Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Having been an experienced home cook for 40 years and owning 10 and 12 inch pans in nonstick, steel, and cast iron I was excited to see an article about the value of a carbon steel pan in the charter issue of Christopher Kimball's "MIlk Street" that I received when I recently subscribed. Looking at the available pans from the reviews this one appealed to me the most and I bought the 11 inch. Following the instructions I attempted to remove the glaze with hot soapy water using a sponge and a brush. I added a bit of canola oil and turned it on and immediately smelled what I assumed to be burning wax in what you cans see as a the black area of the pan (this is second pan see below) opposite the handle. It burned into the skillet and fearful that the pan would never attain it's non-stick property I returned it. Amazon promptly sent a new pan the next day. So I decided to be extremely careful about making sure the wax was removed so I washed the pan with hot soapy water with both the sponge and brush 3 times. After rinsing thoroughly and drying the pan I could see no areas that looked any different than any other i.e. it looked perfectly clean. I added a tablespoon of canola oil and turned the burner up to medium on my 12,000 BTU burner. As it heated up and began to smoke the black spot appeared in the same spot that the original pan burned the wax. This time I smelled no wax and was unsure if the pan was going to work or not. Following the instructions to (re-) season the pan that were very similar to those given in "MIlk Street" I went through the process 5 times. The article in "Milk Street" said it would have a brownish pattina and other than the black spot it did. However looking closely at the pan the surface it looked like their were ridges that delineated areas of slick non-stick and areas that looked a bit duller. I decided to go ahead and cook a few dishes in it and it performed well with a pork tenderloin stir fry and seared scallops (cooked after some aromatics had been cooked and the pan wiped out and oil added) heating up quickly and browning the food well, However it was still far from non-stick mostly in the black area and a smaller area up near the handle. They required fairly heavy cleaning with coarse sea salt and a sponge. Now I don't know if this pan will ever be non-stick like most of the viewers claim it to be right out of the box. Hopefully the vendor will shed some light on my experience.