All I cook with is cast iron (unless I a man boiling water or something). I have a fairly large assortment of enameled and bare seasoned cast iron.
For most things, I prefer cooking cooking with the bare cast iron. My favorite is aa number 8 of an old used Griswold or Wagner Ware or similar in good condition. My experience is the newer made bare cast iron often have a rough surface which makes using them not as much fun.
All I cook with is cast iron (unless I a man boiling water or something). I have a fairly large assortment of enameled and bare seasoned cast iron.
For most things, I prefer cooking cooking with the bare cast iron. My favorite is aa number 8 of an old used Griswold or Wagner Ware or similar in good condition. My experience is the newer made bare cast iron often have a rough surface which makes using them not as much fun.
I would agree that the old cast iron pans you mentioned are excellent. But with a little effort the new Lodge cast iron can be made to be very good also, and for a far more reasonable price than the collectable ones like you cited.
Best way to remove the Lodge factory coating is EZ Off oven cleaner. Just spray it on, put the pan in a plastic bag overnite and it will wash right off. Then use a palm sander with proper paper to smooth out the inside, especially the bottom.
About an hour total time is all it takes to really improve those pans, which are really very well made otherwise.
I use Crisco for the initial seasoning and to wipe on after cleaning on both the cast iron and carbon steel.