My point about out in the sun was that the closed bag will warm up the pot and help the reaction along and also vent the nasties outside. As it happens, I put my pot out yesterday afternoon. I had planned to remove the handle and screw from the lid but I forgot until a few minutes ago when I saw your post. I was afraid that the handle and screw might be damaged, so I took the lid out of the sunning bag and washed it off. I could see that some internal crud was oozing down the pot, so cleaning was happening. Upon lid examination, the black crud (much less than your bottom) came right off with an easy rub with a green scrub sponge. The handle and screw didn't seem to be damaged. Some dingy crud on the bumpy white inner surface came off with more scrubbing. I plan to leave the pot out for another day. From this, I would expect that your black crud will come off completely and easily. I hope that we will have success with the more critical inner surfaces. Time will tell. Mine is a small 7 inch pot. The inner surface appeared scorched or cracked. I was only using it to bake the no knead breads and the surface was of no concern. I got it for $7 at a thrift store. If it turns out just to be crud that can be removed, I will have a nice deal. Otherwise we will have learned more about cleaning them. Good luck.

Bunnyman, If you want to read a bit about the chemistry involved in seasoning a pan you will find that information buried somewhere in the post that I referenced above. It is a rather long post with lots of useful information. I am a retired chemist and know what I am talking about. I am an excellent cook and know how to apply science to my cooking. One day I intend to publish a cookbook and it will contain a chapter on the care and seasoning of cast iron. My love of cast iron began many years ago when I purchased a large cast iron Gypsy pot for cooking Jambalaya outdoors. This first pot was a 12 gallon size. Now I own many other cast iron pots ranging in size from 1 gallon up to 25 gallons. That’s not counting all of my skillets, Dutch ovens, griddles, etc. And yes I do own and use lots of high carbon steel, stainless steel, glass, aluminum, and cast aluminum cookware. The only pot I can find that will hold the huge quantities of rice and meat that goes into cooking a batch of jambalaya is one that is made of cast iron. FYI, that 25 gallon pot will hold 40 pounds of rice along with 40 pounds of onions and 100 pounds of chicken, pork, and sausage. This will provide enough jambalaya for 320 servings. Yes, glass most certainly is a liquid which is contrary to what many people believe. To clean your warhorse glass frying pan use a product called DAWN POWER DISSOLVER and your scrubbing days will be over. You are correct in stating that copper oxide is poisonous. However, aluminum is completely harmless and not at all related to any old timer’s disease. If aluminum caused any health risk whatsoever, we would not be worldwide drinking trillions of beers and sodas from aluminum cans. Theresa, Cast iron pans manufactured prior to 1890 used a completely different casting process than what is used today. These old pans will have what is called a “gate mark” on the underside of the vessel……the gate mark will look like a line. These gate marks were formed as the molten metal was "poured" into the pan mold. These old pans are much tougher and the surface is naturally a lot smoother than pans you see today. After 1890, they began a using a process known as "injection" (i.e. no longer pouring) sand casting to manufacture iron pans. The smoothest of the pan was a function of the quality (fineness) of the sand used in the manufacturing process. Companies like Griswold and Wagner Sidney-O had very good quality control both in the composition of their pig iron and in their casting process. This allowed them to make their pans THINNER and lighter while still retaining its overall strength. These old companies then used labor intensive machines to polish the interior of the pans. Most of today’s’ cast iron pans are inferior in quality to these old pans. The Le Creuset pans are an exception. The quality of their castings is outstanding. Jim, If you look at cast iron under high magnification, you will see that it does contain some tiny pores. Those pores will indeed absorb oil. Those tiny pores become perfectly sealed when you season your pan properly (i.e. the HIGH TEMPERATURE procedure). Low temperature seasoning methods do not give the same excellent results of high temperature seasoning……you will get much different results at different seasoning temperatures. This is because the extent of polymerization (seasoning) if a function of temperature. What many cast iron users simply do not understand…. that if ANY trace of water is left in a poorly seasoned pan, that water will initiate rust. When iron combines with oxygen to from that rust…….its volume expands tremendously. Ever notice how rust lifts the paint off of metal??? Rust will likewise literally lift the seasoning off of the pan. Since this occurs on a "micro" scale, you will know this is occurring on your pan when you observe some of the seasoning actually lifting and falling off. To prevent this from happening......ALWAYS dry your pan using burner heat after cleaning a cast iron pan……..towel drying is not dry enough!! This is especially true with rough surfaced cast iron pans like Lodge. The surface of most cast modern day cast iron products, such as Lodge, is rather rough and will hold/trap water easily. A smooth surface is much superior to a rough surface when searing meat. Those pores will collect meat juices that will steam the meat and will keep the temperature at 212 degrees F until that steam has dissipated. Smooth surfaces do not allow any water to collect between the meat and the pan surface; therefore, the temperature that the meat sees is always way above 212. Different cooking temperatures allow different chemical reactions to occur. Most cooks are familiar with what happens when you put too much meat in the pan and try to sear it. The silky smooth surfaces of those old cast iron pans do not allow meat juices to accumulate under the meat that is being seared…….the result is the buildup of a much better fond. Better fond equals superior flavor in ANY dish.....especially in a Cajun brown jambalaya. Good cooks know that fond can separate a good tasting dish from an truly outstanding dish. Dan

We went with the Polywood Adirondack (Model SH22). My kid's will still be using them long after I'm gone: I researched for quite a while and found that The Rattan Shack's online store had the by far best price for the SH22. Their order was shipped direct from the factory with prompt free delivery / no sales tax. Linky Thing: Rattan Shack Polywood Selection

what did you end up going with? I live in MN. And we are building in Eagle, Colorado. We are just now having to decide on windows and SP Aspen 2.0 are the architect and builders top choice. Interestingly, we have Marvins in our Minnesota home that was built 25 years ago and we've had to replace them all (wood double hung and casements). They were the highest end marvin available when we built. The sashes rotted. We did an addition 12 years ago, used the "new improved" clad exteriors in the casements and.... yep... still have rot issues after only 12 years. Suffice it to say, I'm starting to think nothing lasts more than 20 years, so why pay extra? Any others with this experience? (We, too, love the SP fit and finish and I think we'll be going with them -- though we also bid the Anderson 500 series and they came in slightly less than the SP's)