I’m really sorry to hear that.
In brighter news my pan just passed the “well-enough seasoned” test. I made a tarte tatin, and the sticky caramelized apple mess slid right out.
When you say “melting temp”, are you referring to smoke point? Because a high smoke point oil is not necessary nor effective for seasoning steel pans. You just want to reach an oil’s smoke point so that it breaks down to start the polymerization process, whether it be low in the case of flaxseed oil or high in the case of grapeseed, both very good oils to use for seasoning. You only want to stay away from Crisco because it has a bunch of questionable ingredients in it and you get better results using unsaturated, and poly at that.
Check out Crisbee cast iron “seasoning”.
It’s in a glass container in the fridge. Still seems fine to me.
OMG. I’m so sorry to hear that.
One thing I think people make a mistake on with cast iron and other surfaces, especially grill surfaces is attempting to turn/flip/move the food too soon. Even on well seasoned cast iron food will sometimes stick (as evident in this thread) - cast iron is not teflon. It takes skill to use it in a non-stick way. When putting food on there will be some stick, but it will also release when cooked in time, that’s the time to turn or move it and it will be non-stick at that time. Wait for the release. Try to turn it too soon will typically rip the food and get that piece of food stuck to the pan which now required some harsh method to clean.
I had a friend, years ago, who tried using his cast iron pan as a tent peg pounder. Not a recommended use; he cracked the thing very thoroughly, multiple cracks radiating out from the impact point, actual hole in the bottom.
He pounded it back down flat again, seasoned it thoroughly, and went right back to using it. Worked fine. No leaks.
– I re-season mine from time to time on the top of the stove. Wash pan (plain water, I don’t soap them), dry on a moderately-low burner, add a bit of oil, wipe the oil around, wait till it’s thoroughly hot but not smoking, let it cool down gradually. I never season them in the oven, though I might do that with a brand-new pan – I don’t think I’ve ever had a brand new cast iron pan.
Where do you buy new cast iron skillets with a milled surface these days? Every time I see pans in the stores, the seem to have a pebbled surface.
Luckily for us, we have several old Griswold pans that were passed down from my parents - the surface on those things is as smooth as glass - so we will likely never need to buy another skillet for as long as we live…
It looks like the Field company makes milled (or smooth, anyway) cast iron skillets. They there’s are lighter than the competition, too.
I have never purchased or handled one of their skillets, and cannot personally endorse it. But I’d seen them advertised before, and googled “milled cast iron skillet”.
I don’t think anyone makes them with a proper surface any more 
ETA: ninja’d with welcome good news 
Painting is a very similar process, and has a very similar result. A mixture of oil and a solid powder (typically a metallic oxide, like rust or lead oxide or titanium oxide) is exposed to air and light: the oil cross links and bonds to the powder, forming a strong smooth protective surface.
A difference is that paints are not typically heat-cured. When you use heat to cure a mixture of oil and powder (carbon, sawdust, cotton), it’s typically called a thermo-set plastic. Thermoset plastics aren’t as common as the once were (all the old electric fittings around here were thermoset plastic), because it’s much harder to work with than thermoplastics or two-part epoxies.
An advantage of thermoset plastics is that some of them are much less heat-sensitive than typical thermoplastics or two-part epoxies. Cooked at high temperature, and can be brought to the same temperature again.
I looked at that website and am interested but are the prices reasonable? $160 for a number ten cast-iron skillet. It seems high for something that low-tech. And what about getting an enameled cast-iron skillet instead? Would that be easier to maintain? Would it be as non-stick?
I have a enameled iron Dutch oven (La Creuset). The selling point of these is how they handle heat. They hold a lot of heat and distribute it very evenly for even, predictable cooking. They are low-stick but not non-stick and are a bear to clean if you burn something in it, but I also have so-called nonstick pans that are hard to clean if you burn something.
The benefit of an enameled cast iron is that it doesn’t rust and you don’t need to oil it after use. Maintenance is much easier. It’s not completely non-stick, but with the right heat level, amount of oil, and cooking technique, sticking will not be an issue.
How did be pound flat a cracked pan with a hole in it?
I cook with stainless all the time, I just rub a thin layer of veg oil on it then smoke it right on the stove top. I only let it smoke a couple of minutes then I turn it off and let it cool. I usually do this twice. The only think I have a problem with sticking is red meats. I cook them with no oil and they do stick a little.
The enameled La Creuset skillet is highly recommended by America’s Test Kitchen. Not cheap either; about $200 for one of those. But I may get one after the holidays.
I’m in the process of re-seasoning an old cast iron skillet that had years of built up crud. I considered using a self-clean oven but hearing CookingWithGas’s experience, I’m glad I didn’t. I sprayed it with Easy-Off oven cleaner and put it in a plastic bag overnight. Then I scrubbed it with steel wool. Then repeated the whole thing. After four iterations it was down to bare metal and pretty clean, except for one slightly stained spot that I didn’t think was worth another iteration to remove.
I think it’s important to use VERY thin layers of oil when seasoning. One site I read said that if it’s properly oiled, it should look completely dry. Any visible trace of oil means there’s too much. I’ve put about a dozen layers of oil on it and it’s building up a nice coat but still has a ways to go. I did the first 5 layers the day I finished removing the old seasoning.
I didn’t watch him do it; he told me about it afterwards (though I did see the pan in use, and I think there may have been visible scars; no longer sure about the scars.) But I presume he put the pan on a flat surface and pounded it back down with a suitable hammer; probably while it was somewhat warmed up to make it more malleable.
It would have been cracked upward away from the point of impact. I presume he’d hit the stake with the bottom of the pan, open side up; if he’d hit it the other way around, then in order to get it flat you’d need something flat-surfaced and about the size of the interior of the pan to set the pan down over while hammering. But it seems unlikely to me that one would try to pound a stake with the pan held that way.
– I didn’t mean that there was a hole in the sense of missing metal, but that one was created by the metal cracking upward and creating an opening.
I used two techniques I saw online (and here) after I stripped my pans.
The first one was the idea that the layers of seasoning should be only molecules thick so once you put all of the oil on try your best to buff all of the oil OFF then heat. I found 400 - 450 works best. That technique works brilliantly.
The second was using flaxseed oil rather than shortening. I did the first couple of seasoning sessions with melted Crisco and the results were alright but I used flaxseed oil for the next session and my god it works so much better. Got a nice even seasoned layer so I will be using that for the next few cycles.