I love cast iron and prefer to cook in my cast iron skillets. I have all of mine I've had for 44 years and my mother's as well. My daughter wanted all of my mother's when she passed away. I took most of them and gave daughter and son each a couple. Both daughter and son are single and like to cook and use cast iron, so they will just have to divide mine. I remember my mother using salt and a small brass brush to clean hers from time to time, they were all black as coal, but you could use a clean white cloth and wipe them off and not have a dirty spot on the cloth.

I have used cast iron skillets for over 40 years. I wash them like any other pan and dry them on my gas stove burner.
My farmer husband found a 14 inch skillet in a field. He used a wire brush to clean it then we washed and seasoned it. It is our camping frying pan.

I don't cook anything in my iron skillets except cornbread. Because of the weight, I only use the smaller ones now. My daughter had a bad bad broken wrist some time ago so she has trouble lifting the big ones. So guess my son will get all the heavy ones when I'm gone.

We wash mine in sink w/dish detergent like all the dishes and it is clean and stays that way. I go through spells using it. We mainly use electric skillets. I don't fry much on my kitchen stove, don't like to clean the stove top.
I have heard of burning the build up by fire.

I don't care if the racks are shiny or dull. Leaving them in during the cleaning cycle is the easier way to clean them! Use a vegetable or canola oil to treat the pan. Olive oil will turn rancid.

I'm waiting for an answer on this one. I bought a new stove last year and it is the first self-cleaning one I've had. I'm terrified to use it. :D
My mother made my dad's bacon and eggs in a cast iron skillet every day for 35 years. That skillet was better than any modern non-stick I've ever seen or used. Sadly, I struggle with them. They get icky and sticky and just glare back at me from the cupboard. :(

I've put water in my pan and boiled it on the stove for a few minutes. It loosened up the stuck stuff. Then take a piece of foil and crumble it up and scrub. Works great too.

Sparkys, I did respond that my oven was fine after putting the skillet on the bottom of my oven. My husband removed the dust before I could see the accumulation. I see/saw no problems w/either the oven or pan and I did remove the racks.

cooking oil counter acts and gives a sticky coating. Shortening like Crisco is best. New Year's day id the day I reseason mine. I have an old cookie sheet and turn the pans upside down so the seasoning doesn't pool. I never use soap, either.

I leave the racks in the oven for self cleaning. They won't shine anymore but I didn't care about that, they are in the oven. Why hand clean greasy racks when you paid for a self cleaning oven? I put a stainless steel skillet in the oven on self clean. It took the shine off the skillet but it seems to stick less then the shinny ones.