I disagree with the “new Lodge will never be as good as old stuff” comments. Simply using a steel spatula when I cook, my new Lodge are super smooth. “New” as in cooking with lots of fat for the last several years.
I find the key to eggs is low heat. Lots of fat (I use butter).
Do you have experience with the older Wagner/Griswolds? A well seasoned one looks like a black mirror. It’s all about the steel they use and the manufacturing process. Totally different these days.
Short answer, yes.
Long answer. I have over 50 pieces of cast iron cookware. Ranging from old mirror surface Wagner/Griswold/Lodge (belonged to my grandparents/great grandparents) to almost every piece lodge currently offers. My daily is an 8 inch modern Lodge that is as smooth as the old pieces I have. I achieved the smoothness simply from cooking in it. If I remember correctly, Lodge actually recommends using metal utensils for just this reason.
I also think the real difference from vintage to modern is that Lodge has developed a seasoning process instead of sanding them smooth like they did “in the good ol’ days”, not a different type of steel. The seasoning process is just a high heat oil application. So, using the pan, especially with lots of fat and metal utensils, will eventually allow the pan to develop a smooth finish because of high heat polymerization. If you’ve seen what I eat for dinner on the #boringketo thread, you can see that I use it every day to cook bacon, ground beef, butter, and eggs. Nostalgia is nice, but a modern workhorse is just as good as vintage. Especially if you’re using lots of fat.
I can submit pics of my collection if you’re interested.
If I count lids I probably have over 50. When my dog died, instead of turning to the bottle, I turned to Lodge. Cheaper, and better for my liver. 
YUP! Took forever but smooth as a baby’s ass but I’m not sure I can say it was worth all the effort. Probably would have made more sense to spend a couple extra bucks on a Stargazer or something. It also never turned black again. It’s like a bronze now. I was actually doing the flax seasoning on it for a while and that always gave it a reddish color.
That makes sense. I get the same result in my shop when I use it in woodworking.
Yeah, not as much as I used to, and not professionally anymore, but I still do stuff for family and friends when I have time.
I knew I liked you. I’m just getting into woodworking/furniture building myself.
Me too. I am in the middle of a shop overhaul. Just installed the kreg routertable with lift.
I have grandma’s cast iron stuff and also new. Have to do a lot is seasoning and cooking to get the new ones seasoned but they will eventually.
My husband bought a small all-metal skillet for omellettes and it was a bit spendy. Everything he cooked in it stuck like crazy and he gave up on it. I told him he should return it.
He got online and wasn’t seasoning it right. Once he did the shiny metal turned dark and shiny and omelettes slide right out. I’m not sure what he did to season it but it involved fat and heat. It never gets washed other than water, wiped down and coated with coconut oil.
Same with my cast iron cookware.
Cool!
My husband built all the cabinets for our kitchen and 2 baths. Some turned out real nice … some are 3-footers (look pretty good from 3 feet away) 
Yes it certainly is. I have it set up so that it is the same height as my mitersaw station. That way I can use the fence on the mitersaw station as an extension of the routertable for longer stock. It works really well. I have never done any router work with this level of precision. I should have done this 5 years ago but I was too cheap, lol.
I can’t really justify spending $130 on one skillet. So I will make do with the lodge. I am still on the fence on the grinding/polishing. May just use it for a couple of months as is.
You need more bacon grease or this non-hydrogenated stuff
Cooking with avacoda oil or any kind of vegetable plant oil is not a good thing in my opinion!
Love my cast iron skillet (well seasoned), never wash it, just wipe it clean! Makes me cringe to hear you washed it! Vegetable oils shall not touch thy cast iron surface!
