THERE'S A REASON people (myself among them) collect cast-iron cookware. Nothing else sears a steak so perfectly or gives cornbread such a crisp crust and tender crumb. And this stuff only gets better with age. A pan that has been seasoned properly (see below) acquires a raven patina and comes to release food ever more easily over time. It's the original nonstick surface.

In short, I have no complaints about my collection of vintage pans. And yet I couldn't help being intrigued when I heard rumors of something new in the cast-iron world: In Syracuse, N.Y., a small-scale maker of cast-iron cookware called Borough Furnace had launched with the intention of combining old-fashioned, made-by-hand methods with innovative design and a commitment to maintaining a tiny carbon footprint. On June 18, the foundry released its 9-inch skillet; within five hours, the first batch sold out.

Granted, that batch only included eight pans. John Truex, 30, and his cousin Jason Connelly, 31, founded Borough Furnace in 2011 with seed money raised via a Kickstarter campaign. Mr. Connelly, who has since returned to his Tennessee home, handled the business end. Mr. Truex, who began working with cast iron while studying sculpture at the University of Tennessee, updated the classic skillet shape for better handling. At the same time, he developed a no-waste manufacturing process that relies on recycled scrap iron for the cookware and discarded fryer grease to fuel the furnace it's forged in. With the help of a production assistant, Mr. Truex makes three skillets a day.

Removing my Borough Furnace skillet from its box, I was struck by how different it looked from my older skillet, particularly in the length and the angle of the handle. And whereas the sides of my vintage skillet are straight, this one's edges slant outward to allow for easier access to the food during cooking. Promising as these updates seemed, I was eager to see results. First up was a fried egg. Later, cornbread. Dinner was a medium-rare rib-eye, and breakfast the following morning was a German pancake. All were great; the steak was outstanding.

That first egg left behind a few bits of white, but with each subsequent use, the nonstick qualities improved; the pancake slid from pan to plate with only a nudge from the spatula. The long, hollow handle stayed cool as I cooked, while the "helper" handle on the opposite side, with a larger opening than those on older models, was more easily grasped with a pot holder for transferring the skillet from stovetop to oven. So, while the Borough Furnace pan has all the heat-retaining heft of the old-fashioned kind, weighing in at a fairly standard 5 pounds, it was, as promised, much easier to maneuver. I look forward to trying out the 12-inch braising pan Mr. Truex plans to release later this summer. I'm hopeful it will, like his skillet, be a piece that will age gracefully along with the rest of my collection.