Buy the $25 Lodge. Mine is 20 years old and it works just fine. I have a friend who collects cast iron kitchen stuff and he swears that Lodge is the best in the world.

My problem with Lodge is it is sand-cast. I’d prefer the smooth surface, if I can find it. But I don’t know why. I have DH’s grandmother’s cast iron skillet (mfg unknown) which is smooth and two Lodge skillets I purchased within the last 15 years that are sand-cast. I only use cast iron skillets for things like frying and cooking cornbread. All 3 seem to perform equally well.

If you buy a pan that has a rough surface, you can sand it to make it smooth. I did this with a griddle that I bought, but I used an electric hand sander, which made the work easy.

One thing you can do is add a stainless steel mesh to the pan when you give it. This makes cleaning the pan much easier and is especially effective on ridged pans. Make sure to get 316 SS.

Lars, I don’t have to ability or capability to sand a pan. My hat is off to you for doing yours! There is a sub-reddit about cast iron that I just found. Looks like a lot of folks sand or grind down the rougher finishes.

Thanks for the link to the steel mesh cleaner. I got something stuck in my skillet a couple of days ago and would have loved a steel mesh to clean with!

I have 30+ pieces of cast iron. Not a collector at all. I only purchased one dutch oven with a skillet lid 30 years ago. Lodge. I managed to crack the lid a few years ago. That was a sad day.

I also give Lodge a top choice as does SeriousEats cast iron compare

I inherritated a couple vintage ones from my grandmother. Rest are from yardsales years ago. Everything from 4inch square, butter warmer, 8,9,10inch and 12, 16 inch. Hard to pass up when found for a buck or two. Rarely use my 12inch. It's huge. 8,9,10inch have prime real estate in my pantry.

The Lodge has 17,000 Amazon reviews. I understand the sand casting but i still fell it is the best entry level to learn to care for them. I've had a couple chain mail scrubbers for about ten years now. They burnish the seasoning layers.

If it is in the budget i would consider an 8 inch and a 12. Or a 10 and 12. My 9 inch rarely leaves my left back burner.

Cast iron went way out of fashion for about thirty years. My mother never used it.

This video shows a step at the Lodge factory using a grinder. Cast iron is enjoying a bit of a renasance now so maybe that is new?

I also have vintage Lodge. My 12 inch Lodge is my go to for frying and the 10 and 8 inch for cornbread. I have no idea what the new Lodge is like, but my old ones are smooth and dark.

I had a grease fire, my bad, in 2019 with my 12 inch Lodge and had to scrub to the shiny. It took several treatments, but it is as good now as it ever was.

I have mine, my parents, and my grandmothers, all are great

DD has her grandmother’s cast iron skillets, the largest is 10” This isn’t a gift for a cast iron noob. It is an addition to a suite of existing pieces.

Sleeve, thanks for the link to the Serious Eats page. More research!

The texture that you can see in this photo of a Lodge skillet is what I’m referring to as rough. Two of my 3 pieces have this texture. DH’s grandmother’s is much smoother.

The texture of this Field skillet is much smoother

Why don''t you try to find a vintage skillet. Used does not mean less wanted. A quality vintage skillet is much better than a newer, not as good copy.

I prefer the vintage cast iron, because I love the slick as glass feel of the skillets. As I understand, the machining that gave that feel is no longer done on new cast iron-too time consuming/costly. I have purchased a number of these as gifts for kids and am now restoring one for a grandson. I have found mine online or in antique stores and cleaned them up and restored the finish. It takes a lot of time; definitely a labor of love. I imagine if you're lucky you might find one already restored in an antique shop. If you go that route, look for one that sits flat and has no wobble-not warped. I would look for the brand Griswold or Wagner. Good luck with whatever you choose.

I differ. I prefer vintage Lodge to Griswold or Wagner, but I would not reject either one, If I found a good one.

Sand cast is by quite a bit the superior quality—and is the ”cast” part of cast iron. I'm pretty sure your old pan is sand cast. When it's also cheap, like Lodge, it's thicker and has the sand texture. That's because there are more fails, and it's harder to set up to begin with, if you cast thin, and paying the factory worker to polish it properly is expensive. You're saving a lot in labor. In the old days, they did polish at the foundry. Do you know anyone who'll do you a favor who has a bench sander?

For vintage, Griswald and Wagner are generally considered the best. If you can find the right sized one, the easiest way to take down the old seasoning is to put it right in a fire. A really hot oven will do, but it'll stink. Let the pan cool in the dying fire or off oven or it could break.

Because of environmental laws here, a lot of the cast iron is actually made in China. I'm not a China hater, but I doubt cheap and new from China will have the quality you'll like. There is good, not cheap, cast iron made in Japan, for Japanese cooking, but I've never seen one that big.

The closest to what you're asking for that I know of is Lancaster no. 10, which is between 11-12”, but I've never seen or handled their pans in person. It looks like there's a bottom rim, which is bad for induction because the trapped air underneath can get superheated and burn the cook, or even crack the stove glass from the heat differential. Great for the grill, though. They ”machine” the surface for you, but that is reflected in the price. https://lancastercastiron.com/

I hope you find what you're looking for.

I’ve looked at ebay for vintage Griswold. Haven’t looked for Wagner or Lodge. Having recently been burnt on an ebay purchase (not a skillet), I’m a little hesitant to buy one from there.

FWIW, I think the vintage one I have is BSR (Birmingham Stove and Range).

While DD and DSIL do not have an induction cooktop, I’m agitating for them to get one when they re-do the kitchen. So, something that won’t work with induction is going to get a pass. Having said that, I suspect this skillet is for DSIL to use outdoors. I gave him a sous vide set up last year. I think he is looking for a larger skillet for searing, but I’m not sure. I’ll spend Thanksgiving week with them. Maybe I can find out more while I’m there.

I have a wonderfully smooth cast iron skillet but it was DH’s grandmother’s. So when I’m no longer using it, I will give it to my step-son (is that a DSS?). I also gave him a sous vide set up. Now if I could just get him to use it safely…. but that is another story for another post.

In the early days of XH’s practicing law, being the bottom man on the totem pole, he was assigned a contentious divorce. The biggest bone of contention? Who got the cast iron cookware! 😂 Money? No problem. Kids? No problem. Cast iron skillet? MINE!!

LOL! I get that. :) When the people cooking at my folks' house were messimg up my mother's Wagner (and one Griswold) cast iron, I asked my mother if I could have it. I got a whole size range of Lodge from Amazon for $100 to replace it. Those cooking (not cooks) loved it because it was new. :) Little did they know!

Do take a good look at the Lancaster. I don't know if that's a real ridge. I just wanted to warn you if it is. If I had to buy new, I'd seriously look at it, even though I mostly use the induction, and my mother's CI pans sit on the gas grate. :)

Thanks for reminding me of the name of that company Annie. I knew it had a Michigan connection. I too would love one of those. I have antique ones from Grandma, but not the 12 inch. I have two 12 inch Lodge ones and I hate that they weight a ton. Plus a heavy newer dutch oven, no name brand, and a Lodge pancake griddle. None of the new stuff can hold a candle to the old . . .

Old is where you can get the value for your money. New is more or less all the same in the medium price range, IMHO. At the higher end, probably worth it if you want new, but only if you are going to use the heck out of it. And pass it on to your kids or grand kids.

There are quite a bit of Made in USA choices. There's Lodge of course. Some premium brands:

Finex

Lancaster

Stargazer

Smithey

Marquette Castings

I'd be thrilled to get any of these as a gift. The Finex is most unusual because of its shape. Smithey allows you to add a personal engraving which would be nice for a gift.

Those ^^^skillets look like they are all great quality, and some, if not all, have machine polished smooth interiors. The Stargazer is the only one that appears to have a flat bottom needed for induction cooking. if you are wanting to check that box along with grill cooking.

"---- The Stargazer is the only one that appears to have a flat bottom needed for induction cooking. ---"

I think for induction cook tops, there is no need for very flat bottom cookware, unlike for other types of electric cooktops.

A $20.00 (Harbor Freight) angle grinder and a $2.50 sanding wheel can turn a rusty pan into a mirror in ten minutes.

Dcarch said, "I think for induction cook tops, there is no need for very flat bottom cookware, unlike for other types of electric cooktops."

This is true for heating the pan. The induction field rises about a quarter inch above the surface. One is warned against using a lip or ridge bottom pan, by every maker. As I explained up topic, If there is a continuous ridge the trapped air can get extremely hot and be dangerous, especially because we're used to induction being relatively cool, and could have an appendage too close when it's released.. Additionally, this can crack/break the glass.

Love the polish job!

I can tell you from personal experience a flat bottom is required on my induction. I, without thinking, tried to use a teakettle on mine that had a raised inverted V all around the bottom. It promptly blew something that required a service call and a replacement part. And my instructions that came with the stove warned against using anything that wasn't flat bottomed.

I got some newer Lodge, which did take some time with the seasoning before the surface started going right. Moms old aebleskiver pan was super smooth to start.

A suggestion if one isn't into home polishing. Call around to your auto shops. Some of them got the tec to fine grind or sand blast fine stuff like a pan. And sometimes they are willing or even happy to do something different like that. Still would need seasoning of course.

An alternative depening on the cook can be heavy carbon steel. Usually not quite as heavy as cast iron, but smooth from the start and gets seasoned like cast iron.

Hubby wanted only one thing the last Christmas. A 12" cast iron skillet. I asked him why, since he didn't do the cooking. His response was that he knew the wonderful meals that would come out of it. So I got him one. LOL We already have 10 and 8" as well as dutch ovens.

I got a Lodge, it was rough on the bottom but usage smoothed it out. I love all my skillets. 8" is Taiwanese, the Lodge, and I don't know the name of the 10".

DD is pretty adamant that (a) she is not going to get an induction range and (b) that I should not spend more than $100 for a new skillet for DSIL. So, I’m going to get the Lodge Blacklock from Williams-Sonoma. DD wants me to go ahead, buy it and start seasoning it ahead of Christmas Day.

Thanks for all of the really good advice and comments. I appreciate the time you took to try to help me.

Michael Symon uses Staub on the grill all the time. I own a few pieces and love them!

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/michael-symon/almost-famous-corn-pudding-9485040

All cast iron pans are sand cast. The difference is some have secondary finishing operations and some don't. The only thing I like about Lodge is they're heavy, but the company saves money by not smoothing the inside surfaces. The old Griswolds are the best, but some no-name old pans are just as smooth inside. I'd shop some antique consignment stores where you can usually find some good deals. Not everyone knows the value of Griswolds and you'll occasionally find one for a good price. Another consideration is whether the pan will be used on a glass cooktop. If so, bottom flatness is a must. Some pans have a raised "heat ring" that will make them perform poorly on glass because there's no direct contact. On gas or campfires either will perform well, but a perfectly flat bottom is the most versatile.

In short, look for the smoothest, flattest pan you can find and afford. All can be reseasoned with high heat to burn off the old and applying a few coats of Crisco followed by 450F bakes. You can literally embed an old pan in red hot coals in a large campfire until it glows to remove old crusty antique store seasoning. Happy hunting!

Regarding flat bottom pans and induction: I had a new Finex skillet and worried that it wouldn't be induction compatible because of the heat ring on the bottom. The Finex people in Portland, Oregon, assured me that they frequently use Finex on induction. It works because induction creates a magnetic field that heats the pan. 100% contact is not necessary. I have used a Finex grill pan on my small induction burner many times with great results.

This is true not because of the magnetic field, but, as I said, because the field extends about a quarter inch above the surface. This is really for corners that curve up into the sides. IME, similar pans, one which curves up, and one flat all the way to the sides, the latter will heat better, even so. I put my oval Graniteware roaster with the branching vine or tree channels in the bottom to deglaze/gravy even though it's un-flat and odd shaped. I have a tollerant stove and it works fine. BUT, there are no closed voids. If there is a continuous ring or lip or any other enclosed space, what I said about the heat build up applies. It can lead to burns, cracked or broken glass, and even damage to the inner workings. It's not inevitable, but it's too common to ignore and discount.

DD is pretty adamant that (a) she is not going to get an induction range and (b) that I should not spend more than $100 for a new skillet for DSIL. So, I’m going to get the Lodge Blacklock from Williams-Sonoma. DD wants me to go ahead, buy it and start seasoning it ahead of Christmas Day.

I think you made a good choice. I was not aware of the 'Blocklock'. 25% lighter than their other pans.

I'm not sure you need to 'help it along' and help seasoning. It is a learning experience. My First Lodge was not a gift but something we chose together in our early newlywed years.

Years of yard sales, thrift stores, and estate sale we added a huge collection. That takes time. When my grands passed, a few were in their garage under long died plants. Rusty, but we brought them back to life without much effort.

I'm smitten with the Colab with an artist/graffiti artist, i was not aware of.

i would be absolutely lost without my assortment of old cast iron. I have four pieces that are in everyday use...........more like every meal use.

I have no idea who made them, but the are almost indestructible.

I have been using them for about 50 years and only one of them was acquired as new. So, these are probalby at least 70 or more years old.

They are the very best and I would not be able to make cornbread without my iron skillet. Oh no!

Oh the many countless wonderful meals that have come from my skillets on a daily basis, over the decades!

I would say that my iron skillets are the most durable and lasting material object that I have ever owned.

I do, though, still have my my mothers old Singer slant needle sewing machine from the 50s, so maybe that deserves honorable mention, too, But, the skillets get used everyday.

It’s a done deal. Bought the 12” Lodge Blacklock from W-S. Supposed to be delivered next week. If the weather is nice, I’ll take it outside and fry up something on the grill’s side burner. I don’t fry in the house because I hate the smell that lingers and I hate the clean up.

@sleevendog (5a NY 6aNYC NL CA) I just now got around to watching the video of how Lodge pans are made. Wow! That was interesting. Thanks for sharing.