Hi there.

I was passed down a pan from my great grandma and have been using it no issue. I got a new roommate and I went out of town and came home to my cast iron on the stove with water and food just sitting in it and it looked like it had been there for days...... Regardless there were rust spots and flaking seasoning and it was just... Sad.

Well I did some research. Learned about the yellow lye oven cleaner method. Stripped it down and did a dilute vinegar bath. Issue is. Theres a spot in the middle of the pan that just won't strip. I covered the pan put it in a bag let it sit for 2 days and brought it out and cleaned with steel wool and it was still there so I dried the pan in the oven. Sprayed it with the oven cleaner while still warm. Bagged it and left it for 3 or 4 days. When I pulled it back out to scrub and do everything. That spot hadn't budged. I just went ahead and did the vinegar bath cause I read it could help with staining. But these pictures are post everything I've done. At this point should I just start to reseason it? Will it even out with reseasoning? Or is it going to be the first spot that starts flaking.

Just wanted to hear some more experienced input

My husband and I currently have a propane range in our kitchen. Its been acting a bit weird so we are thinking its time to replace it.

We would love to switch to electric or induction range but, 95% of out cookware is cast-iron.

We would like know is it safe for cast-iron? How do you prevent glass tops from being scratched from cast-iron? Is electric or induction better with cast iron?

Thank you for anyone for answering!

So i bought (admittedly) a cheap cast iron pan. After being on this thread I did 2 rounds of seasoning with vegetable oil and have used the pan maybe 5 times. Each time it seems to smoke quite alot and its already started looking patchy. I only cook with olive oil and after every use I scrub using only hot water, dry with a towel, finish on a low heat, then wipe with a bit if veg oil and kitchen roll. When i wipe it with oil after cleaning the kitchen roll always goes black. What am I doing wrong and how can I fix this pan? Thankyou all in advance

Forgot about some olive oil for about 25 minutes on medium high heat. Have I ruined the enamel?

Hello everybody. Wife and I will be camping in 2 weeks and I planned on using a large cast iron for our dinner meals. Cleaning it wont be an issue, but i obviously won't have an oven to reseason. Figured I would clean, dry over a propane burner, then just add some oil. Would this be good for 2 days of cooking? Thanks in advance.

Hello,
I recently season this pan how the internet told me, and made some meals on it. But then I scrapped it with a metal spatula and now it has a metal flake bottom instead of a black bottom. The internet says to use a chainmail scrubber so I did and now I feel like I made it worse. Any ideas?

I had a disappointing experience with Lodge customer support over a chipped enameled Dutch oven.

I bought a Lodge 6-quart enameled Dutch oven through amazon.ca, relying on its limited lifetime warranty. Recently, the interior enamel chipped during normal household use, so I contacted Lodge.

After providing photos and details about how I use the pot, Lodge refused the claim because it was purchased through Amazon outside the US and directed me to Amazon. Amazon said the order was too old for a return and sent me back to Lodge.

I escalated the matter, and management's final response was:

“Lodge will no longer support ANY warranty request for Items bought from Amazon outside the US. It does not matter if the item was damaged during shipping, during the first use, or 5 years after purchase.”

I wasn't aware of this restriction when I bought the cookware. It's frustrating to be caught between the retailer and manufacturer, with neither willing to help.

Has anyone in Canada had a similar experience with Lodge? Were you able to get help through the Canadian distributor or find another resolution?

Cleaning out my dad’s things and found this bad boy. Hoping to keep it:3 I just am unsure on how to help it! Any advice is welcome

Whenever i make a steak i end up with a lot carbon built up and burnt food bits. Searing comes out great but the oil is black. The steak isn't burnt.

I use ghee. After scrubbing with a metal scourer,i got to that point. Do i scrub to remove all the black patches at the base

New cast iron bean pot that Vinegar Tom is inspecting to see if he fits. He does not.

Side note: are these safe over a camp fire?

I'm talking on the center plate how it looks uneven. It cooks fine idk how this happened tho

Just received a new Stargazer 12” skillet as a wedding gift, and I absolutely love the looks and ergonomics of this pan.

After three rounds of seasoning with avocado oil, I cooked some eggs and toasted sourdough. Unfortunately, the eggs stuck a bit and required some scraping. I used the same method as with my Griswold No. 8 (pictured on the left), which never gives me any issues.

I know it takes time to build a good cooking surface, but what foods would you recommend cooking to help darken the seasoning quickly and improve its nonstick performance?

Would love to hear your experiences. Thanks!

Is my rice pot ruined? There is a shiny spot on the bottom and am not sure how to tell if the enamel coating came off.

While I wouldn’t cook like this every time (I prefer the easy slide and taste that comes of a bit of fat), it’s proof that a low/slow temp control and a bit of patience goes a long way.

I keep trying to get thia pan to look good and seasoned but I never can. I tried baking it with a thin layer of canola oil. Food sticks to it and I cant get the carbon off. How do I reset it and make it non stick

I used the sodium hydroxide (SH) method to reset my already working pan, for learning purposes, here is the result. After the SH, I seasoned it 3 times using rapeseed oil, 230 degrees celcius, 1 hour.

Question: My exact formula for my stove (induction) to fry eggs is 5,5/9 heat for 8 minutes -> apply oil -> crack egg into pan. Before the reset this worked perfectly and the egg almost slided around. After the reset however, the egg got heated way quicker and stuck a lot more to the pan. Anyone know if this is expected? I believe the seasoning went fine.

I noticed what I thought was carbon build up and started scraping with a metal spatula. Then I couldn’t get the corners so I used a dinner knife. ChatGPT first told me seasoning can’t be scraped off, and is now saying I likely removed seasoning with the knife. Now I’m irritated, have wasted an hour taking ChatGPT’s advice, and I’m left with an uneven looking pan.

Human advice appreciated… do I need to strip the pan?
First 2 photos are mid scraping and 3rd is after cleaning with dawn and a scrubber

Hello all,
I was in search of a Dutch oven and found this piece at Goodwill. It has been cleaned and seasoned 3 times (two vinegar baths included).

I am trying to identify what brand this is. It has the lid handle of a lodge, however no lodge identification marks. The bottom of the pan appears to say MADE in something (almost looks like China). Any help would be great. There is a “5” marked on the bottom of lid and underside of pot handle. Thanks for the help. Cheers.

Also, what are the odds of this being contaminated with lead? Should I get it checked?

Hey fellow Iron-friends,

finally finished swapping out all my non-sticks and other products. Of course it was quite a learning curve, but I was done with buying a new pan every year.... For some acidc stuff I use my stainless pan. Liked the Staub and Le Creuset pans for some time, but the first started chipping. So my trust in these also startet to kind of crumble 🙈

Newest and final CI addition is a small Lancaster no. 6 for some side dishes or smaller things like eggs, when I don't want to heat up the bigger Smithey no.11 or the Stargazer 10,5. Will see how the Lancaster performs, but so far I absolutely love my Smithey. By far my favorite piece of cookware atm.

Quite happy to have these three over here in Europe and took some time to gather as I did not want to pay like 350€+ for a Smithey....

Has anyone else ever come upon a Canadian pan that was made after the 1960's. This was too neat to pass up. It's definitely heavier than any of my smaller vintage pans.

What thing should I look for? I know it should not be chipped. What are some things that are a red flag do not buy?

Had it a couple of years. It's well used!