I used to work in an iron foundry, specifically I did quality control on green sand. There is a lot you can change in your sand process alone that can alter the finish and crystal size in gray iron casting. I am extremely skeptical of claims that nothing has changed in 100 years when 4 or 5 generations of steel workers have passed and some of the manufacturing materials available on the market are significantly different.
If the finish bothered me that much I’d grind on it a bit with a silicon-carbide wheel. But it’s not worth the 20 minutes of my time when I can already bake cornbread and frittatas in mine without sticking. Sure something like Finex makes a much slicker pan than Lodge (at only 10x the price), but none of the glass lids I have fit a Finex. It’s not hard to find a random lid to fit an ordinary round skillet.
