It sounds like you may have accidentally not cared for it correctly right at first. The nice thing about cast iron pans is that the rust problem can be fixed and it can be made just as good as new with a little elbow grease as long as you haven't let the corrosion go on long enough so that it causes pitting. What you… see more It sounds like you may have accidentally not cared for it correctly right at first. The nice thing about cast iron pans is that the rust problem can be fixed and it can be made just as good as new with a little elbow grease as long as you haven't let the corrosion go on long enough so that it causes pitting. What you'll need to do is remove the rust and any current seasoning with steel wool or something like that. When you remove the rust and seasoning, that is about the only time you might want to use soap along with the water, because the soap will help to remove the seasoning. You want to remove the current seasoning because you will be re-seasoning the entire pan and you don't want thicker parts of the seasoning or else the pan will become sticky or tacky in spots. Lodge seasons their pans with a canola oil spray. However, the best initial seasoning method I found stated to use Crisco (vegetable shortening). Their method worked extremely well for me. I don't remember the process to exacting details, but here it is to the best of my memory. First, heat the pan up by putting it in the oven at about your lowest oven setting of about 150F-200F for about a half hour or maybe a little more. This should make the pan pretty warm but not burning hot to the touch. Still take care in handling the hot pan to not burn yourself though. Before you start wiping the pan down with Crisco, turn the oven up to about 300F because the pan will go back in the oven. The first heating makes sure the pan is dry before applying seasoning and gets the pan just warm enough to spread Crisco over the pan and have the Crisco melt. Once the Crisco is spread all over the pan (inside and out) wipe it down some with a paper towel to keep the seasoning thin. You don't want too much seasoning on the pan. If the seasoning is too thick in spots it will get tacky at those spots. Place the pan back in the oven upside down with a sheet pan or sheet of aluminum foil underneath the pan to catch any oil drippings. After about 45 minutes, pull the pan back out and wipe the pan down again. You want to do this because the seasoning will drip downwards due to gravity and collect near the rim, etc. You want to wipe that excess off before it gets too dry and tacky. I can't remember if you sort of buff it at this point or at the end. I think you may want to buff it some with the paper towel at this point some. At the end it should have a somewhat dull black finish. But after you remove the excess, stick it back in for about another 20 minutes. Pull it out, buff it a little more if necessary and let it cool and the seasoning is done.
At this point, your pan should be back to a nearly brand new state. My recommendation for the first few times you cook with it is to cook some chicken with the skin on or some bacon or something with some grease or fat to it. One of my grandmother's old cast iron pans stated "Chicken Fryer" on it. On one of my cast iron pans, the first couple of dishes I cooked in it was skin-on chicken. I used a little olive oil to cook the chicken in with the skin side down first. It was a chicken dish with olives, grapes and rosemary from the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. After you cook the chicken on the stovetop, then it goes into the oven for a bit. After cooking that dish a couple times on the stovetop then finishing it in the oven, it gave my cast iron pan an amazing finish that looked like my grandmother had been cooking with it for 60 years. I think that the chicken fat from chicken skin, especially when cooked in the oven does an amazing job of helping to season the pan beyond the initial seasoning.
Now after you cook your first dish, what I do is let the pan cool down some. Then I wash it down with plain hot water and no soap. If anything gets stuck to the bottom of the pan, I use this little 3" x 3" chain mail scrub pad. It gets the gunk off without damaging the seasoning. It kind of surprised me with it being metal. I thought it would hurt the seasoning but it didn't at all and it got the burnt on black gunk off pretty well if you have any. After I rinse it with hot water, I then just dry it off. I don't oil mine down or anything after that. If oil is added after cleaning it can become a gummy sticky mess with too thick of a seasoning that becomes tacky. Not to mention you can get oil all over where you store it. Instead, you just want to make sure you store it in a dry place right after you dry clean it and dry it off.
For example, I once let some of mine sit on the counter close to the sink too long and the bottom of the pans started rusting. But when I let them cool and clean them off, dry and store them in a dry place right after cooking, I've had no issues at all with rusting.
I wouldn't say there was likely anything wrong with your pan. You just need to get use to cooking with cast iron. Also as an FYI, avoid cooking foods with a high acidity at first until the seasoning is somewhat well developed. Acid can tend to break down the seasoning.
PS - You don't really need to put it back on the stove to evaporate any remaining water. I've tried that and you really don't need to do that to prevent it from rusting. In fact, I think there is more risk to it than to not doing it. That's because if you're not careful you can overcook the pan with nothing in it and then you burn and ruin the seasoning. You can tell if you've burned and ruined the seasoning by how it will change the color of the pan from that nice dull black finish to this off colored spot on it. Then you have to go back and re-season it all over again. see less It sounds like you may have accidentally not cared for it correctly right at first. The nice thing about cast iron pans is that the rust problem can be fixed and it can be made just as good as new with a little elbow grease as long as you haven't let the corrosion go on long enough so that it causes pitting. What you'll need to do is remove the rust and any current seasoning with steel wool or something like that. When you remove the rust and seasoning, that is about the only time you might want to use soap along with the water, because the soap will help to remove the seasoning. You want to remove the current seasoning because you will be re-seasoning the entire pan and you don't want thicker parts of the seasoning or else the pan will become sticky or tacky in spots. Lodge seasons their pans with a canola oil spray. However, the best initial seasoning method I found stated to use Crisco (vegetable shortening). Their method worked extremely well for me. I don't remember the process to exacting details, but here it is to the best of my memory. First, heat the pan up by putting it in the oven at about your lowest oven setting of about 150F-200F for about a half hour or maybe a little more. This should make the pan pretty warm but not burning hot to the touch. Still take care in handling the hot pan to not burn yourself though. Before you start wiping the pan down with Crisco, turn the oven up to about 300F because the pan will go back in the oven. The first heating makes sure the pan is dry before applying seasoning and gets the pan just warm enough to spread Crisco over the pan and have the Crisco melt. Once the Crisco is spread all over the pan (inside and out) wipe it down some with a paper towel to keep the seasoning thin. You don't want too much seasoning on the pan. If the seasoning is too thick in spots it will get tacky at those spots. Place the pan back in the oven upside down with a sheet pan or sheet of aluminum foil underneath the pan to catch any oil drippings. After about 45 minutes, pull the pan back out and wipe the pan down again. You want to do this because the seasoning will drip downwards due to gravity and collect near the rim, etc. You want to wipe that excess off before it gets too dry and tacky. I can't remember if you sort of buff it at this point or at the end. I think you may want to buff it some with the paper towel at this point some. At the end it should have a somewhat dull black finish. But after you remove the excess, stick it back in for about another 20 minutes. Pull it out, buff it a little more if necessary and let it cool and the seasoning is done.
At this point, your pan should be back to a nearly brand new state. My recommendation for the first few times you cook with it is to cook some chicken with the skin on or some bacon or something with some grease or fat to it. One of my grandmother's old cast iron pans stated "Chicken Fryer" on it. On one of my cast iron pans, the first couple of dishes I cooked in it was skin-on chicken. I used a little olive oil to cook the chicken in with the skin side down first. It was a chicken dish with olives, grapes and rosemary from the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. After you cook the chicken on the stovetop, then it goes into the oven for a bit. After cooking that dish a couple times on the stovetop then finishing it in the oven, it gave my cast iron pan an amazing finish that looked like my grandmother had been cooking with it for 60 years. I think that the chicken fat from chicken skin, especially when cooked in the oven does an amazing job of helping to season the pan beyond the initial seasoning.
Now after you cook your first dish, what I do is let the pan cool down some. Then I wash it down with plain hot water and no soap. If anything gets stuck to the bottom of the pan, I use this little 3" x 3" chain mail scrub pad. It gets the gunk off without damaging the seasoning. It kind of surprised me with it being metal. I thought it would hurt the seasoning but it didn't at all and it got the burnt on black gunk off pretty well if you have any. After I rinse it with hot water, I then just dry it off. I don't oil mine down or anything after that. If oil is added after cleaning it can become a gummy sticky mess with too thick of a seasoning that becomes tacky. Not to mention you can get oil all over where you store it. Instead, you just want to make sure you store it in a dry place right after you dry clean it and dry it off.
For example, I once let some of mine sit on the counter close to the sink too long and the bottom of the pans started rusting. But when I let them cool and clean them off, dry and store them in a dry place right after cooking, I've had no issues at all with rusting.
I wouldn't say there was likely anything wrong with your pan. You just need to get use to cooking with cast iron. Also as an FYI, avoid cooking foods with a high acidity at first until the seasoning is somewhat well developed. Acid can tend to break down the seasoning.
PS - You don't really need to put it back on the stove to evaporate any remaining water. I've tried that and you really don't need to do that to prevent it from rusting. In fact, I think there is more risk to it than to not doing it. That's because if you're not careful you can overcook the pan with nothing in it and then you burn and ruin the seasoning. You can tell if you've burned and ruined the seasoning by how it will change the color of the pan from that nice dull black finish to this off colored spot on it. Then you have to go back and re-season it all over again.
By Keith Sinders Top Contributor: Cooking on April 19, 2017

the LK8S3 is 12" diameter, has more a sharper "corner" where where the sides join the bottom, has more vertical sides, and is 2" deep. the LCS3 is 10" diameter, has sides that are angled outwards more, the sides join the bottom in more of a curve, and is 1.75" deep. basically, it much easier to slide an omelet (or anyt… see more the LK8S3 is 12" diameter, has more a sharper "corner" where where the sides join the bottom, has more vertical sides, and is 2" deep. the LCS3 is 10" diameter, has sides that are angled outwards more, the sides join the bottom in more of a curve, and is 1.75" deep. basically, it much easier to slide an omelet (or anything else, I suppose) sideways out of the LCS3 without breaking. see less the LK8S3 is 12" diameter, has more a sharper "corner" where where the sides join the bottom, has more vertical sides, and is 2" deep. the LCS3 is 10" diameter, has sides that are angled outwards more, the sides join the bottom in more of a curve, and is 1.75" deep. basically, it much easier to slide an omelet (or anything else, I suppose) sideways out of the LCS3 without breaking.
By FCCDAD on October 28, 2013

Yes it comes off, I also found this nifty set on Amazon That comes with the assist handle cover, and extra main handle cover and some other pieces. Here's a link to what I'm talking about if you're interested.. http://www.amazon.com/Hot-Handle-Holders-Silicone-Pieces/dp/B010FGETAA/ref=sr_1_89?ie=UTF8&qid=1437189844&sr=… see more Yes it comes off, I also found this nifty set on Amazon That comes with the assist handle cover, and extra main handle cover and some other pieces. Here's a link to what I'm talking about if you're interested.. http://www.amazon.com/Hot-Handle-Holders-Silicone-Pieces/dp/B010FGETAA/ref=sr_1_89?ie=UTF8&qid=1437189844&sr=8-89&keywords=cast+iron+skillet+handle+cover see less Yes it comes off, I also found this nifty set on Amazon That comes with the assist handle cover, and extra main handle cover and some other pieces. Here's a link to what I'm talking about if you're interested.. http://www.amazon.com/Hot-Handle-Holders-Silicone-Pieces/dp/B010FGETAA/ref=sr_1_89?ie=UTF8&qid=1437189844&sr=8-89&keywords=cast+iron+skillet+handle+cover
By Derrick Veit on July 18, 2015

I have put my cast iron pan in the oven along with the silicone handles, but I still had to use an oven mit. Each pan is different as far as what the max temperature allowed would be. I would look up the pan on Amazon and see what is said.
By Patricia P. on April 7, 2020