American Foundry Society has a new magazine to try to attract people to the trade, very slick /http://meltingpoint.squarespace.com/digitalmagazine/ FoundryJoe
That is a cool magazine. Thanks for posting. The story about Lodge cookware is especially interesting. (Vol.2, Issue 2). Sounds like the country/world just can't get enough cast iron cookware. Joke of the Day: What do you call a cast iron pot that is worn like a hat? Cookwear. (sorry, couldn't resist) I can't imagine how much Lodge has spent on new furnaces. They do have some really cool new stuff out. Seems like last time I saw their display, they had mini cookware, etc. Iron seems to have an allure; call it old-school or whatever. The only thing I have found it not cool for is backpacking; definitely not cool with backpacking unless you have several pack mules with you. Edit: The story mentions that new furnaces were added in 2013, with new molding line that create 1680 skillet molds per hour. (No doubt they spent many millions of dollars expanding). The day after the expansion was completed in 2014, Lodge was at 100% capacity, so they are expanding yet again. We need more success stories like that around here.
Lodge just fired up the second foundry they built in town. They are now running four 10 ton induction furnaces. http://www.lodgemfg.com/story/lodges-2nd-foundry-now-up-running I just picked up a set of the wildlife series skillets. http://shop.lodgemfg.com/