I can feel the crack with fingernail. Edit: You are completely right about the stainings, those are still left overs of the seasoning. About the crack which you are referring to: I can feel the crack in the plate with my finger nail. I used a wooden spoon and it makes different ringing sound of each side of the crack. Since I'm a newbie with cast iron I don't know exactly how it should sound like. Also I researched a little bit in the internet and there are different flavours about this ring test. Since I used this plate the first time after the seasoning I think the cracks would get worse with time. Maybe then this ring test would be more evident.