steel pan

[zippy1wood]

Hello new to this site learned alot from everyones discusions,I have been
tapping maples three years know,My question is Im getting a pan thats made of steel not stainless. Is this safe to use if its clean or will I get a off flavor?
Its a 2x4 cross flow? homemade but built well dont want to buy if its not good to use steel,Thanks for info

[brookledge]

If the pans are plain steel then I think you are going to have problems. I wonder if the pans are actually English tin? But you said they were homemade, so if it is plain steel then they will always rust and will give you problems with flavor and color.
On the otherhand if they are English tin they will offer more resistance to rust but can still rust over time. English tin was widely used prior to the push to go stainless. I would also stay away from galvanized pans, they too will rust over time.
Keith

[Bucket Head]

Zippy,

Do you know the history of this pan? It only had sap in it?? It might be "dirty" looking, but is it rust free right now?

I would not shy away from a steel pan, but it would depend on the answers to those questions.

If you check out my photobucket pics, you will see under the early years album, our first "pan" which was made from mild 1/8" sheet steel. Its the one where I'm sqautting down in front of it adding wood.

My father had it made. New steel, MIG welded. It never rusted, and this is why. The bottom was covered completely with soot after the first five minutes of use. This "sealed" the bottom and sides. The inside, eventually, builds up your usual coating of sugar sand, that was never "scrubbed off". We would wash it out, but we would never remove the buildup. This "sealed" the inside of the pan.

Yes, the syrup from it was dark. All syrup done batch style, over an open fire looks like used motor oil. Ours did, and it was delicious!

Doing it this way will prevent the pan from rusting. We used that pan for years with no problems.

Steve

[zippy1wood]

Hello new to this site learned alot from everyones discusions,I have been
tapping maples three years know,My question is Im getting a pan thats made of steel not stainless. Is this safe to use if its clean or will I get a off flavor?
Its a 2x4 cross flow? homemade but built well dont want to buy if its not good to use steel,Thanks for info

Yes pan is at least 1/8 steel rolled edges seperation in the center with hole
to cross over looks factorey and not really rusty at all Thanks. ya I get
look from the nieghbors also ,as they sit on there lazy!@#@!@@