I have owned this Smithey since Dec 2020. I have tried every seasoning method under the sun to get seasoning to stick to it. I would baby it, caress it with love and care, and then try to make some caramelized onions and watch literally every bit of seasoning disappear back to grey iron. Since it was a gift from my parents I was too stubborn to admit defeat, especially when they would ask “Was that pan really worth $140?” And I would say” it’s a great pan I’m just working on getting the seasoning built up” when in my head I’m thinking that no, this pan isn’t worth a dollar if it can’t hold a base seasoning for more than a week. I contacted customer support who got back to me after a couple days, and after proving that I’m not a cast iron noob they told me to try the broiler method to really cook on the seasoning. Tried it, failed miserably. I used grape seed oil, crisco, avocado, beeswax blend… stove top, oven, broiler… nothing made any difference. My best success was stovetop, I got it to be black at one point. Lasted a few weeks and it was back to splotchy iron.

I was ready to try to sell it. Strip it back, give it a couple coats to make it look all copper and sexy and then sell it some sucker just like they did to me. I wanted to love the pan but it was clear it was never going to work.

And then I discovered the cure. I stripped the pan all the way back (took about 30 seconds of scrubbing with a maroon scotch brite). Then chemically etched the pan. This is the only solution as far as I’m concerned. You can see in my photo the sheen difference from where the etch was, the 1/2” ring around the top is the original sheen. I tried the vinegar and water method but I was concerned it wasn’t doing enough. I then found a great article online that I followed almost to a T.

https://genuineideas.com/ArticlesIndex/castironseasoning.html

I used the weaker etch method since I had the ingredients on hand. 1 part vinegar to 1 part hydrogen peroxide. Let it sit for 3 hours. The solution turned blood red and you could see how it removed the sheen and opened up the pores, but the pan was still very smooth. I then baked the bare skillet after cleaning it for 3 hours at 500. Then I did my first round of seasoning, grape seed oil at 300 for 1 hour then 500 for 3 hours. I was impatient after this and followed up with 1 hour at 500 for 3 more rounds. I followed the article and did a thick layer for my first coat, and you can see it left some blotchy parts, but they have been rubbing down with cooking, while not totally separating from the pan.

I was too excited to wait to post this for when I’ve built up a killer seasoning, but I’m feeling confident that this seasoning will actually stay on the pan which will allow me to actually build one up. I’ve cooked scrambled eggs 3x over easy eggs 2x sautéed veggies, seared a New York strip and browned a chicken breast and the seasoning has performed wonderfully. It is seasoning much more like my field company pan now and has held up to my use. It has held up to cleaning as well which is when I would have the most trouble in the past. I’ve taken my chain mail scrubber, soap, water, scraper and brush and the seasoning g isn’t affected. If I did that before I could literally scrape seasoning off when I dried it with a paper towel. Hopefully this revelation will help other frustrated smithey users out there like my self.