The wife brought home an "Emeril Lagasse 12" Skillet" for me as I've been thinking about buying one but this one has a rough texture to it.
The ones I recall in my youth were smooth, or at least I thought they were. Anyway is this normal? If not what's the best way to smooth it up?

How rough is rough? My first thought is that time and seasoning will smooth it out.

Use.

Lots of use.

Or some surface milling.

Hard to describe but about like 120 grit sandpaper and it's the same texture inside and out, bottom and sides. So maybe continuous scouring with steel wool?

quote:

Originally posted by ridewv:
Hard to describe but about like 120 grit sandpaper and it's the same texture inside and out, bottom and sides. So maybe continuous scouring with steel wool?

Doubtful it was intended to feel like coarse sandpaper.

Sounds like a quality control error/issue.

You might want to take it back to the seller and get a replacement.

new Lodge branded pans have a pretty bumpy texture, too.

My modern Lodges have a texture. The pans work fine. I wouldn't mess with a new pans seasoning.

Wire disk on a angle grinder.

quote:

Originally posted by ScorpionBoy:
My modern Lodges have a texture. The pans work fine. I wouldn't mess with a new pans seasoning.

quote:

Originally posted by Ox190:
Wire disk on a angle grinder.

Won't a wire wheel mess with the seasoning?

Reading the label it says "convenient pre-seasoned cooking surface is naturally non-stick" so I guess just use it as is.

I took an air grinder with a 3" disc to mine and sanded them down to a mirror finish then re-seasoned them in the oven.

Smoother is better. This is just the first link I found on the subject. Yes you will have to re season it but you should know (learn) how to do that anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaTFgyiJUG4

Thanks. I guess I should grind it smooth.

It's already in the oven being "re-seasoned" so I think I'll try it like that and if it sticks grind it smooth like in the video.

quote:

Originally posted by ridewv:

quote:

Originally posted by ScorpionBoy:
My modern Lodges have a texture. The pans work fine. I wouldn't mess with a new pans seasoning.

quote:

Originally posted by Ox190:
Wire disk on a angle grinder.

Won't a wire wheel mess with the seasoning?

Yes, but the standard factory seasoning is garbage anyway. I agree with the wirewheel/sanding disk and then season it yourself with bacon fat or crisco, whichever you prefer.

I have a large skillet that got this treatment and i'm very happy.

Crisbee is a great effective and easy to use seasoning. I got mine through Amazon.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeGLI:

quote:

Originally posted by ridewv:

quote:

Originally posted by ScorpionBoy:
My modern Lodges have a texture. The pans work fine. I wouldn't mess with a new pans seasoning.

quote:

Originally posted by Ox190:
Wire disk on a angle grinder.

Won't a wire wheel mess with the seasoning?

Yes, but the standard factory seasoning is garbage anyway. I agree with the wirewheel/sanding disk and then season it yourself with bacon fat or crisco, whichever you prefer.

My lodges work great for me. I don't notice a performance diff between them and my Griswolds, my Erie or any of my Wagners. Maybe I am lucky.

The new junk is all rough, like the Lodge cast iron stuff. All you can do, really, is use it, and it will eventually season itself thick enough that it shouldn't be a bother.

We've been using old Griswold pans for many years, several inherited from my girlfriend's grandmother. Smooth as glass, for the most part, and well worth the trouble to clean properly. All the recent purchases, including a commemorative one from the Forestry Service, are Lodge. A guy who is a member of a cast iron on-line forum swears that he fries eggs on his brand-new Lodge frying pans, but we haven't tried it yet, since cleanup would be a bitch if it doesn't work for us.

Try cooking with yours first, before you grind it down and maybe ruin it.

Factory seasoning is really only to keep the damn things from rusting on the boat ride anyway.

The coarseness improves the application of the preseasoning for some reason. Get a random orbital sander. Start at 60 or 80 and work your way down till it gets to the smoothness you desire then reseason. A mirror finish is probably excessive and will interfere with getting seasoning to stick.