In tears, I ask:

[Borderland]

but they cost 300-1000% more:

https://butterpatindustries.com/coll...r-pat-cookware
https://finexusa.com/product/cast-iron-skillet

Roger that.

What's the problem?

The difference between an HK and a Taurus.

Do you want to cook or just impress the dinner guests?

When you die and everyone is going through your stuff nobody is going to want cast iron utensils. Hardly anyone cooks at home anymore and even if they do they don't use cast iron. That's so last century. Grandma used one of those. The estate clean out folks will probably sell it for 1/3 what it cost to buy it. Like your firearms when they get thrown into a car trunk and hauled to a dealer.

I was there. Fortunately I didn't have to deal with firearms. But I know someone who was. 100K worth of firearms went to a dealer and there's still 20K that weren't sold.

I have 20k worth of firearms that will probably go to a dealer.

[ccmdfd]

Good, and typically well used ones, are usually easy to find at estate sales, garage sales, yard sales, Etc. At least around here.

[Borderland]

Good, and typically well used ones, are usually easy to find at estate sales, garage sales, yard sales, Etc. At least around here.

I bought an air compressor and a TV that lasted for 10 years at a garage sale. $50/ea.

My neighbor is a mechanic. That's not his day job. He works for the FAA for an income. He searches for not-currently-running vehicles. Buys those for<1K and hauls them home. Hauled one in today. A few weeks in his shop and they're back on the road.

Given the prices of new vehicles these days, a used vehicle that runs without issues is a sought after item.

Blame the fed and interest rates. The new car dealer lots are empty.

[Malamute]

I just turned up a Griswold No 8 in storage, it was likely in moms stuff. Pretty grungy, like it had lived in the garage a long time. After a good hot water cleanup, scraped some crusty buildup and rust spots off with a table knife, and a scrub with new green/yellow scotch-brite sponge I put some crisco in it on the stove and melted it in. Ill give it a few rounds and see how its looking. The finish inside is smoother than the new stuff ive seen.

I have some good stuff at home, but Im not there at the moment. Been muddling along with a nicked up old non-stick and a stainless pan that sticks a lot.






Found this when I was curious when they made them. Looks like mine is a late one, 1939-57.

https://thepan-handler.com/griswold-cast-iron/

[BobM]

I just turned up a Griswold No 8 in storage, it was likely in moms stuff. Pretty grungy, like it had lived in the garage a long time. After a good hot water cleanup, scraped some crusty buildup and rust spots off with a table knife, and a scrub with new green/yellow scotch-brite sponge I put some crisco in it on the stove and melted it in. Ill give it a few rounds and see how its looking. The finish inside is smoother than the new stuff ive seen.

I have some good stuff at home, but Im not there at the moment. Been muddling along with a nicked up old non-stick and a stainless pan that sticks a lot.






Found this when I was curious when they made them. Looks like mine is a late one, 1939-57.

https://thepan-handler.com/griswold-cast-iron/

Thanks for the link. In her late 80s my grandma told me to bring her a new skillet because hers was too old. I picked her up a new Lodge the following week. When I was leaving I saw she had put the old one in the trash so I took it home. She had said that her mother had given it to her (my grandma was born in 1920).
Originally I couldn’t see any markings on it but I’ve used it enough that the Griswold logo became exposed on the bottom. I see that it’s from the 1939-1957 era. Maybe it was a wedding gift.

[theJanitor]

My grandma was born in 1920 too, and I'm using HER mom's pan. It took work, and an orbital sander to get it right, but it was worth it. We've got mostly LeCreuset, and Staub, but this old, unmarked pan is great.

I've recently started to use stainless pans, and one trick is to buy really cheap wine just for deglazing after the cooking's done.

[luckyman]

My grandma was born in 1920 too, and I'm using HER mom's pan. It took work, and an orbital sander to get it right, but it was worth it. We've got mostly LeCreuset, and Staub, but this old, unmarked pan is great.

I've recently started to use stainless pans, and one trick is to buy really cheap wine just for deglazing after the cooking's done.

Geez way to make a guy feel old. Both my mom and dad were born in 1920 [emoji1787]

[TGS]

Late addition to this thread.....

We own numerous cast iron pieces, mostly Lodge but also 2 pieces my better half brought from India. We cook with cast iron almost exclusively. Even though it's not typically regarded as the best choice for cooking indian food due to the spices, chiles, and tomato bases that rapidly break down seasoning compared to typical western uses that add to the seasoning over time (bacon and eggs), my better half insists on using it as she swears the food tastes better with cast iron vs stainless steel, and she won't use any artificial non-stick surfaces.

From my observations, 1 seasoning is not enough. If you bought Lodge and seasoned it once and were disappointed, try seasoning it multiple times before initial use. All of our lodge cast iron have a smooth finish due to the seasoning building up over successive seasonings. I use avocado oil to season, though I'll probably move to flaxseed oil as it's a more robust seasoning. I put it in the oven for at least an hour at 450*, and that seems to do a good job as polymerizing it. I haven't had good luck with building up a seasoning layer using the common advice of 350*, as it's not hot enough to encourage polymerization...so new layers sort of just wipe away the old layer instead of building up on top of it. Trying to season on the stove top is also completely incapable for doing it right to establish a good base layer as the heat isn't uniform enough.

One of our pans got really rough 2 weeks ago, the seasoning was completely gone. After 3 seasonings it looked "healthy" again but with a slightly splotchy finish. After 6 seasonings, it had a surface that was completely smooth, uniform, satin black.

Just my observations. I've noticed that cast iron is one of those things that if you ask 10 people you get 11 opinions, and I think the amount of variation in experiences and uses is due to a combination of uncontrollable and poorly reported variables such as differences in oven consistency when seasoning, consistency in oils used, the amount of different types of oils used, and especially the type of food cooked. If you can't get cast iron to work at all, you're probably cooking at temperatures way too high; cast iron is slow to heat, but onces it heats it really gets hot and is slow to cool unlike lighter weight materials that are probably more "user friendly" for finding the right temperature.

YMMV.