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one thing to keep in mind about new pans that are not as "smooth". That is entirely up to the casting medium, and if you want to you can simply clean the pan, sand it smooth then re-season. So a bit of work, but, much easier to go to a store than hunt for old cast iron at estate sales.

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Absolutely - the bit of work actually makes a fair amount of sense if you're doing multiple pans and set up a good spot to work on it (and already have the power tools), but it also depends on where you are. Sanding down your cast iron is NOT something you want to do inside an apartment.

A decent carbon steel pan will probably set you back 2-2.5x the cost of cheap cast iron or half the cost of fancy pre-smoothed cast iron, and you can be doing things like flipping hash browns right away (not recommended in cast iron....)

Totally agree! I am living my best life because I have both cast iron and carbon steel plans, they are both great in their own ways.

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