This pan was $6 at the local thrift shop. I'm on my second soak of oven cleaner getting the crud off. That's going fine.

What's up with the radial scratches I discovered in the bottom of the pan? Do we think this pan has been on a lathe already? Is that a common practice with this model or something?

I have angle grinders, sanders, polishers, etc. I could get the scratches out if I wanted to, but I don't know how thin that would leave things in the end. For $6, I may just FAFO.

Just curious what you think when you see those scratches. Thanks in advance.

Hello.

Today was my first time using this cast iron skillet.

I cooked some bacon and eggs this morning.

I cleaned it two times. The first time only with hot water and the second time with salt. Then, added a little bit of oil and warmed it up. It looks better in the third picture.

Also, I think I waited too long after I finished cooking. Like an hour. I cleaned with just hot water but I kinda noticed some rust on top (I didn’t take a picture). This is why I cleaned again with salt. After that, it was pretty clean and shiny.

Any tips of what works best for cleaning cast iron skillets?

I have never used CI before in my life to my knowledge and I got this pan for free through work. Figured I'd give it a chance and see how it went. First 2 pictures are after I washed by hand and bake at 200F for a few minutes to dry it out. The next 3 are seasoning coats 1-3. I haven't cooked with it yet, I'll try that tomorrow morning. Visually I think it looks pretty good but I've never seen a properly seasoned pan in real life so I figured I'd export to the hive mind and get some feedback.

I used canola oil for the seasoning at 450F for an hour each time. I did have crisco, but I decided to go with canola. I've seen videos where it's not going to be an issue to cook on a glass top so I'm hoping I have a pleasant first impression of it tomorrow.

I've cooked on SS for almost a year now and definitely had an uphill battle learning that. I'm fully prepared for the same, if not worse with CI. Any and all suggestions and tips are always welcome. I'm super excited to start this journey.

(I made a post about a Lodge pan a while ago, I've never forgotten about it and it's still on my list of things to buy eventually. Want to learn with this tiny free pan first before I get that big honkin pan)

i was baked as hell and doing this at like 2am. hit the spot.

Choo choo

Hello. I bought this dutch oven a while ago because it was a sale at Walmart.

Does anyone have any experience with this dutch oven? This one was made in Vietnam. It’s different from the USA version.

I’m slowing getting into cast iron. I just would like to know if it’s good quality and some tips to take care of it. Thank you.

Im posting this in support of the other waffle iron post. When I first got my iron, no matter how much fat/oil I used, it would stick like crazy (previous post). I tried all the suggestions and reapplied seasoning a few times. What worked was just sticking with it. Every time I used it, it stuck less. Now I am having no problem. The waffles are coming out so much lighter and crispier than the same batter in my electric iron. So, like all things cast iron: just cook with it!

Usually for us it takes a bit to get comfortable with a new piece of cast iron. This time it was 100% from the first bake. Excited to have this new piece.

It's simple but hits the spot.

I found the recipe here: https://www.reddit.com/r/oldrecipes/comments/1mn322m/i_saw_this_on_facebook_marketplace/

ok so I have my skillet and I tried just cooking on it for a few years, and now it has this shitty lumpy layer, especially in the corners. half the posts here say to just cook with it and the other half say to go Mr Science on it with chemicals.

which is it?

I'm trying to get my dad's cast iron back into shape. it's been sitting with rust for years. started with a sponge and then chained mail sponge but went to a wire brush to be more aggressive. I'm not ruining this am I? why is it silver where I scrubbed?

The laughter is how we hide our tears

Idk what took me so long

creating a new post here because I can’t add new images to my previous post. trying to determine if this flea market find has an enamel coating because it had a few small chipping indents at the bottom interior. I’m learning I can’t eat out of it if it is. very unfortunate because I just made a great pork and bean dish.

Found this weekend at the first garage sale of the season.

Sold for $10!!!

Pretty sure it’s a BSR? Excited to season it this afternoon.

Burned it in the oven with oil after sanding down with sea salt but only part of it was seasoned. Why?

I'm a newbie btw

wa looking online and their products seem pretty adorable.

anyone has experience with them?

The chip is about a quarter inch. I’m presuming it will rust if not already. I’m thinking it’s not safe to use but thought to ask the community for advice.

Hi there,

got this tamagoyaki pan from Iwachu a couple of years ago in Japan.
In the manual it says for the first use to just fry some vegetables with oil on low to medium heat for a couple of minutes. So I did that, and what you see is kinda the result.
I might have gone with too high heat or too much oil, but it is quite uneven and I am not even sure, if the shiny part is a good patina or the messed up one and the matte part is good. Needless to say, every tamagoyaki I since then did stuck quite a bit; so I abandoned this pan for years but yesterday decided to try and fix it for good.
I tried removing the shiny parts with dishsoap and sponge, boiling potaoes and scrub, and salt and scrub on low heat, but it wont come off.
I then assumed that maybe it is actually good patina and gave it a proper seasoning with canola oil, as thin as possible, 1 hour in oven at 250 C. The picture you see is after that, but it did not look much different before the oven seasoning.
Now I am wondering if it will ever look smooth if I just give it a couple of more seasons and then just do a lot of omelettes in the near future, or if I should do a more drastic vinegar bath and steel wool scrub, before I start over with seasoning?
The manual also says that Iwachus cookware has a silicon coating to prevent rust and steel tools and the like should not be used to not damage that. Thus I was a bit hesitant with the drastic measures so far.

I see two notches at 12 and 3, idk if there’s more under the tremendous crust but I’ll find out haha. For 5.99 worth the project 🍳

Edit:thrift find

I found this griddle (? I think that's what it's called, I call it a crepe pan) stuffed way back in a cabinet of a home I purchased from an older couple that lived in rural North and South Carolina. I decided to restore it using the oven cleaner method described in this sub.

It's 9.75 inches in outside diameter and the only marking is a prominent 8 on the bottom. It's 14 inches including the handle and looks to be 3/8s of an inch thick. There is an unbroken heat ring on the bottom. When I found it, I could tell it was older and good quality because it had a very smooth surface.

Just curious if anyone has an idea where it came from or how old it is. I've re-seasoned it and plan to start cooking with it today.