I'm kind of a cast iron expert, if I do say so myself. Here are the steps I would take:

1) Use Barkeeper's Friend (powder) with a heavy duty green scotchbright pad and a little water. dry thoroughly, then repeat. Make sure to rinse well, then dry over heat.

2) You may also use one of those hard plastic scrapers (that are used with pampered chef - or they also sell a lodge brand where they sell cast iron). Use this sparingly to avoid taking off the seasoning.

3) heat a little oil. add kosher salt while still over very low heat and rub with paper towel. Some people swear by using a cut potato instead of paper towel, but the only benefit I saw was my fingers didn't get burned, so whichever you prefer is fine.

4) If the above doesn't remove the crud, you can place the cast iron in the oven and run a self-cleaning cycle. This will take the metal to the very base cast iron, which will be a silver/gray metal. Let the pan cool to it's just warm to the touch. You will be able to brush off the crud and rust, however you'll notice a little surface rust will form in the short time the pan is bare. It should be clean bare metal at this point, but feel free to repeat step 1 if you think it needs it.

5) Rub the entire pan with a light coat of oil or crisco. (If the pan is too cool to melt the crisco, put into a 200 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, then coat.) When I say light, I mean very light coat. It should just has a light sheen to it.

6) Place a cookie sheet or foil on the bottom rack of your oven to catch drips. Put pan into a 300 degree oven for 15 minutes, remove and wipe again thoroughly with a paper towel. You should wipe it out enough that you think there is no oil left on the pan. It's ok, there's oil still there, and more importantly, there's oil in the pores.

7) Heat oven to 425. Place your skillet, turned upside down, on a rack higher than the foil and bake for at least 1, and up to 2, hours at 425. (I do 2 hours.) Let cool completely. At this point, some people will start using their pan. I like my cast iron to have a really black shiny surface, so I go on to step 8.

8) Repeat steps 5-6, then heat your oven to 500. Bake skillet, again upside down for 1 hour. Let cook completely. Now your pan will be a shiny black cast iron.

9) I repeat the above as many times as I have time for, but try to do at least 3 times on the 425 and at least twice on the 500 cycle. I feel the 425 gives you a great deep season and the 500 really bakes it on there and makes it nearly impossible to scratch off.

If your pan is more rusty, less crudy, you can soak in a 1/2 vinegar, 1/2 water mixture for as long as you need. Check the pan often though, and only soak as long as you need to get the rust, as the vinegar will start eating the metal once the rust is gone.

I restore old cast iron to better than new condition; it's been a hobby of mine for the past couple of years. I use both a lye method and an electrolysis method to remove ancient crud/rust, but I think in your case, that might be overkill. But, if you want that info, just let me know.

FWIW, I do steps 1 and 4-9 on a brand new cast iron pan, to get it properly seasoned. The season that Lodge gives their pans now a days is really not that good.

Until I really got into it, I would say it was impossible to make eggs in cast iron. Now I make them all the time and they just slide around. After I finish cooking, I just wipe with a paper towel. I do not use soap at all, and only water when it's something really messy.

Good luck!

Kosher salt and oil also works. I messed mine up and it rusted. I used a copper scrub pad and then reseasoned it, but I realized it still had some rust. Used kosher salt and oil and it is perfect!

Do not use an SOS pad if it has soap on it!

I have my great grandmothers pan. Iys over 100 years old. I use it almost daily as did the women before me. I'm sure someone burnt it or did something wrong with it and it is still perfect. They are impossible to destroy.

Yeah it hasn't been long enough to rust a hold anywhere or create a deep groove. If you're willing to scrub it down and re season, you should be fine.

SOS pad, a little vegetable oil and it's good as new.

No problem. You can get rid of the rust, depending how bad it is, by scrubbing, sanding, steel wool, or a wire brush. Once you've got ALL of the rust off, give it a really good scrubbing in hot water.

Then re-season it like it's brand new and you're starting over. Season it every week for the first month, then every month for the first year. You'll be good as old again.

I'm a bit embarrassed to ask this question... Months ago I was cooking fried chicken in my cast iron dutch oven and burnt the heck out of the last batch. Because it was smoking, I covered the pan and set it out on my side porch. Somehow it ended up under a loose tarp covering some bikes and I forgot about it until now. I'm kind of afraid to go look in it. I want to throw it out and just buy a new one but that seems so wasteful. What would you do?