Machine Smoothed Versus Power Sanded

[Lloyd B]

I have a deep fryer with the deepest pits I've seen on any item. It eats the best paper towels and lint free cloths like a salt water croc. BUT, it's non stick. Nothing ever sticks because I seasoned it properly, use it regularly and maintain it after each use. Smooth appearance had nothing to do with non-stick. I have other 1800 pieces that are smooth in appearance that haven't been seasoned and they'd probably stick anything I cooked. The "smoothness" is about appearance mostly.

 

[RLMuse]

You're right, I didn't consider the possibility of getting it so smooth it wouldn't season properly. Now I am wondering how smooth my two best Griswolds really were when they left the factory so many decades ago.

What is a magnetite layer?

When casting, or forging iron, there are many different forms of iron that occur at differing temperatures and even at different places in a piece of metal. Austenite (occurs at over 1,000 F), Cementite (a hard brittle iron carbide in steel, and cast iron), and Magnetite (an iron oxide, it is the component that makes iron magnetic) to name a few.

 

[KevinE]

Iron, in its elemental form, is magnetic. It does not require the presence of magnetite, one of 16 forms of iron oxide, to be so.