Strip that waxy cast iron and start fresh.

Strip it and start over.

A glassy or waxy surface means the seasoning has degraded badly — probably old oil that polymerized into a sticky, semi-plastic layer. That’s not salvageable with a quick stovetop reseason. It will stay waxy, flake, or taste like rancid oil no matter how much you cook on it.

The fix: remove everything down to bare metal. Use yellow-cap Easy-Off oven cleaner in a trash bag for 24-48 hours (wear gloves, do it outside). Scrub with steel wool and soap. Repeat if needed. Or use the self-cleaning oven cycle (risks warping thin vintage pans, so I’d stick with chemical stripping for old iron). Once bare, dry it immediately on the stove and apply a thin layer of high-smoke-point oil (flax, grapeseed, or Crisco). Bake at 450-500°F for an hour, repeat 2-3 times.

The glassy look comes from too-thick layers of oil applied at too-low heat — it bakes into a hard but waxy shell instead of bonding properly. Vintage pans deserve better. Strip it, season it thin, and you’ll have nonstick glass in the good way.

Don’t skip the strip — you can’t fix a bad seasoning by adding more seasoning on top.