Is Your Old Rolling Pin Worth Money? 5 Ways to Tell

That old rolling pin has a heart, and if you know

where to look, you can find it.

You might wanna think twice before fixing that old bent rod in your

rolling pin because it could be worth a lot more than just a memory.

And Grandma's rolling pin never talked, but oh, honey, the

evidence of what's happened in her kitchen is written all over it.

Wanna know more about what's rolling out in this episode?

Stay tuned because we're talking rolling pins, big, small, little, and

yes, with delicious outcomes for sure

Well, when I received my latest rolling pin, my father

put a Post-it Note on this pen.

It's yellow, crinkled, his handwriting, and it was stuck to the barrel.

Oh, I've gotta see what this one's gonna say

It literally said, "Rolling pin, Grandma Spivey, glass/Mom."

I don't get that one.

Glass/Mom

That's it.

I still haven't figured out, but I did find a lot about my

great-grandmother's rolling pin.

So That's probably everything anybody ever wrote about this rolling pin, and I

can't tell you about half of what it means

Okay, on that note, welcome to Family Tree Food Stories.

I'm Nancy May

And I'm Sylvia France.

Thank you so much for being here,

And before we start, would you please go to

Podcast.FamilyTreeFoodStories.com and like, share, and subscribe to the show.

Because as we always like to say, every meal has a story,

and every story is a feast.

And this is a little shift in what we're doing.

It's the first of a series we're calling the Evidence-Based Series.

Six weeks, six things sitting in your kitchen right now, and what each one can

tell you about the people it came from

Or at least where it was made.

So Follow the show so you get the other five.

And if you got 30 seconds, a review is how anybody new ever

find us, and you can also share too

Of course.

Sharing is caring, as they say.

And hello to Tukwila, Washington.

We've got a few people out there, actually it seems like a lot of

people out there who are listening, so we wanna give you a shout-out.

It's a beautiful state, and thank you for listening and joining us at our table

Tell us what you want to go after this episode.

Somebody wrote about butter molds, so we're now got it on our list of to-dos

We do.

God, there's so much going on with butter too.

But let's get going because this one we're talking about something that

maybe was left behind or given to you

Somebody dies or downsizes and a box lands into the hands of

daughter, son, or grandchild who cares.

Many times it contains photographs, recipe cards, costume jewelry,

all of the little things

And you know, Sylvia, if you're lucky, it's a rolling pin,

which usually has a few stories, if not more, and memories attached to it.

Because I don't know about you, actually I think I do know about you, mine has

a lot of stories, and I think yours has got a lot more than mine, actually

Well, you didn't have a Post-it Note, so I'm ahead

No, I didn't.

So, the rolling pin might be of real value beyond the story.

Some could bring thousands of dollars.

Others might be worth only 20, 30, or in some cases nothing.

You'll probably don't know which one is the one.

Think antique roadshow, right?

it's one of my favorite shows.

Mine didn't come in a box, and mom thankfully wasn't

gone when she gave it to me.

she just asked if I wanted it when they moved to Florida.

. And of course, I said yes, because that's the one we always used.

But I also bought three more.

I've decided I've become a little fanatic about rolling pins.

You know, every time I go into one of those antique junk shops, there's

stacks of them, And that's where I usually end up looking, in all

the rolling pins for some reason.

I don't know why

Well, there's an interesting, um, fact that I found

that over 70% of households in the United States actually have

rolling pins, but only 14% of the households actually use them

Well, maybe we can change that in this show, right?

Yes.

And I got my pin because my parents downsized, or at least one of

the four, and they wanted me to have my great-grandmother's pin

to go to the family historian.

And yes, I'm the appointed one

Of course

And ask us both what it's worth, and you'll probably

get several different answers

Yep, I'd tell you what I paid and of course the story connected

with my mom's, which was nothing, but I got paid in a lot of memories

And I'll tell you who held it, even though I never met her

So here's the deal.

We're gonna give you three things to look at when you pull out your rolling

pin to make a pie shell or Christmas cookies, and you'll have an interesting

story to share at your next family gathering or maybe with friends, that

we can promise, , and likely more than any of your siblings knew as well

Oh, I like that, especially when I know more than my

Sibling rivalry.

You have a sister, I have a brother.

I know it well.

So . now, if you can, before we start, go get that rolling pin

that's sitting in your cabinet.

It's likely not in your drawer because most of them are just too

long to fit, or at least mine are

So let's start building that story around it now.

how did you first find yours, Sylvia?

Well, I actually thought I had three, they were stuffed in

the cabinet with all my other kitchen goodies like cutting boards and

cooling racks, and I found the fourth

Ooh.

Oh, okay, Sylvia, let's keep our tradition going.

Well, let's say let's keep it rolling

Oh, Nancy, is that yet another one of your bad food puns?

You just can't help yourself, can you sometimes?

a punny person.

What can I say?

Yes, that's pun central.

But before we get to pulling out the rolling pins or hopefully

while everybody's out pulling out their rolling pins, let's do our

tradition, which is glasses up

To whatever's just about to roll off your countertop

. Nancy May: Cheers to the rolling pin and what history our moms

and dads and grandmas have behind it, and the secrets they know

So before you look at anything on your rolling pin, answer

How did you get yours, Nancy?

Well, there's usually a few typical ways that you get them:

inherited, a gift, bought new, an estate sale or garage sale, or in two of my

cases, junk and consignment shops.

But my mom's is my favorites

If yours was inherited, you've at least got a

person and a story to start with.

It's just not an object.

You know it was hers, and hopefully some connection to what she made with it

And the estate sale is the one that people typically write off.

Everything in there generally just came out of one household

So it was somebody's, not yours, but it still has a ton

of stories behind it, I'm sure

Yeah, and a dealer may already know about some of the secrets

hiding in that pin that you have.

So let's start with a few of those things and start with looking at yours, Sylvia

All right.

First, look at the shape because the shape tells you what the pin was built to do

And what shape is yours?

It's solid wood, tapers at both ends, no handles.

That's a French pin.

That's what professionals use

Did you know that at the time that you got it?

Actually, I did because it was a promo, a gift by some of the

manufacturers at a cooking school/kitchen gadget shop that I worked at

Lucky Dog.

I was.

I had some really nice mice and other things

and so how does the taper work on it?

Because it's tapered on either ends, right?

Yeah, you use it as a pivot so you can feel the

dough right through the wood

Okay, and then there's the American, the fat barrel, two

handles, rod down the middle so that there's handles that turn.

That's the one that I have from my mom

I have one of those, which is what most people picture

when they think of a rolling pin

And that's fine for crusts and pies.

I've got one with the adjustable rings also which I picked up at

one of those junk shops, and it holds off, you know, at the center.

I don't particularly like that because when the dough gets really

large, the ends get cut off.

You know, it sort of rolls off the edge of the pie crust, and it gets flat.

Not my favorite

Well, that's really annoying the way you described it.

That would drive me nuts.

Unless the only thing I've heard that when I was in the cooking school,

what's nice is professional bakers who are proficient in cookies, that's

perfect for them because they need a consistent, size across, dozens of cookies

Ah, so we had Magdalena in a, one of our shows way back

when, actually for last winter, who was telling me about how to make

Swedish ginger cookies, which I made.

I didn't have that pin at the time, but that would work perfect because

they have to get really thin, and one of our neighbors who's Swedish at

Christmas time said the cookies were delicious, but they weren't thin enough.

So we'll use that next time

I like to call them bumpers.

So it's like you really can't mess up when, you know, but

it is, it's a rectangle.

If you need something wider, it can be a pain in the butt

So that's totally it, but yes, it's annoying otherwise

And then There's also a straight dowel for flatbreads, a carved

one for stamping cookies, which would've been perfect for your ginger cookies, and

a little one-hand v-version for dumplings

And yours

And then the one my great-grandmother had,

which doesn't fit any of those.

The handles don't turn, even though it looks like it should, and they're

part of the same piece of wood

Hmm, that's interesting.

I've never heard of those.

, But what was the first thing that you learned about that one?

' Sylvia France: Well, first thing is that there's plenty

of old pins that are like that.

If yours doesn't match a category, that's not a dead end.

That's actually a clue

So I went looking into the story of that kind of pin because

non-rotating handles sounds like it would be actually pretty difficult

to use versus the flat French one

No, not really.

But before we go there, let's dig into the history of our pins

, Nancy May: The first connections to them, it seems like every food story

starts there, was in Mesopotamia

Yep, Mesopotamia yet again.

Like the Bob stories, they keep showing up.

But this time it was about 6,000 years ago

Those were actually used to make bread, beer of all things, I

can't figure that one out, cheese, and anything that needed to be large and flat.

. . I'm beginning to think that those folks in Mesopotamia were the ones

responsible for inventing just about everything in the kitchen.

Well, maybe except for the KitchenAid

Aren't we glad we still have that?

So Mesopotamia gets the credit for a lot.

Well, almost everything, honestly, that's cookware

And the rolling pins, there is the one that's really got me though

Which is

Most of the world doesn't even use handles at all.

, China rolls out dough with a plain wooden rod.

India has the Belan.

Turkey has the oklava.

I s- I think I'm pronouncing that right.

And Italy has the mattarello.

I'm not Italian, so excuse me, folks.

I

Forgive her New York

need an Italian nonna to tell me that one for sure

Well, I'm a nona but not Italian.

and what's kind of ironic is all of them are just plain sticks or dowels

every one of them is a stick, and I've even read that you

can use a PVC pipe if you wanted to.

But they didn't have PVC back in Mesopotamia then, so I think I just

like saying that word, Mesopotamia.

But the different regions didn't have handles on theirs either.

A flat barrel, two handles, turns up in Europe and America,

mostly stays put right there

So the pin most of our listeners own is the strange one actually

Yeah, , the odd man out or the odd pin out.

And there's no hard record noting when they even added them and why

Nobody recorded why?

That seems strange

Well, hold onto that because it's gonna turn, ha-ha,

another pun, into an argument later on

I'd love to roll pasta paper thin the way they do in Italy.

It takes years to learn how to do it well, and I'm in awe

of the women who can do this.

It's like second nature to them, and it's almost translucent

Ooh, I haven't seen that before, but you'd

need a stick for that one

A stick and about a . Decade or so of practice,

but I'll admit something.

When I don't want to wash my rolling pin because they're kind of awkward, I've been

known to pull a glass out off the shelf

Okay.

I get that.

Well, you know, rolling pins can also be used as

a great meat tenderizer as well

Nah, that's what I use the wine bottle for occasionally And then drinking

Why, I'm not surprised

Well, that's enough sarcasm, I think, you know, or our punny stories.

, But the next time you will not get a glass at our house, you're gonna get

the rolling pin , , so now let's take a look at what these pins are made of

Well, that's kind of obvious.

You'll know by just picking it up and actually looking at it.

It's typically , wood, plastic, glass, marble, steel.

Some older are ceramic, and I actually heard they make them out

of silicone as well these days

Ooh, I haven't seen those yet.

Each picked for a reason or a purpose because of its use.

The marble and the steel are designed to stay cold so your butter doesn't go

soft while you're working, - and that cold butter actually helps everything

rise better too, and stay flaky

So how about the hollow ones?

How do they work

Well, the glass and the plastic are the hollow ones.

. You fill them with cold water or ice water.

And you can put them in the freezer to chill, except I'd be careful about that

with the glass , and the wood can't go anywhere near water, obviously.

, Same often with ceramic , - because the old ones had printed

advertising slogans on them

So - Now let's move on to the barrel type.

Mine actually has a plastic collar where the handle meets the barrel.

I bought it new and it looks new

And that's the one that you forgot, I'm gonna guess

Yep, it hasn't been used much.

That's the one I forgot.

And the fourth pin that I have was actually a birthday present.

- A friend of mine retired, likes making things cherry oak glue together

So why did he use two different types of wood?

Is there a particular reason for that?

.. Sylvia France: Nobody laminates or glues the pin wood together for strength.

He just liked how they looked side by side, and it is beautiful

Aw, that's really sweet.

But , hold that for a second because I have to tell everybody what my Bob

nearly did to an old one that I just got

Right after this.

Stay tuned

.. Nancy May: So yes, we're back and with yet another Bob story.

We have to get him in here on the show, right?

I love Bob's stories.

So what did he try to do this time?

Well, I found this beautiful heavy old wood rolling pin at one of

those antique kind of consignment shops.

I picked it up and it just felt beautiful and was absolutely gorgeous.

I haven't used it yet, but Bob took one look it and announced he could fix it

What did he need to fix?

Well, there is this iron bar that runs through the middle so

that the handles roll on it, and it's bent just on one side just a little

bit so it's not perfectly even.

And he was gonna take it apart, cut the bar out, and put a new one in

And then

Well, first of all, I freaked and I said, "No, it adds character."

And he said, "Nonsense." But then he took a second look and he said somebody

had put a bolt and a nut at the end, and well, Bob does some blacksmithing,

not horseshoe blacksmithing, but ironworking, and he knew exactly

what the metal was made out of.

And he stopped and said, " This one gets left alone

So he actually wasn't being careless this time

No, he wasn't.

He was trying to help me, but he knew the ways of his errors

Well, I understand that you need to do more research

on that one because it's a regional anomaly having a metal bar between

the barrels, ' so more clues for you

We're gonna have to dig that one out for sure.

But I bent it back just a little bit myself by gently slowing and

pushing on the end, and it's perfect.

Still has a little twist to it, but I think that's the charming of it.

It says somebody actually used it

Well, when people try to take it apart because it doesn't work

how they think it should, sometimes that's when things just totally disappear

And they can never go back together again,

No, never.

Not the same way

So yes, I left the flaw in on this one , and I love it just that way

I can't wait to see it next time I'm at your place.

Now, the one thing that finally got me thinking about my grandma's

pin is asking, was it handmade or was it made by a factory?

Well, let's talk about how to tell about that one, because you

have to stand it up on one end, look straight down the barrel, then flip

it over and look at the other end

Yes, it's dead center both times.

And mine don't match at all.

They're both different on each end

Oh, that's interesting.

And what do you think that means?

Well, it means it shows how it was made.

So the one at one end was torn a bit, it was lifted wood, and there was a

dark hole on either side, a raised patch

And that's I'm gonna guess the lathe gripped

it when they were spinning it.

'Cause that's kind of what it sounds like

You are a smart girl.

I know.

The other end has a little smooth dent, a neat cone

pressed into the wood kind of upward

So it got spun and nobody bothered to even sand the two ends

down, just leaving the character like my bent rolling pin handle

Which is what happens in a factory process is when they smooth it off

Every time I like the character,

, Sylvia France: So can you tell me a little bit more if it's not wood?

Well, if it's not wood, glass has a faint seam typically running right

down the side from where it's molded.

Marble hasn't gotten one of those because, well, marble gets cut, not poured

And there's one more thing on my great grandma's pen.

-, a crack running out one handle and down the barrel.

I always figured it was just character too

So it's actually more than that.

Your pen started out as a full tree from what I understand.

It was cut and whittled down from the main piece of the tree, which

I learned from my friend Peanut up at the sawmill in Sumpter, is

where the heart of the tree is.

So your pin actually has a heart.

Those rings you see at the end tell you where the center of the tree is and how

old it was when the pins were made.

And those pins often split

So it was interesting that the crack was settled

the day someone cut the blank.

It wasn't after years of use

Nope, it wasn't, and it likely didn't happen then, but it

did happen as the wood dried, and the collectors love hunting for those cracks.

So describe hunting for them

Well, small cracks are how you know a wooden pin is

really old 'cause it takes time for

that wood just to sort of get to that point of where the crack is gonna go

And in glass

Well, I think that's pretty obvious, Sylvia.

A crack in a glass totally wrecks the pin and the value.

Those get collected to look at, not to use.

It's just too dangerous, especially in the ceramic ones, , which can have

lead in the paint in the ceramics

See, I would actually think about it could be chunks

in the dough, which is not good.

So it's same flaw, different verdict, and it all depends

entirely on what they're made of

Yes, but now we're gonna look to see if we can find a name on your pin.

There are only three places to really look for those

Which three?

Well, first the middle of the barrel, then the

flat end, and then the handle

Nobody actually looks at the handle, which is a huge miss

I agree.

And .. because that's where your hand is, and take it to

a window and turn it slowly.

Usually there's a worn stamp, well, probably 'cause of years of use.

If it's more than the 40% of the people who were not using them, or were using

them, I can't remember that number at the

It was only 14% of

the 17%.

14%.

So typically it only shows at an angle though because of the age and the wear

Most wooden pins have nothing at all.

If you do find something, write it down as you see it

So, and yours, does yours have a name on the pin?

Yes, my French pin does.

Mine says JK Adams with a little arrow, and I understand

they are in Dorset, Vermont

Hmm.

So French Pen, Dorset, Vermont.

it's a family company that started in a garage in 1944 and is still

running, and I have another secret about Vermont and Dorset

I was wondering there had to be a story about Dorset

Of course.

Bob and I actually honeymooned at the Little Inn in Dorset

So that pin has a name, a town, and a date on it.

My great-grandmother's had nothing whatsoever except for a Post-it Note

And although it's the same basic purpose, it's a rolling pin

crafted purposely to have a brand name or a slogan on it the entire length.

These are the Victorian ones, the ceramic printed one with smallish kind of letters,

usually blue or black on a white barrel.

I've seen those at a place called Washed and Worn down here.

I love that shop

So you're telling me they had advertising on a

rolling pin, but it does kinda make sense, especially with flour

absolutely.

- And it was used predominantly when you added lard to pastry because the pin, the

ceramic, was cool and kept that lard cool.

And you'd get them from your local grocer who handed them out to his

customers probably like, I don't know, sample crackers at Costco.

Although I would've, I, think I would've liked the rolling

pin over the sample crackers.

But then the plastic came along, and the same thing, although the brand

name , was on the plastic pin's end cap, and it was molded into the end of those

So did you find any of those clues on your pins?

Nope, I don't have plastic, I don't have glass,

and I don't have ceramic.

Not on any four of them.

But the big heavy one that I just recently got has kind of a half circle

burnt into it on the end, and it looks like it might just even be a mistake

Or a mark, a clue, our Kitchen Sleuth clue

I'm gonna let you do the k- kitchen sleuth on that one.

I don't know which, but I'd rather say I don't know and then,

well, just let it be a mystery.

Our kitchen mystery

. Sylvia France: All right.

The argument you told me to hold on

Yep, here we go, the handles

Everywhere you look, you'll read that turning handles

arrived with the invention in the 1800s.

So if yours doesn't turn, it must be older than that

I don't know, but here's something else that I

heard that I just absolutely love.

It was a dough invention that I learned about and was patented in 1884

I think it was a dough kneader, a machine,

two grooved rollers in a box.

It's not a rolling pin at all.

Let's add the story of the women who invented this

Well, it was one woman, and I love this because it was the idea

of the rolling pins and the handles and the grandmas that really were

used and connected to the patent, and that's how they get those dates.

But some people are just dating it back on their own antique pins

as it connected to this woman who created the bowling pin machine,

Well, no one can really fully attest to when

the handles were added, so the argument is still pretty open

Okay, now , let's go look at the last thing to inspect

on our own old rolling pins first.

This is the thing most people don't even think about, , or even why some of us

just toss it out, , and don't save them.

And that's where it's worn

Warren

Well, , like where one handle might be slightly thinner than the other,

a spot on the barrel that's a little paler or darker, or smoother under the thumb.

you know that somebody loved it and used it quite frequently.

Mine came from my mom's, and it's the one that feels just right in my hand.

It makes this clacking sound.

I have no idea why, but honestly, it just feels that Mom's right

there with me every time I use it

Aw, I really love that, Nancy

I do too, which is why I never really got rid of it.

It's not fancy.

It's probably from the '60s or so when she got it.

But eventually, it'll get worn around the same way that everybody else's, which

tells you it got used and washed the same way time after time, year after year,

there's that smoothness to it

See, mine's the opposite.

The barrel's been scrubbed and pale and both handles have gone dark

. Nancy May: So with yours, your grandmother likely washed and held one

end and washed it with the other hand

And some pins have no wear on them at all, and they

would also belong to my mother

Because they never really got used, right?

And in England, they hung them in parlor walls, and the story goes

that they came right down to the exactly once that they were used.

They rolled out pastry for these fancy ones, for a wedding or a funeral

Is that true?

Well, that's what the collectors say at least.

I'd add this one to another folklore list because, uh, well,

I'll just leave it right there.

It seems kind of strange that somebody would hang , a rolling pin

up on their parlor and not use it

So I'm gonna tell you about one more pen that I actually don't have.

It was the one my mom had.

It was hollow plastic, kind of this mustard yellow, and you

had to unscrew it on the end

Ah, marigold yellow I'm gonna guess, likely Tupperware

That's it.

And I cannot see her using it, not once.

Well, she didn't bake as I understand, right?

Not

know what happens when she bakes.

Nope, nope, nope,

Just that one birthday cake and a catastrophe, and you

usually don't need a rolling pin for a birthday cake, Sylvia, right?

No, she just needed a box of toothpicks and

a carousel to hide everything.

So , she'll tell you herself she doesn't cook.

She made pecan pies though, but store-bought crust

well, so her rolling pin sat in the cabinet, that mustard yellow one

It was ugly.

I'm going to bet at least one of our listeners has

did you say?

I didn't hear that one.

Did you say it was ugly?

it was ugly.

But you know, now it's worth a lot of money.

I wish I'd have kept it.

I'm sure one of our listeners has one of those Tupperware pins, and I'm jealous.

, Or just a rolling pin that no one ever used.

That counts.

It means somebody thought a kitchen was supposed to have one

And the store-bought crust tells you which part of the pie she

really cared about, I guess, the most

Yes, the pecans, 'cause we lived in a pecan grove.

And so , that was, um, forced labor.

We'd have to go pick up pecans when we were little.

Lucky you.

I wouldn't describe it that way.

So what's the story your pin?

Finally gave up?

It was the one my dad gave me

And whose was that?

Well, when I saw it, I originally thought it was my Grandma

Spivey, and I realized it was his Grandma Spivey, so that would be my great-grandma,

' .. i don't know what the glass was, but the glass was Mom, and that's how

I kind of put the puzzle together.

That's kind of interesting.

So that's the Post-it Note at the beginning of the show that we talked about

Yes, it is.

And her name was actually Willie Mae Marie Spears, born 1888 in Georgia

And Spivey is your maiden name

Which is how I knew what side of the family came from

Well, so now your pen has provenance as well

as a little flower on it.

And everything we talked about and shared, the sticky note, and well, that kind

of proves it too with your dad's story.

I love it

I know.

I still don't know what Glass means, but I know- who his mom was, so,

you know, at least I can kind of get a little bit of information

Well, I love that story

Yes.

But before we go, tell me about your mother's pen and a

memory that you have from it.

You speak of it so fondly

yeah.

That clack, clack, clack on that rolling pin.

I'll have to record that and share that in our Facebook group.

But we made sheep cookies together with that rolling pin

Sheep cookies, really?

Yes.

No, it wasn't sheep meat or mutton.

But one year I was down visiting them.

And we found a picture… You know how at Christmastime you buy all these

magazines and you look at the recipes and the pictures and the decorations

that you're never gonna do, right?

So what did you do?

Well, we found this picture that had these cute sheep cookies.

They were big and fat, about the size of your hand, and they were all lined up on

ribbons on somebody's fireplace ledge

So we didn't have a recipe, we didn't have a cookie cutter, but I had a picture.

And I figured plain sugar cookies, so we got the recipe for that,

and no sheep cookie cookie cutter.

So you know what I did?

Let me guess, you made a template

I did, with cardboard.

So we made a cardboard template, cut each of those cookies out with a sharp

knife, and , rolled them out, cooked them, put raisins in for eyes, a

little red ribbon from some icing, and then hung them with a hole on the top

of each cookie off their fireplace.

It looked perfect, just like the picture

Oh, I wish I could have seen it.

I hope you have pictures

Well, it became a tradition,

And Bob calls them not sheep cookies, he calls them sheep pig cookies.

They are enormous

And that's exactly where all of this stops working.

Meaning?

I can tell you how that wood was cut and

where the machine held it.

I could never get a cardboard sheep out of it.. That only exists because you said

you could do it together with your mom

Yeah, well mom watched and I did it which is okay.

Isn't that how that always goes?

But we had fun and that was part of the memory.

And yes, those cookies became a Christmas tradition in our house.

. Although I haven't done them in a few years, so now is the time to do

it and start that tradition up again

Well, you said I was invited to your Christmas party,

so I, expect to see them hung up with care when I get there.

And if you listeners are in Florida and you wanna come

to a Christmas party, just give me a little warning in advance.

So now let's wrap up this Rolling Pin show because we've got five things that

you can take with you about rolling pins

One, if the handle turns, there's a rod through the middle.

If they don't, it's one piece of wood and it's older

Two, look where the handle meets the barrel.

Plastic means modern.

Metal or bare wood usually means they're a little older

Three, look at the ends dead center.

Marks that don't match mean somebody made it by hand and never finished it

Four, hunt for a name.

It's either in the middle, the end, or on the handles.

A name and a town is the only thing that they'll typically identify

your rolling pin in 100 years or so.

Think Dorset, Vermont, although they're not 100 years old

But five, the pin will tell you how it was made.

It will not tell you who owned it

so write that part down.

What you find, keep it in a note with an object next to the cabinet

wherever you keep your rolling pins, or ideally in the My Family Tree Food and

Stories book with your recipes, right?

And in a cabinet.

Tape it inside the door, because it's got a story

And if you don't have any of those, you can

always write it on a crinkled old Post-it Note and hope it sticks.

Yes.

So on that note, glasses up

To Willie Marie Sears Spivey and to ever cut a piece of tree

into a rolling pin and never signed it

All right, that's where the heart of your rolling

pin is, just like the tree.

And if somebody you know has a kitchen mystery that they've been meaning to

get to the bottom of, send it to us

And send us a photograph of the end of your rolling pin, just the end

And , somebody wrote that a good rolling pin is on

par with a cast iron skillet

I will second that.

Two tools, no moving parts, and they outlast everybody

who owns them most of the time

W- most of the times, right?

Which brings us to next Thursday, cast iron, not one piece.

The skillet, the griddle, the Dutch oven, the bread pans.

There's a lot more about cast iron than I ever even thought ever existed

And it's also one of my favorite stories my

great-grandmother's cast iron pan.

Ooh

On many cast iron pans, there's a mark on the bottom

that most people read as damage.

It isn't damage,

Find it all out next week

Happy cooking, happy experimenting, and happy kitchen sleuthing

Yes.

And rolling.

Bye-bye