I've got 2 I need to sand down a bit, both are lodge. My cabelas has gotten smooth through use. The Lodge will smooth through use also, but it takes a while. The nonstick works a lot better when the surface is smooth.

Smooth is better. In fact the smoother the better. I have an old griddle which is now smooth from built up seasoning, it should be cleaned down to bare metal and ground, this is on my list for next year.

Most skillets are sold "as cast" the surface has the mold finish, usually an orange peel look and feel.

Some griddles have been Blanchard ground but the finish is not a lot smoother.

Any rotary wheel of almost any grit or a rough flexible abrasive wheel will work.

quote:

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

^^^^This worked for my new Lodge bought a few years about a decade ago.

I was also concerned but after a bit of normal use it is plenty smooth. Don't know what the bumps are, or why.

quote:

Originally posted by Fenris:
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.

I used my D/A, started with 80 grit, 120, 180, 220 & finally 320. Re-seasoned, cooked bacon a few times & now I could not ask for a better result.

So some say smooth as glass, others say leave it rough. Those of you that used it rough, then ground it flat, are you results better? Does the seasoning hold just as good?

I'd love to get mine smooth, just want to make sure the results are worth doing.

I only used my Lodge 3 or 4 times before I took the D/A & smoothed out the orange peel o.e.m finish. I've sanded all my Lodges down.

Did you get a poor result from the way it came from the factory? I would leave it as is since they have undoubtedly sold thousands and unlikely had anyone take it to the shop to us a grinder on it before using it.

quote:

Those of you that used it rough, then ground it flat, are you results better?

My two skillets which have seen enough use to be smooth now, are significantly more nonstick and easier to cook in than the 2 skillets that are not that way. It stands to reason for me...than they'll be improved after I sand them down.

The good old stuff like Griswold always had the inside smoothed after the sand casting. The new higher quality cast iron like Stargazer (which is fantastic and only $80 for a 10" pan) also are ground smooth.

It's really a matter of speed/time.

The bumpy ones will eventually - usually - accumulate enough of a layer of "seasoning" (really a hard plastic-like polymer coating) that it seems/is smooth on the surface.

Smoother pans will get there more quickly.

In the interim the bumpy ones still work better than you'd think. Griswolds and such were made to higher standards, and are often very very used nowadays. Lodge and the like can be bought for $25 all over the place. You get what you pay for. But Lodge/etc work fine.

They are cast in sand molds, it's just the sand texture I think. I doubt they intentionally add texture.

When I toured the Lodge factory plant I ask the guide about the roughness, mentioning some of his competition and some older pans were machined smooth. He said in their testing it made zero difference in actual use and to just ignore it.
But I figured it was just a cost savings and that he gave me a convenient excuse.

On first instinct I would think smoother is better, but then the roughness may actually help contribute to the build up of seasoning and help prevent it from scraping off in use. IDK. I expect very few people go to the trouble of grinding them smooth and yet they get used everyday.

Here's a thought... how about a regular cast iron user with nothing better to do, go buy a new skillet and grind one half smooth and leave the other half rough. Report back in a year the results.

One time use sand mold.


Tumbled in 12 foot diameter, 20 foot long drum, to break them out of the mold. Can you imagine how loud that would be! They weren't running during the tour. The sand is reused.


Going into the oven to season. They are sprayed with vegetable oil and baked, much like a paint line. They never stop moving.

quote:

Originally posted by Fenris:
The good old stuff like Griswold always had the inside smoothed after the sand casting. The new higher quality cast iron like Stargazer (which is fantastic and only $80 for a 10" pan) also are ground smooth.

That Stargazer looks like the way to go. Did you get the preseasoned one?

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:

quote:

Originally posted by Fenris:
The good old stuff like Griswold always had the inside smoothed after the sand casting. The new higher quality cast iron like Stargazer (which is fantastic and only $80 for a 10" pan) also are ground smooth.

That Stargazer looks like the way to go. Did you get the preseasoned one?

Nope. I like to do my own thing even before seasoning.

Briefly, I boil an alcohol cleaned and degreased bare steel pan in a covered (to create a low O2 environment) turkey pan for 12-16 hours, every few hours adding water as necessary and giving it a very light scrubbing with 0000 steel wool. This blackens the pan. This is blueing it without the chemicals. It creates a thin layer of black rust (magnetite) which protects the pan just like gun blueing. Then I season multiple times for 1hr (+2hr cooling in oven) at 450 with wiped away coatings of 100% no additive, filtered, flax seed oil. Then I cook bacon. Then I eat bacon.

I repeat the last two steps until I have gained between 5 and 10 pounds.

I bought some at an auction that someone had let go.. and they were really rusty.. I used a disc sander and smoothed them all up. I then re seasoned them in my gas grill. I did them a couple times to make sure they were seasoned and they are still perfect today. I think I got them for $5 a piece.

quote:

Originally posted by Fenris:The new higher quality cast iron like Stargazer

Looks good! Any national chains selling these. I'd like to feel one up LOL!

I love my two old Wagners. Smooth and fairly ancient seasoning.

quote:

Originally posted by cparktd:

quote:

Originally posted by Fenris:The new higher quality cast iron like Stargazer

Looks good! Any national chains selling these. I'd like to feel one up LOL!

Williams Sonoma.