I only use cast iron, some cheap pan i bought at Ikea a decade ago. Never seasoned it. I just put some butter in it and then throw in the eggs.

What issue are we even talking about?

A $50 angle grinder and a little time will turn $20 lodge cast iron pans into the kind of quality cast iron pans that I've seen people spend hundreds of dollars on to buy antiques.

Can you elaborate?

Before something like the 1950s, casting techniques created a much rougher pan that fundamentally required grinding of the surfaces to make a usable cook surface. New(er) casting techniques developed that had a much tighter sand-pack for the casting mold, plus some sand blasting after the mold, made for a faster production cycle, but at the cost of leaving a slightly pebbly surface on the pan.

Because the older techniques weren't close to usable after the casting, the cleanup process made for a smoother pan. Because the newer techniques were much closer to usable after the mold, less cleanup was put into them, resulting in a rougher pan.

A cheap angle grinder is good enough for the relatively soft iron alloy used in cast iron pans. Grind the surface down smooth (don't forget to wear a face mask!), then finish up with increasing grades of sandpaper until you get a nearly mirror surface on the pan. Season the pan a couple of times and you'll be left with one of the most durable, non-stick surfaces for cooking that you can possibly have.

I think even without the angle grinder it wouldn't take much work starting at 220 by hand. use vegetable or food safe mineral oil and wet/dry paper.

Years of working as a programmer have left me with little in the way of endurance in my ligatures. Anything involving "elbow grease" is not a great idea for me. Even an orbital sander has too much vibration/takes too much down pressure for me.

what do you do with the angle grinder?

I wouldn't bother with all that. I'd recommend finding an antique cast iron pan (local thrift store, flea markets, Etsy, or eBay) and restoring it (there are services for this or you can do it yourself fairly easy) and using that. The antique pans are just way better.

Or you can try carbon steel which is more forgiving than cast iron. Blanc Creatives makes a great carbon steel pan/skillet.

I was not able to find an antique pan for less than the price of a modern pan and angle grinder. So I recouped my tool investment on the first pan alone.

Did you try eBay, flea markets, or thrift stores? eBay has them for as low as $15: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m...

Flea markets often have them for even cheaper. Thrift stores have them but you might pay $50--which is still cheaper than a decent angle grinder.

I'm pretty sure mine were all like $10-$20 each at thrift stores.

That guy is not wearing a face mask or proper eye protection. You don't want to make a habit of inhaling iron filings.

Do it in a well ventilated area, preferable outside. The fillings get everywhere, include into any vents of any other equipment you might have nearby. My glasses weren't enough to keep the filings out of my eyes. They are fine enough that they won't scratch or cut your eyes, but you will feel like you are having the worst bout of seasonal allergies you've ever had.

I was sneezing rusty boogers for 3 days.

That’s really no joke - eye protection (and ears) always.

Well, you don't use it to cut the handle off.

You grind the bottom of the pan smooth. Isn't that obvious? I guess not, apparently. But it seems like it should be.

Have you ever in your life tried to use an angle grinder for this sort of thing? It’s one of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle. It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.

If i had a cast iron pan I had to flatten, I’d dog it down on my CNC router, set up a 1/4” endmill, whip up some code for 33% overlapping passes in Fusion 360, and take off .005” layers until it was flat.

Most of us don't have CNC routers sitting around doing nothing.

While angle grinders are useful and all, wouldn't the right commonly available tool for this be something like an orbital sander?

Something like this: https://www.bunnings.com.au/bosch-blue-250w-random-orbital-s...

Or for a US version: https://www.milwaukeetool.com.au/power-tools/carpentry/sande...

Since it wasn't obvious - the inside of the pan :D

Using what kind of attachment?

Flap disc… https://www.amazon.com/Flap-Grinding-Disc-Assorted-Pack/dp/B...

a flap disc.

Seems like overkill though. You could probably just hand sand it to be honest.

I used a flexible grinding disk.

Tools exist to make jobs easy. There is no virtue in doing hard work for hard works sake. Plus, orbital sanders tend to inflame my carpal tunnel.

Probably, random orbital sander would do the trick, but slower and chew through a lot of sanding discs. It took me years to finally acquire a grinder - just no real need between sanders and saws. Once I started working on concrete and metal it became necessary, and now it seems like a luxury for all the little things which I probably should have been enjoying a long time ago. But IME, most people under 40 don’t have an angle grinder laying about. So borrow one from a 40+ friend before making the ROS do the work, IMO.

I didn't even wear out one disk using my 5" ROS sanding a 12" lodge skillet, though I started at 80 grit and worked my way to 220.

GTK, that’s better than I would have expected.