Oh cool! I’ll show to husband - he’s the chef in the family, I’m just the one that came into the relationship with all the cookware.

Speak to me of this carbon steel cookware! I haven’t heard of this before… is it a new thing?

I tried this and found I couldn’t get the seasoning to take. (It’ll failed the deglaze-with-water test.)

It seasoned up nicely, no doubt, but then tossing water into a leidenfrost-hot pan removed it. (Actually? I think I was doing asparagus, the water was to steam after a quick fry.)

Your mileage may vary, though. Just make sure to have a proper filter mask on ( not the cheap dental masks)

You do not want the filings in your lungs.

And a strong magnet near will reduce the iron dust moving about the shop. Put it in a doggie poo bag for easy cleaning.

Fun fact: carbon steel cookware has less carbon (around 1%) than cast iron (average 3%).

I think I’d prefer to clean iron fillings off a magnet than dog poop. Why not use an empty bag instead? Sorry, I’m a bit of a noob when it comes to cast iron pans.

I’m saying the small bags people use to clean up poo on their walks- previously unused- You put the magnet inside then you can set that anywhere.

When done, instead of fighting the magnet, you just invert the baggie and trap the filings and toss.

We’ll have to see. The other comment here warned me against it, saying they couldn’t get the seasoning to stick. Mine is actually pretty smooth anyway, with just some pitting.

I’ll season it soon and share the current state.

I don’t see why the seasoning wouldn’t stick with a smooth surface over a pebbled surface, though. The polymerization should happen at the surface no matter what.

Reddit swore by it.

Lots of people swear by lots of things when it comes to cast iron. There’s a lot of confidently stated incorrect information about cast iron all over the internet, which gets repeated by commenters in places like reddit.

It’s like when people swore by flaxseed oil, which makes for a pretty seasoning that flakes off easily and is actually a terrible choice for cooking.

Or all sorts of old wives tales about not using detergent, or using chain mail instead of a regular scrubber, or avoiding metal utensils. There’s a ton of misinformation out there that doesn’t hold up to real experience (and often traces back to vibes, not science).

Plenty of people have sanded their lodge pans with no issues. I personally haven’t, but mainly because I don’t care enough about the smooth surface.