Back2Life Cast Iron Restoration is a woman-owned business in Eastern Iowa specializing in the restoration of cast iron pans, pots, enameled iron, and other implements.
I’ve restored close to 500 pans, dutch ovens, advertising samples, and other various kitchenware items since starting on this hobby in 2014. I’ve kept far too many for myself, given as many as I can to friends and family, sold others at garage sales, and have many more that still need to find a good home. I love to help people learn how to care for their cast iron and help them understand it’s a learning process that can bring so much joy once they’ve figured it out; or give suggestions to folks who already have pans but have gotten rusted or a sticky buildup over time, and how to remedy that so they can cook with them again.
Besides the cast iron that’s used to cook or store food, I’ve collected and restored about 250 miniature advertising skillets/ashtrays plus other iron/metal advertising items that were handed out by salesmen to promote their products. I enjoy researching the history of the pans and the people involved and will be posting more on those as time allows. There doesn’t seem to be a place online that gives this information easily for most salesman products, so I end up spending hours reading through online newspapers and websites to get an idea of the important dates and main people involved with a company.