I use one of two cleaning methods -
If I'm cooking with grease, oil, butter, etc I will use only a stainless steel scrubber while the pan is still hot to break up anything that's stuck on. Wipe out with paper towel, really wipe at it until you just have a thin layer of oil left and you're done. Think bacon, eggs, pancakes, fish, etc. The stainless scrubber is also real handy for those "grill pans" and anything that doesn't have a flat bottom...you can get the baked on crap out quick.
If I'm doing something more like baking in the pan - I have some pasta dishes and stuff that I will bake in a skillet - I wash them with soap and water like any other cooking utinsel and then heat up on the stove and rub on a very light coat of oil with a rag.
That's all that's required, my cast iron is about as non stick as it gets. I've cooked on other people's cast iron pans that look like my yard sale/thrift store finds - "seasoned" supposedly - and they are not any more non-stick than mine are and they look fawking gross. I don't know how people let them get that bad but I guess not everyone can do the angle grinder treatment on them either like I do.
I have a Mainstays #2, a Ozark Trail #5 (both Walmart Chinesium) and a Lodge flat iron (circular) from Meijer (made in the USA) I really love the cast iron for its cooking properties. these three are all in the kitchen and the wife and I use them daily. We have an autistic son and certain things in his diet will increase the issues that he has. teflon is one of the big ones. and as almost all of our pans were well over 15 years old and the teflon was getting sketchy, we tossed them and bought the cast iron ones as a replacement. and the stainless steel lids of the old teflon pans fit perfectly on the cast iron if we need lids.
From Paul Wheaton in the Permaculture fame: You can make cast iron non stick, but you cannot make teflon non poisonous.
Looking at your post on reviving cast iron, I will keep an eye out at garage sales and what not... I love the idea of seasoning them in the gas grill. when I reseason ours, I usually use the oven and both the wife and son are very sensitive to smells...
AJ
Man you need to find yourself an old skillet, anything made before the 1960 or so with a nice smooth bottom. They cook soooooo nice, the cooking surface starts to look like a sheet of glass.
That said, contrary to popular belief, I don't think the rough surface is as bad as it's made out to be. It will fill in with carbon as you use it and become smooth. Even really digging into it with the wire wheel/grinder tactic won't budge much of it... it gets to be permanent. My old Lodge griddle was pretty rough and nothing sticks to it.
The gas grill seasoning tactic works so good. No smoke in the house, no burnt smell, just nice seasoned cookware when you're done. Make sure you brush the grates off before you do it though or your hamburger grease will migrate upwards onto your pans.