Do I Need To Strip Old Seasoning

I have just been given an old cast iron skillet that belonged to my wife's grandmother. I'm the cook of the house and have been looking for an old cast iron skillet for a while and so I've been reading on how to restore them. Now that I have one I have a question about cleaning/stripping.

The skillet hasn't been used in at least 12 years, possibly longer, but it's still in great condition. There is no rust on it that I can find, and no built up crud. It does look to be well seasoned as the cooking surface is very smooth, albeit rather dusty.

Should I follow the complete process of cleaning, stripping, and re-seasoning? Or should I just wipe it down real good and put it through a seasoning cycle (crisco, oven, etc.)?

Thanks,
John

The main reason for recommending stripping and starting over is that you don't always necessarily know the history of a piece (car oil change, pet bowl, etc.). If you're absolutely sure the pan has never been used for anything but cooking, you could give it a good scrub with hot water and a plastic scrubber, dry it well, and then maybe proceed with a round of initial seasoning as detailed here: http://www.castironcollector.com/seasoning.php before using it to actually cook in.

Thanks for the reply Doug. I'm positive it's only been used for cooking. All she used it for was cornbread. It's been sitting in a cupboard for the last 12+ years. My wife's grandfather recently passed away and we found the skillet while cleaning out the kitchen.

Anyway, I'll give it a good cleaning and try the initial seasoning process as detailed on the link you posted.

Thanks again,
John

Old seasoning that has turned rancid or sticky is also easier to just strip and start over.