Definitely a recast. Grinding marks at the lip wouldn't be there if it was originally bottom gated.
So... I'm yet another member of this club. I have the exact same skillet with the raised "8" on top of the handle, the small pour spouts, the distinctive handle with rib and reinforcement at the sidewall, and very distinctive inset heat ring. In an attempt to try and research it a bit further, I stumbled across this thread.
I admit I really don't understand your assessment here, Doug D.
If you believe this skillet is a recast... then what is it a recast of?
And aren't most of the recasts that are floating around out there rather poor quality casting, usually crudely bottom gated, with many other noticeable flaws?
Based on the example I have, and the others I've seen, this type of skillet appears to be none of those things.
I actually thought grinding at the lip was just an indication of a skillet that was post bottom gating procedure... and I believe that's all we're seeing here... a skillet made after the age of bottom gating.
It's only speculation, but I'm beginning to wonder if these pieces weren't some sort of experimental design made by the Lodge foundry in its early days... maybe shortly after Blacklock. The raised number is similar to those we attribute to Lodge. The handle design (with reinforced area at sidewall) looks more like something that might have been copied from pre-Griswold ERIE pieces. I don't think it's at all beyond the realm of possibility to think that one foundry might have experimented with copying some of the design from another foundry... before settling on their own distinctive style. My point being that makers of tools, machines, etc. often copy the designs of their peers... it's common practice in manufacturing... maybe small pour spouts was the maker's attempt at a minor difference to set them apart from the other copied characteristics.
I will mention that the geography of these pieces turning up (reported by others here in the forum) in TN, north GA, and my own here in Birmingham, AL are all relatively close to Lodge home base. The other close geographic alternatives being early unknown pieces made by BSR or Martin before they had an identity of their own. No one seems to know what BSR made (or what it may have looked like) in those early days before the "Red Mountain" series was established... so who knows?
Just some thoughts, but I really don't think the small pour spouts here automatically mean it couldn't possibly be old... and likewise nothing here suggests recast to me.