I have just started a business recycling peoples' cast iron. Please ship me your offcasts, and I'll sure that they are re-seasoned and re-released into the wild.
Jokes aside, you can buy some flax oil, wipe it on thin, and let the pan sit a few months and the oils will polymerize on their own in a few months. Or, you can buy a naturally pre-polymerized boiled linseed oil (flax oil that has been heated--just make sure you get one without chemical dryers like Tried & True brand) and it'll polymerize on its own in a few days. Likely it'll still smoke a little bit when you cook.
But you could also get a cheap hotplate and take it outside if you're really worried about the smoke. You don't need to use the oven method, just use a very, very thin coating of oil, bring it up to temp slowly and hold it there. Cast iron is a decent heat conductor, so you can get good coverage.
People get way too obsessive about seasoning cast iron, like it's magic to get a good seasoning and a horror if the seasoning gets stripped away. It's not. Badly damaged seasoning is like 10 minutes inconvenience.
Jokes aside, you can buy some flax oil, wipe it on thin, and let the pan sit a few months and the oils will polymerize on their own in a few months. Or, you can buy a naturally pre-polymerized boiled linseed oil (flax oil that has been heated--just make sure you get one without chemical dryers like Tried & True brand) and it'll polymerize on its own in a few days. Likely it'll still smoke a little bit when you cook.
But you could also get a cheap hotplate and take it outside if you're really worried about the smoke. You don't need to use the oven method, just use a very, very thin coating of oil, bring it up to temp slowly and hold it there. Cast iron is a decent heat conductor, so you can get good coverage.
People get way too obsessive about seasoning cast iron, like it's magic to get a good seasoning and a horror if the seasoning gets stripped away. It's not. Badly damaged seasoning is like 10 minutes inconvenience.