of the clear chromium oxide refracting the light differently where the layers differ in thickness, thus altering the angle of refraction of the colors of white light.  Here is what heat tint looks like:

You can fix heat tint by using a fine polish like Bar Keepers Friend.

You may not realize this but the daily use of stainless steel constantly damages the chromium oxide finish. But chromium is highly attracted to the oxygen in the air and will bond with it, which means your stainless steel cookware will always self-repair after damage.  It wouldn’t if you were in an oxygen free environment, like the moon, but then rust needs oxygen to form a well so it wouldn’t matter.  I don’t know why I thought of that. 🙂

Overheating can cause other problems.  The inside of stainless steel cookware often gets lots of pits from the use of metal kitchen tools and acidic foods, like tomato sauce.  Hard water deposits can collect in these pits and will get charred and turn black when you severely overheat a dry pan.  You can read more about that here.

 

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Instant Brands files for bankruptcy

By on June 12, 2023 in Interesting

Talk about deja vu.  A popular cookware brand that took the world by storm, could be found in almost any kitchen, sales start slowing, competition grows, sales shrink, company files for bankruptcy.  It it like the story of Revere Ware over 50 years but it only took Instant Brands a decade to file for bankruptcy. file for bankruptcy.

But a few things about this bankruptcy make it even more interesting.  For one, the Instant Pot is essentially just a more modern rehash of what Revere Ware came out with in the 80’s, the Meal-n-Minutes pressure cooker.  Tell me these things don’t look alike:

But wait, there’s more.  In 2019, Corelle bought merged with Instant Pot.  So not only does the Instant Pot story resemble the Revere Ware story, but the same company now actually owns the Revere Ware brand.  One has to wonder if it isn’t the ghost of Revere Ware that ultimately caused the bankruptcy.  The successors to Revere Ware have bounced around in mediocrity for the better part of 4 decades, and now they are taking Instant Pot with them.

Another interesting thing is that the brand rollup that is Corelle Instant Brands also includes Ekco.  Ekco isn’t listed as one of the brands Instant Brands includes, but it is included in the bankruptcy filing.

I can’t say I’m mad at Corelle Instant Brands for killing off Revere Ware; the cookware they produced over the last 30 years was almost famous for it’s poor quality.  I think perhaps discontinuing the brand might have contributed to the renaissance Revere Ware is having in the hearts and minds of cooks across America.  There are 5 times as many Revere Ware pieces for sale on eBay now then there were when Revere Ware was still being sold.

In any event, we do happen to love our instant pot.  I must admit, my wife is the master; the only thing I can cook so far in the Instant Pot is rice.  But there are at least half a dozen alternatives to the Instant Pot, so I don’t think this type of appliance will be leaving our kitchens anytime soon, the outcome of the Instant Brands bankruptcy notwithstanding.

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Another Revere Ware aluminum core cautionary tale

By on June 11, 2023 in Tips

I can’t quite tell the model from the pictures I was sent, but clearly another catastrophic failure of the aluminum inside a Revere Ware sandwiched aluminum cookware piece:

I was boiling water so I could make macaroni. While heating the water the copper bottom melted completely fff of the pot and fell down into the burner; it was a melted blob.

We’ve gotten enough emails on failures like this that we recommend that everyone stop using Revere Ware with sandwiched aluminum cores.  So far we haven’t heard of serious injury but the potential for molten aluminum to cause a serious burn is there.

These types include models called:

  • Aluminum Disk Bottom Cookware
  • Try-Ply / slab bottom
  • 2000 Line
  • Some Micro-Fyers models have an aluminum disk bottom
  • Centura Clear

The ProLine series has a disc bottom but it has copper inside, which has a higher melting point and won’t suffer from the same issue.

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Amazon and the INFORM Act

By on June 4, 2023 in Amazon

You might think I am obsesses about Amazon given how much I write about them.  Consider though what a big part of everyone’s lives they have become in the last decade.  If you buy stuff, it is far more likely than not you buy at least some stuff from Amazon.  My household has done a lot of shopping on Amazon and I can trace my first purchase back to 1997.

Buying on Amazon is not without its challenges, and we all know that the reviews are almost always gamed and can not be trusted.  (I religiously use Fakespot for new purchase.)

But as a seller, I get a unique perspective on just how self-centered Amazon is, and how poorly they treat their sellers.  Part of the problem is that they extend far too generous terms in order to get people to compulsively buy from them.  Much of the brunt of this falls to sellers.  For example, too-generous return policy means buyers often just order things without bothering to read any of the listings, thinking they will just return it if it doesn’t work.  The downside of this is that sellers items get delisted if the % of returns are too high.  Sometimes this just means you have a product that people think will work in ways that it won’t and no amount of information in the list that people don’t read will change this.

Well this week two more things happened that made me think of the ridiculousness of Amazon.  The first is this removal I received yesterday.  A removal is a return that is considered not-resellable that the seller has opted to have sent back rather than destroyed.

Bakelite is a brittle material, so, packing like that (yes there was zero padding) isn’t the greatest.  Is this how they ship my products?

Secondly, Amazon has been really screwing up this required verification for the INFORM Act.  They first sent me such a request a month ago.

So I dutifully did as they asked.  Two weeks later, I got the same email.  This time, I went to the seller verification page and saw this:

Unfortunately that tells me nothing about what I need to provide additionally.  So I opened a case to ask what I needed to do.  Mind you, just opening a case with Amazon is a chore because they make you go through this process where they try to get you to accept some help information instead of contacting them, and it is hard to get to the point where you can open a case.  Eventually I got this response to my request.

Hello,

We have received your inquiry, but we cannot provide support on this matter.

Why is this happening?
Your account has been deactivated because you have yet to complete your registration. If that is the case, you will continue to have limited access to your selling account until you complete all pending tasks.

Say what?  They can’t help at all and instead deactivated my account.  I’ve been a seller in good standing for 14 years now.

I angrily responded and eventually got them to help.

Hello,

We reviewed the documents that you provided and were able to complete your verification process. You can now sign in to Seller Central and start selling on Amazon.

We’re here to help
If you have any further questions, you can contact Selling Partner Support:
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/cu/contact-us

The Seller Identity Verification team

Thank you for selling with Amazon,

Well thank goodness.  But here we are two weeks later and I get another seller verification email.  I’m not sure why they need to again verify my.

I am debating with myself on whether Amazon in this regard is just inept, malicious, or just don’t care about seller.

 

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NOS square skillet on eBay

By on May 28, 2023 in Ebay

In terms of Revere Ware unicorns, it doesn’t get much better than a new-old-stock square skillet, and there is one on eBay right now  for a reasonably low starting bit of $99.99.

Square skillets are rare (there are only 3 total on eBay right now) and a new unused one even rarer to the point that, I think, this might be the only one I have ever seen.

If you are a Revere Ware aficionado, this might be the next essential piece for your vintage collection.

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Wow wow wow! Buy this now!

By on May 25, 2023 in Ebay

You just do not see a price like this on a vintage era bale handle pot, rare as they are.  Even rarer, it has the bale handle Bakelite intact and in good shape.

If you ever thought you might want one of these, I urge you to buy it now!

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We are the news

By on May 23, 2023 in Interesting

The Revere Ware brand remains popular among enthusiasts and long time cookware owners, as evidenced by our strong sales of parts, and the growing amount of vintage Revere Ware cookware for sale on eBay.  But actual news about Revere Ware is thin on the ground.  If you search Google or any other search engine for “Revere Ware” you will mostly find (a) us, and (b) old, recycled content. And of course, people using the term in paid search results to grab web traffic, as we wrote about the other day.

This lack of real Revere Ware news is further evidenced by the above mentioned article becoming the news in our latest Google search alert for Revere Ware.

That gave me a good chuckle.

Update: And on it goes

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Amazon listings – another one bites the dust

By on April 25, 2023 in Amazon

If you’ve read our blog at all, you know we’ve got a lot to say about the deficiencies of Amazon’s seller marketplace, from the sellers perspective.

Oh Amazon

Shenamazonigans

Selling on Amazon; can this be fixed?

Whoops, Amazon did it again

Amazon.com and suspended listings

Amazon feedback – don’t believe what you read

That’s just a select few.

Well they did it again, with our replacement gasket for vintage pressure cookers.  The listing has been suspended and can not be reactivated.

By my calculations, over the last 12 months, 34 of 172 gaskets we’ve sold on Amazon.com have been returned; almost 20%.  The root of the return problem is Amazons excessively generous return policy; this motivates most customers not bother with the minimum amount of due diligence before ordering.  Combine that with the fact that Amazon routinely returns items to inventory that customers claimed were damaged, and you have the perfect storm for high returns, and the delisting of specialized replacement parts like ours.

It does appear that perhaps Amazon is taking some baby steps in the right direction.  Last month, they announced that they will start flagging items with high return rates with a “frequently returned item” tag.  I’m not sure if this is meant to truly help the problem or just mark certain items with a scarlet letter.

In any event, while we’ve tried to keep as many of our parts as possible available on Amazon for the convenience of the buyer, the headache of dealing with high returns for an items with modest sales just isn’t worth it; I am somewhat relieve to let this one go.

 

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Thermic-Ray aka Norrisware

By on April 16, 2023 in History, Uncategorized

The popularity of Revere Ware in the 1940’s undoubtedly motivated some copycats.  One of these which was recently brought to our attention by reader Jim is Thermic-Ray cookware.  Jim writes:

I found a few pans in a local thrift store made by Norris Stamping and Manufacturing Co., of Los Angeles CA under the trade name of “Thermic-Ray”. Same basic design as Revere Ware, but the handles don’t seem as well made.  They were produced for a few years after the War.
Norris Stamping and Manufacturing Co., maker of Thermic-Ray, had come through WW2 as the largest manufacturer of all-steel bomb and artillery shell casings. I’m sure they were searching for peacetime business, hence this cookware. But by 1951, Norris dropped Thermic-Ray, renaming it Norrisware.
I believe at some point they gave up on copper bottoms, and went with all stainless steel designs. In 1967, Norris eventually sold the line to Regal Ware.
Here is an ad I found from 1947.
The “It’s Here!” at the top makes me think this is somewhere near the introduction of the line.   Searching the California newspaper archives shows ads only through 1951.
You can clearly see the decline in ads from 1949 on.  The brand doesn’t seem to have taken hold very well.  Interestingly though, the term also pops up in 1973.  Here is an add from that year.
Perhaps Regal Ware went back to their roots and dug up the Thermic-Ray brand name to see if it would catch on.  You can see that the cookware looks like Regal Ware cookware and not Thermic-Ray cookware.
The Norrisware brand shows up in Calfornia newspapers from 1949 through 1963.
This seems to be when they first started transitioning the name.
And sure enough, by 1963, they had transitioned to stainless steel cookware.
So, how good exactly was Thermic-Ray / Norrisware?  To evaluate them, I bought a 4 quart Dutch oven and a 7 inch sauce pan from eBay; they both have the Thermic-Ray stamp.  In terms of quality, to me, they seem relatively solid and comparable to similar Revere Ware items.  The cookware isn’t unattractive.  Here they are side-by-side with their Revere Ware equivalents.
Revere ware Thermic-Ray
4 quart Dutch oven 54.1 oz 46.2 oz -15%
7 inch sauce pan 26.2 oz 29.5 oz 13%

As you can see, from a weight perspective, the Revere Ware Dutch oven is 15% heavier than the Thermic-Ray, but the Thermic-Ray sauce pan is 13% heavier than the Revere Ware one.  I’d call them pretty comparable overall.  The Thermic-Ray copper bottom does feel solid and substantial, unlike Revere Ware copper bottoms after 1968.

Price-wise, a 6 quart Dutch Revere Ware Dutch oven was selling for $11.25 in 1949 while a similar Thermic-Ray one was selling for $9.50.  I think in the anals of history, it seems likely that Revere Ware was too much of a household name at that time for a brand like Thermic-Ray to beat, if they didn’t get significant traction even selling at a 15% discount.

 

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