Thunder Group Curved Rim Wok, 24-Inch

Let me start with, this wok is heavy gauge, commercial grade! Pre-seasoned both sides. This is my 4th wok & the nicest one I've ever seen. My only dislike with it was, it has a sticker on the inside, bottom dead center; to remove, scrape the paper off with fingernail or sharp wooden/plastic utensil, don't use metal. Then heat it up to remove the glue residue by burning it off (don't use any chemicals that would harm the seasoning;) I heated it until it started smoking & used peanut oil & scraped with my wok brush & it was all gone with-in a few minutes. I'm confident anyone else would only have given 4 stars for this Wok, after going through what I did to get it & then dealing with the sticker... but the only thing that could make this wok any higher in quality, is if it actually did the cooking for me, so I had to give it 5 stars, lol. Turns out my problems weren't with the seller (it was drop shipped from the Mfg;) the Thunder Group is obviously experiencing some "Growing pains" & their warehousing/shipping process is in a little dismay, but this product/Wok is commercial grade & with out a doubt the nicest one I've ever seen. Now if the rest of their products are of equal quality, then I'd suggest you try & bare with them through this process, & I'll guarantee you'll be thoroughly please with your product/s once received, finding them worth the wait. I was fit to be tied by the time mine finally arrived (12 days of silence) yet was never informed it was even shipped until after I'd used it (that night) & fell in love with it, lol. Tis an Honest company & I highly recommend THIS wok!

Cooks with even heat distribution. Dependable, strong wooden handle. Large cooking surface allows for diverse cooking applications.

At the time I brought this wok, the title and description said this was a "cast-iron" wok. But after receiving it, it was anything but "cast-iron". It looked like cheap thin steel that had gone through a "blue"-steel process to prevent rust. I had to return it, and had some problems with the seller giving me a refund. Don't get this unless you want to fill up your garbage can. I finally got a real cast-iron wok from a place in San Francisco Chinatown for about 20 dollars.

The craftsmanship on the wok was sub par. It was missing some of the coating on the inside and also rusted in some spots.

This wok is fine. The bad reviews are from people who don’t know anything about woks. This is a traditional round bottom wok. It’s meant to be used on top of a wok ring on a gas stove. It’s not meant for electric stoves. Don’t complain that it teeters or rocks on a flat surface. If you want something for an electric stove, get one of the flat bottom woks, which won’t have the same performance as electric stoves just can’t get a wok hot enough. I actually use this on a Nuwave induction wok cooker, which has a curved hob specifically designed for round bottom woks. Works perfectly. As far as I can tell, this has exactly the right curvature to fit the Nuwave, while my older 13” wok was curved a little too much and rocked a little on the bottom of the Nuwave. One review slammed this for being “cheap metal” rather than cast iron. That’s just a product description problem, not a product problem. The Chinese seller just doesn’t know the difference between iron and steel, and besides the description never said cast iron, only “iron.” Meanwhile, the reviewer doesn’t know that this is carbon steel, which has been the traditional material for woks for centuries. Go into the kitchen of a Chinese restaurant and you’ll never see a cast iron wok. That’s too thick, too heavy and doesn’t respond to quick changes in heat during stir frying. Also fragile, as cast iron is likely to break if you drop it, whereas steel may just dent. Somebody complained that the coating came off. There is no coating. This is not a nonstick wok. It comes with oil rubbed on it at the factory to prevent it from rusting. If the oil wasn't applied properly, then it may rust, but it’s easy to remove the rust and you’re supposed to scrub off the factory oil anyway. It may or may not be an edible oil, but why take the chance? Getting the label in the middle of the wok off was easy. As another review suggested, I gave it a few splashes of 70% isopropyl alcohol, put a plastic lid on top of the puddle to prevent evaporation, then in ten minutes was able to peel it off in one piece, leaving absolutely no residue. I then used a stainless scrubbing pad and Dawn Powerwash to scrub the inside but left the outside alone since that will never see contact with food. After that, you’re supposed to season the wok, same as any other carbon steel or cast iron cookware. Plenty of web pages and YouTube videos describing how to do that. I smeared vegetable oil on it and with the incredible power of the Nuwave, had it smoking heavily in seconds. Within 10 minutes, everything from the center to halfway up the side was a dark brown, almost black, exactly as it should be after seasoning. If you don’t know that seasoning is required or don’t want to bother with seasoning such cookware, then you’re better off buying nonstick pans because this is not for you. I see complaints that carbon steel woks rust after they cleaned them with soap or put them in the dishwasher. You’re not supposed to put carbon steel or cast iron cookware in the dishwasher! Many sources recommend not even using dish soap to clean them. Give it a quick scrub with something like a bamboo wok brush, a stainless chain mail scrubber or a stainless scrubbing pad then dry it and rub a few drops of oil onto it to prevent rust. It’s not a difficult care regimen. The 14” one I bought (actually 14” nominal, almost 15” actual), like the 16” one, has an unusual handle design. It has two loop handles like larger woks usually have, but also a stick handle welded to one of the loops, like smaller 12-13" woks have. That makes it a bit more versatile. I can use both loop handles if I have to lift an entire wok full of food. But when I need to hold an empty wok with one hand – like when I’m giving it a quick rinse at the sink – I can use the stick handle. But on the downside, it also placed the stick handle way too high. The stick handle doesn't have a hang loop, but I can hang it up by the loop handle on the opposite side.

It's a great item, just not balanced. I have a glass top stove and this wok tends to teeter on it. But it works great on the propane burner on our grill!

Excellent product a little large for what I needed but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The handle gets very slippery when wet or oily so some additional grooves would be an improvement. Not a fault of the product but if you have a gas range with small or regular burners a wok is not the right utensil to use. I was aware of this but still went ahead and bought the product. I've been told a wok ring will help, so that's gonna be a future purchase.

Quality is the same price sky rock ,