Saves time and elbow grease. They are both long but worth a viewing.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10261300

The first link shows how to ID the great old pans, the second tells about how to clean them up.
I bet I have cleaned 50 Cast Iron pans through the years. A few have developed the reddish areas but that went away with use.

I always use mine, have given the pans to all the family and as gifts. I bought them when they were readily available at yard sales and shops. Now they are hard to find and getting pricey. Still the best pans ever! I am a 3rd generation user. My family had nothing else!

The black chips that came off are are just cooked on 'grunge'.

I wiped it clean, then noticed the orange is now brown, so you are right.

I think I've been putting too much oil in the pans when I season them.

After that, all they needed was rinsing and drying on the burner and oiling while hot with a paper towel.

so I'd imagine it was about 250F.

Over the past fifty years I have purchased quite a few cast iron skillets and two cast iron dutch ovens. At first I did all the steps about heating the oil and then oiling and baking in the oven, blah, blah.

Then about 20 years ago, my kids were growing up and leaving home and decided I needed some smaller skillets. After I had used one of them, I washed it, then put it on the stove and turned the burner on to medium-low. As the skillet heated, I dried it well with a cotton tea towel. Once it was dry, I put a little oil on a paper towel and rubbed it into the skillet (while still warm), then wiped dry with the tea towel. Then put it away until I used it next. It takes about 3 months to season a skillet this way, one that is used several times a week.

When I washed one of these skillets, I did it by hand and did not let it soak in the water. As soon as it was clean, I started the drying routine on the stove. This works just as well as any other way I have tried and is much easier. My son gave me his new skillet to season, I cooked on it for about three months and went through the drying routine. He never had any problem with it.

I have had the crusty stuff build up on my skillet before and it will leave a little rusty looking area, just go through the stove top routine and it will go away. Best to scrub the skillet with a plastic scrubber to keep the crust from building up. I use my cast iron skillets for breakfast cooking, baking cornbread and frying pork chops, browning onions and vegetables for other dishes. Use the dutch oven for cooking pot roast, spaghetti sauce and braising tougher meats. When frying chicken and chicken fried steak I like to use an electric skillet.

Could that be cake from the baking, like you see in old brick ovens