"Edwin Pawlowski" > wrote in message
.. .
>
> "Viviane" > wrote in message
> > They said I had mistreated them. Don't know how. My grandad in France
> > had his for about 70 years and they weren't even stained. I guess they
> > don't make them the way they used to.
>
> Rapid heating or cooling will do it. The interior is porcelain lined. It
> is like glass coating on cast iron. If you heat it rapidly on a high
burner
> or if you were to dump water in a very hot pan, the glazing will crack.
It
> is even possible to crack the entire piece and have it break in half. All
> cast iron is vulnerable to cracking under extreme circumstances, steel
pans
> will usually warp.
>
Cracking under extreme circumstances? And what might be the circumstances
that would crack plain cast iron? Hitting it with a sledge hammer? Filling
it with water and putting it outside my door in january? They make engine
blocks out of that stuff. Never heard of anyone cracking their skillet.
Now coating it with something with a different coefficient of expansion
makes the thin coating vulnerable.

I could never see the point of the coating anyway, besides to make it look
pretty.

del cecchi