Use chainmail. It sounds medieval, and the first time you drag it across a pan it sounds a bit alarming too, but it’s the tool most cast iron owners end up with once they’ve tried everything else.
Say you fry some potatoes, or sear a steak with a sugary marinade, and there’s a crust of black stuff welded to the bottom of the skillet. A sponge does nothing. A green scourer works, but it’s abrasive enough to wear through the seasoning if you really go at it, and then you’re back to oiling and baking the pan to rebuild the coating. Steel wool is worse still.
Chainmail is different because the rings are smooth. They roll and knock against the burnt bits and chip them off, rather than sanding the whole surface down. Hot water and a minute of scrubbing usually does it. No soap needed, though a drop won’t hurt modern seasoning either.
Most of the chainmail scrubbers on Amazon are a flat square of rings. They work, but they flop about in your hand and are awkward to push into the corner where the side of a pan meets the base.
Lodge’s pad wraps stainless steel chainmail around a red silicone core. That core gives it some body, so it behaves more like a sponge you can actually grip and press down on. It’s small, about 5 inches long, and I’d rather have it that size. It gets into the ridges of a griddle pan, and a big pan just takes a few more passes.
It goes in the dishwasher, which matters more than you’d think. A chainmail pad that’s been scraping bacon residue needs a proper clean now and then, and it’s much easier to just throw it in with the plates.
Keep it well away from non-stick pans, because it will absolutely ruin them. Stainless steel pans and enamelled roasting tins are fair game. It also won’t rescue a skillet that’s gone properly rusty after a week in a damp shed. That needs steel wool and a fresh round of seasoning.
After it’s clean, dry the pan on a low hob for a minute and wipe a few drops of oil over it. That habit does more for cast iron than any gadget. But for getting it clean in the first place, the chainmail pad is what I’d grab.
