{"product_id":"androck-flexible-stainless-turner-with-marbled-red-catalin-handle-rockford-illinois-c-1935-1955","title":"Androck Flexible Stainless Turner with Marbled Red Catalin Handle, Rockford Illinois, c. 1935–1955","description":"\u003ch3\u003eThe Piece\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA wide kitchen turner in bright stainless steel, with a deep marbled red handle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cstrong\u003eblade is broad and thin\u003c\/strong\u003e, square across the end with softened corners, and it \u003cstrong\u003eflexes under thumb pressure\u003c\/strong\u003e — built to slide under something and lift it rather than to lever or scrape.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is joined by a \u003cstrong\u003estamped steel shoulder plate secured with three rivets\u003c\/strong\u003e, drawn down into a formed neck that steps up to the handle, so the blade sits below the line of the grip.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStamped into the shoulder: \u003cstrong\u003eAndrock\u003c\/strong\u003e in script, with \u003cstrong\u003eSTAINLESS STEEL\u003c\/strong\u003e beneath it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe handle is a solid bar of \u003cstrong\u003emarbled cherry-red plastic\u003c\/strong\u003e — deep, translucent at the edges, with the swirl running through the body rather than printed on it — squared in section, tapering, and pierced at the end to hang.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eHistory \u0026amp; Provenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAndrock is an American kitchen name that came out of a merger and a place.\u003c\/strong\u003e The name dates from 1917, formed when a Chicago wire goods division joined \u003cstrong\u003eAndrews Wire and Iron Works of Rockford, Illinois\u003c\/strong\u003e — \u003cem\u003eAnd\u003c\/em\u003erews plus \u003cem\u003eRock\u003c\/em\u003eford. The parent business ran back further: Charles Washburn started in 1880, the Wire Goods Company followed in 1882, and from 1922 the whole operation traded as \u003cstrong\u003eThe Washburn Company\u003c\/strong\u003e, working out of Rockford and Worcester, Massachusetts. Production finally ceased in \u003cstrong\u003e1975\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTheir handles are how you date them, and this is the early kind.\u003c\/strong\u003e Androck used \u003cstrong\u003emarbled Catalin-type plastic\u003c\/strong\u003e before the war — deep translucent reds, greens, butterscotch and jade, cast in rod and cut to length, with the swirl running right through the material. After the war they moved to flat opaque moulded plastics and, through the fifties, to printed atomic and starburst graphics. A solid marbled red bar with depth in it belongs to the earlier period.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe blade is stainless, and that is the other half of the date.\u003c\/strong\u003e Stainless flatware and utensils moved from novelty to normal through the 1930s; before that a turner like this was tinned or nickel-plated carbon steel, and it stained. Stamping STAINLESS STEEL into the shoulder was a selling point, which is why it is there.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe flex is the design.\u003c\/strong\u003e A stiff blade lifts a fried egg by breaking it. A thin blade with give runs flat along the pan, takes the food's weight across its whole width and comes up clean — and the stepped neck is there so your knuckles clear the rim. Three rivets through a stamped shoulder is how you make that join survive forty years of being levered on, which it plainly has.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDated on the marbled Catalin-type handle, the stamped stainless blade and the riveted shoulder construction: \u003cstrong\u003ec. 1935–1955\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ctable border=\"1\" cellpadding=\"8\" cellspacing=\"0\" style=\"width:100%; border-collapse:collapse;\"\u003e\n  \u003cthead\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left; vertical-align:top;\"\u003eField\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left; vertical-align:top;\"\u003eDetail\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\u003c\/thead\u003e\n  \u003ctbody\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eObject\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eKitchen turner with a wide flexible blade. Approx. 11 in long overall, blade approx. 3½ in across.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eOrigin\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eAndrock, The Washburn Company, Rockford, Illinois, USA\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eForm\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eBroad thin flexing blade, square-ended with softened corners, joined by a three-rivet stamped shoulder plate and a stepped neck so the blade sits below the grip line; squared tapering handle pierced to hang\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMaterial\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eStainless steel blade with a marbled red cast-plastic handle of Catalin type\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMarks\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eStamped to the shoulder: Androck in script over STAINLESS STEEL\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eEra\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003ec. 1935–1955. Dated on the marbled Catalin-type handle, which Androck used before the flat opaque and printed plastics of the later 1950s, together with the stamped stainless blade and riveted shoulder.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eCondition\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eVery good working condition. The blade is straight and sound with its original flex, the three rivets are tight with no movement in the joint, and the handle is solid with no cracks, chips or shrinkage away from the neck. Expect honest kitchen use — fine surface scratching across the blade and a soft patina to the steel, with light polish to the handle where it has been held. The Androck stamp is crisp and legible. Condition Guaranteed.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eAvailability\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eOne of a Kind — 1 Available\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003c\/tbody\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhy It Belongs in Your Home\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a better turner than almost anything sold new, and it costs about the same.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe reason is the blade. Modern turners are either stiff steel that tears, or silicone that is too thick to get under anything. This one is thin enough to slide flat along a pan and springy enough to lift without breaking — eggs, fish, pancakes, cookies off a sheet. It is the tool people go looking for after they have tried three new ones.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt will also outlive you. There is nothing on it to fail: a stainless blade, three steel rivets and a solid bar of plastic. No coating to flake, no seam to trap water, no wooden handle to dry out and split.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd the colour earns its place on the counter. Deep marbled red against stainless is a scheme that has never gone out, and a red-handled utensil in a crock beside a stove does more for a kitchen than most things you could hang on the wall. If you already have Androck in the drawer, the handles match across the range.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA note on care, and the handle is the part with a rule. \u003cstrong\u003eHand wash it.\u003c\/strong\u003e Cast plastics of this type do not like prolonged heat or harsh detergent — a dishwasher will dull the surface, wash the depth out of the marbling and, over time, shrink the handle away from the neck. Warm water, a soft cloth, dried straight away.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDo not leave it resting in a hot pan.\u003c\/strong\u003e The blade takes heat without complaint; the handle does not, and it will scorch or soften against a burner.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNever soak it, since water sitting in the rivet joint is the one thing that will eventually loosen it. If the steel dulls, a little metal polish on the blade only will bring it back.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Viridian Eclection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48047022735465,"sku":"VE-0735","price":58.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/0093\/9369\/files\/22442B1D-6F64-4D50-AB35-7C2FF146DA41.jpg?v=1789273757","url":"https:\/\/viridianeclection.com\/products\/androck-flexible-stainless-turner-with-marbled-red-catalin-handle-rockford-illinois-c-1935-1955","provider":"Viridian Eclection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}