13 inch Classic Iron Wok by Wok Shop

I'm not sure what all the complaints were about regarding this wok. This wok is fantastic. I've used woks for years - mostly carbon steel woks and have used the USA made 14" carbon steel wok from the Wok Shop. It's a great wok, but think I prefer this one more.I like the light cast iron, the enamel back and resin handles. It is a light wok and I can easily lift it with food in it. So I can hold one handle and tip the contents into a bowl or onto a plate. I find that the resin handles stay cool enough to handle without a mitt most of the time. If I am cooking (deep frying), then I need to use a towel or mitt. But usually, most of what I cook does not allow the handles to get overly hot. And the handles have held up well.When I got it, I scrubbed it out with hot water and an SOS pad, then hand dried it. I wrapped foil around the handles and threw it in the oven for 20 min @ 400. I pulled it out and lubed it up with Crisbee Cream per the instructions and then threw it back in the oven upside down for I think an hour and did it three times. I then put a big glob of bacon fat in it and fried some onions till they were burned, smearing them around the wok as they cooked. Now when I cook, the food slides around fairly well. When done cooking, I let it cool down (at least till I am done eating) before exposing it to any water. It cleans really easily with hot water and light scrubbing with a brush. Note: my carbon wok got a little wonky over the years because I would expose it to water right away after cooking - and that's probably not a good idea...warping and all of that. So I make sure I let this cool down nicely before cleaning.One thing I did after I got it was I took some 120 grit sandpaper to the handles and smoothed out any rough surfaces on the ends and basically roughed the smooth surface up. Before when oil splashed on the handles from frying, they got super slippery, but now with the handles roughed up, it is not slippery and is still smooth to the touch.The inside looked pretty rough when I first got it, but the more I use it, the smoother the inside seems to get. I suspect all the casting marks are being filled in by patina. And the more I use it, the slicker it gets.I've had no problems with the enamel. I leave it in the bottom of my oven in the slide-out oven drawer. It sits next to a 10" cast iron pan and nests inside a 14 in cast iron pan. And is shares space with some wok spatulas, brass strainers and such. So it gets kind of clunky in the drawer and the enamel has held up fine.For a weak, anemic glass top stove, this is perfect. It's a great price, I'm super pleased with it and if it ever gets destroyed, lost or stolen, I would buy another one.

First one: I season in oven protecting plastic handles, everything goes fine. Then decide to do a final seasoning on a standard electric stovetop 6" spiral burner. Everything goes fine until I attempt high heat, as soon as the element starts to glow red..the wok fuses to the heat element. Inspection shows the exterior porcelain is actually melting and fusing to the element. Call the Wok Shop send them pix, they claim they have NEVER seen such a thing. To their credit they immediately ship a second wok and tell me to simply 'burn it in on stovetop using scallions and peanut oil'. OK. Once again, the second the element gets red hot...porcelain exterior starts to melt. Now internal cast iron is seasoned and working fine, right now I'm using at lower temps, eventually the porcelain will melt off the bottom, which is largely a cosmetic issue and I'll just be careful to keep the exposed iron seasoned to avoid rust. Biggest annoyance: the porcelain that melts off fuses solid to the heating element, only way to remove it is with serious sandpaper. Second annoyance: the handles are rather too small and it's hard to keep the wok centered and stable on a standard spiral electric element, this is because the wok is quite light and the porcelain on the bottom rather slippery (while it's there), ironically I suspect once it mostly wear/burns off the wok may actually be easier to keep centered on the heating element.

I have been cooking in a wok for over 40 years. I have always used carbon steel Wok's and they work great. Fortunately with ceramic cooktops the bottom of a carbon steel Wok will eventually work. I tried stainless steel woks and that is a complete waste of money and time. A wok cannot be made of stainless steel. Cast iron woks weight 12 lb and are basically unbelievable heavy. I tried other lightweight cast iron but they had deep bridges from the molds that made seasoning and actual issue. This Wok is it absolutely perfect for ceramic cooktops. It holds heat, it heats up fast, seasoning was a non-issue. While it is preseasond, I still went over it and some sliced onions in hot oil until the onions till they were burnt. This wok is great and I highly recommend it for glass cooktops

This $35 Wok arrived USED! It still had residual oil inside it, scratches on the cooking surface and the edges all banged up and dented.

This is an amazing wok! It's my first wok, but it's really easy to use. I followed the seasoning instructions before putting it to use (oil, oven, etc.)), and then it has been working great! It is almost non-stick, and I' sure it's getting better! I wish I had bought this earlier!The shipping is very slow, but it is definitely worth waiting for. The seller is very nice and responsive too.

poorly made especially in aesthetics, paint chips off... upgrading to CuisineArt (best) should have ordered that way from the beginning....bon appetit🖐️🏾

I ended up buying this directly from the Wok Shop rather than Amazon, but it's the same Wok. It's modest looking -- some might say rustic -- but has exceptional performance, even on my anemic glasstop electric stove.This wok is a Chinese-style very thin cast iron, which gives it some unique properties, in comparison with other woks out there (in particular, American-style thick cast iron). It heats up lightening fast -- 1.5 to 2 minutes from turning the stove on to being fully ready to execute a sizzling stir fry. It cools down fast too, so you can adjust and regulate your cooking temperature as you work, as with carbon steel. It transfers heat to food unbelievably well, so even on my lame glass top stove, I can put serious char on meats.Bottom line, the thin cast iron provides a lot of the the heat transference goodness of cast iron, but without the ponderous warm-up time and inability to control temperature of a thicker cast iron wok like the Lodge (which I also own). I really like this wok, even if it isn't going to win any beauty contests.