Man, soapy water has its place but not when you're chasing a leak in a tight spot. I've done the spray bottle thing for years and it works fine on a big obvious hose crack you can see. But a pinhole on top of a tank or something tucked behind a shield? You're just wasting soap and time. Smoke finds it in seconds and you can actually see where it's coming from. Your mileage may vary, but I'm with you on this one.

The rough factory finish thing is backwards, actually. New Lodge pans come pre-seasoned with that pebbly texture on purpose, and it smooths out over years of cooking, so eggs grabbing in the middle is usually a heat thing, not a pan thing. Your Tulsa pan probably cooks better because you stripped it down to bare metal and built up thin layers yourself, which is exactly how the old ones were made.