Our 12 inch standard skillet is a hand-made piece that we hope will be your favorite 12 -inch skillet.   It has generous height for pan frying and sauteing.  The handle is long enough so that you will not need a handle cover for short cooking episodes.  The helper handle is large enough to do its job, but not so large as to impact storage.  9″ cook surface. All of our Standard Skillets Feature: Maker’s Mark:  As a hand-made piece, made by one individual, the maker marks his work with his personal symbol, a signature. Date Code:  We share the Julian date the skillet was made. For example, Julian date 26133 means the year of ’26, and the 133 day of that year.  Julian dates are commonly used in industry as a compact date nomenclature. Premium Surface Finish:  One of the challenges of carbon steel cookware is getting seasoning to adhere.   Carbon steel is exceptionally smooth, which helps tremendously in cooking performance compared to the rough surface of most modern, high production non-machined cast iron cookware.  However, this absolutely smooth surface can prove challenging to season simply because it is so smooth.  A skillet benefits significantly by having enough “tooth” to grab the seasoning. We have addressed this by applying an extremely precise, very mild ground surface treatment.  It cooks amazingly and looks great.  In fact, it looks so good, we had to treat the bottom of the skillet, as well. The back of the skillet receives the same precision surface treatment as the cook surface.  Through normal use, the bottom of the skillet will get minor surface abrasion.  However, we spend the time to make the bottom surface look as good as the top.  This is important because ….. Personalization:   Our standard skillet comes with 38 total characters available for your personalization.  The top line has 20 character spaces, the bottom line has 18 spaces.  You can select any combination of letters, numbers, spaces and a few select symbols.  This skillet is made for YOU! (Or maybe this skillet is made for someone you love. ) Steel Rivets:  We choose to use steel rivets, not brass.   Steel rivets are much more difficult to set than brass rivets in a handmade shop environment.  However, steel is much, much stronger than brass.   Welds are functional, but lack in appearance.  Brass looks good, but is a soft material compared to steel.  There are several variations of brass and some are not food safe.  We use a hydraulic press to set the rivets so the handle is never in question. Handle finish:  We want you to have the best cooking experience, and part of that experience is handling your cookware.  We tumble each handle in abrasive media to knock off any burrs and provide a velvety finish to the handles.  We could easily use a vertical mount belt grinder to remove burrs and sharp edges, but frankly, I think you get a more professional looking and feeling finish with a tumbling process.  No sanding marks. Each skillet is handmade. We do not use any automation in the production of Your Skillets.