Some people use these pans to melt and cast lead fishing weights and/or bullets.

That, and hobbyist bullet reloaders would use these to melt lead to cast into cheap bullets. Once you melt lead in the pan it will never be food safe again, I’d go as far as to drill a hole into the bottom so no one tries.

Metal salts are often water soluble, but a characteristic of lead salts is that they are especially water soluble. So heating up the pan with water should get rid of most of it. Boil water, pour it off, repeat a couple of times. If you're worried, use acidic water - it's going to mess up your pan but you've already proven that you know how to fix that, sir.

If you're curious, you can test for lead by doing the following first. Use distilled water and instead of boiling it, heat it to about 70 C. Keep it there for a couple of minutes while stirring gently. That should get most of the lead, if there is any, into the aqueous phase, while leaving behind any other metal salts that could theoretically be present.

Pour off the water into a different container. Let it cool down.

Take a portion of it to a borosilicate vial and a few drops of HCl (hydrochloric acid). If a white precipitate is formed, it may indicate lead. Together with the fact that your cations were soluble in hot water, the evidence is quite strong.

If you really want to be sure and want to do some real cation analysis, this page has a flowchart which, if you follow it, will let you know which oxidative state your lead was in and therefore help you infer what anion you have. I'd skip that part unless you want to do it for the sake of whimsy.

Yeah, oil the pan with a neutral, high smoke point oil. Salt the steak, but don't use pepper unless you like the bitter, acrid taste of burnt pepper. I usually go medium to medium high on the stove, but set the oven lower, like 300F. Another nice thing about cast iron is that it can handle really high temps without much issue, and it can hold that heat. So you're searing that second side at probably like 400-450 while the other 5 sides are getting a more gentle cook. And while that heat transfers from pan to steak, it gradually comes down to that 300ish to end up being pretty even.

As for timing, it really depends on the thickness of the steak and your preference for doneness. I like a thick, medium rare ribeye best. Probably like 60-90 seconds on the first side, then flip and throw in the oven for like 3-5 minutes? When in doubt, temp your food. But it will probably rest up like 10 degrees, so keep that in mind.

This is why I'm fine with pulling my chicken out of the oven in the 155-160 range since I know it'll cross the 165 it needs to be safe while it rests. If you wait for 165 before pulling it, it's gonna hit like 175-180 and start drying out.

I polished an 8” Lodge skillet a few years back and decided to work smarter. Took my random orbit 5” sander, taped some weight on the top palm rest, put on a 120 grit mesh, placed it in the pan and turned it on a low speed. It worked like a roomba hitting the sides and spinning over the pan. I needed more control as it was spiraling. I tied off the power cord to a nearby bench so the cord was fully taught at the far side of the pan. Now the sander could swing side to side without spinning. Whenever I was home I turned it on. Changed to a finer grit after the first 8 or so hours and again after another 8-10hrs.

All told that ran for 6 days, maybe 30 hours total. Got a finish as fine as my Griswold now.

New hand burning opportunities have just opened up near you! I wonder how old your cast iron is.

You need to start looking for some Griswold. Lightest cast iron I’ve ever owned. Garage sales are your best bet for scoring them at a decent price. Any reseller knows what they’re worth and that ain’t cheap.

Thanks.

I remember the weight, I tried to pick one up when cooking with a friend. Way too heavy for my liking. As for being non-stick - with most pots and pans that's a functional on heating before putting ingredients in.

Sometimes I worry about carbonization being carcinogenic (it is, but researchers say it's okay occasionally). I wonder how much of the "seasoning" contributes to that equation.

I think I'll stick with Stainless steel... Mostly because there's less neck strain involved, and I like to cool my pans immediately after use. Ssssshhhhhzzzz into the water they go.