HI Dennis,
I got one of those today, but it didn’t have a crud problem...just a really lousy seasoning attempt.
Now my W.I Heart Rosette iron has some crud!!. I think I’m going to try Mary’s lye bath technique on the it..
I’m seasoning the Griswold on the BBQ right now. Norma put her foot down about using the oven, so I’m typing this by the light of my laptop’s monitor.
My Griswold has the handles Dean describes, but I wouldn’t be surprised if , in years past, someone bought some handles that were “close enough” and just pounded them into the sockets on yours.
I had the same handle (only got one and it was broken) with my W.I..
It had what looked like a carpet tack holding it in place through a hole in the socket.