First, when you unbox this thing it is definitely beautiful. The lid is a wonderful compliment, and the copper look that comes by way of the factory preseason is really spectacular. The smooth polish on the iron is clear to the eye and touch. I bought the accompanying leather handle, which is also nice, but a little short for this skillet (my hands have accidentally hit the metal while holding using the handle cover).

Now, to actually using it - I'm not a complete newb to cast iron cookware, but am also not a snob with a huge collection of pieces. I know what seasoning is supposed to do, and am familiar with oven and stovetop seasoning methods. The factory seasoning is effectively useless for anything but the most "safe" foods to start with. I think Smithey should encourage at least two cycles of oven seasoning before even using the pan. I did cook eggs as my first dish, and with a preheat + butter they were perfectly nonstick and came out perfectly. Things went downhill from there.

After my successful eggs, I made the mistake to try some ground beef burger patties before the pan was anything but factory seasoned and the entire flat cooking surface went to bare iron immediately. Getting the seasoning back has been a two week process of oven seasoning, followed by veggies sauteed and eggs, followed by stovetop seasoning, more oven seasoning, and more cooking - again, only veggies and eggs at this point until I'm confident I've got enough of a base to load on the high fat…