"in the process" is the key here. 1st round of E-Bath and a follow-up with oven cleaner. Lots of Carbon still on the surface. Putting it back in the e-bath for another round. It should have surface rust on the whole pan when it dries.

I was going to get a ceramic coated waffle iron, but found that typically those irons use low quality cast aluminum underneath that has a high amount of lead in it. If the ceramic ever chips or cracks you should really throw it away just like nonstick coating.

As I get older I'm really trying to focus "buy it for life" products. I settled on cast iron. I bought a new pan on Amazon but it didn't really function well so I settled on an antique pan. I wanted a Griswold but didn't want to pay 200 or 300 dollars for a darn waffle iron. So I found this reading, PA pan for $65 at an antique store in Lancaster, PA. It's most likely from the 1880s.