Originally Posted by
Burton
Some people here seem to think that a cast iron frying pan has to weigh five pounds. That's a lot like saying a pound of cement weighs more than a pound of feathers. The size and quantity of what you bring is just as important as the material in determining weight. Sixty pounds of lightweight equipment still weighs sixty pounds.
But, like a pound of cement and a pound of feathers, there is a large volume difference. Iron is 3 times a dense as aluminum. If...and that is a very large "if"...the pans used the same volume of material, the iron pan would weigh 3 times as much as the aluminum one. The "if" part comes into play in that cast iron skillets have to use
more volume of iron than a rolled aluminum (or even rolled steel) pan. A 6.5" Lodge cast iron skillet weighs around 2.5 lbs...and that's for a really tiny skillet. A
GSI Pinnacle Dualist cookset is about the same size as the Lodge skillet and with all the parts that come in the kit weighs less than 1.5 lbs. And it is far more versatile.