The purpose of seasoning a skillet

I personally had never heard of it, but after doing some research online, I found another set of instructions that called for boiling potatoes in the pan before seasoning:

After boiling potato peelings for 15 minutes, the skillet had a nasty slurry of grey looking sand in the bottom Once the skillet was heated, the pores were opened, and the starchy/water mixture was able to draw out oils and dirt that I was not capable of getting to through normal washing. I fully do not understand the science behind why the starch/water mixture did this, but the experience was enough to convince me of the need to do this. So much in fact, that I did this process twice on each skillet.

I read a few too many web pages while researching this, and didn't save all of the links, but I did notice a few things:

1. Some of the posts kept switching between saying cast iron and carbon steel; both are typically seasoned, but they're different materials, so I don't know if it's recommended for both, or if people were mixing things up. (I only have one carbon steel item, a wok, which I got second hand, so had already had its first seasoning).

2. Some of the posts mentioned boiling potatoes for 15 minutes, other mentioned frying potatoes as the first thing to be cooked in the pan (in oil), some mentioned cooking them 'til they burn. The boiling potatoes ones also mentioned it works for cleaning stainless steel pans.

3. Some mentioned peels specifically, others say that you can use any part of the potato ... if it's the starch that's of interest, I'd think the middle would actually be better, but I'm guessing that the peels were considered waste, and so considered a less valuable item; I'd be inclined to just use one potato, dispatched with a peeler, if you were trying to avoid wasting potatoes you weren't going to eat.

I don't think those are "cracked ridges"; I think you have a hammered wok. The appearance is an artifact of how they are manufacted, by hammering a steel blank into a form or mold. It probably is a carbon steel wok, as that is the most common material used for the hammering method as far as I know.

According to this article at The Kitchn, you should season it as follows:

1. Scrub your wok in hot, soapy water and then dry it over low heat on the stove.
2. Turn the burner on your stove to HIGH and add 2 to 3 tablespoons of oil to the wok. I prefer peanut oil, but any oil can be used - sesame, chili, or canola. Coat the wok surface evenly with oil by tilting and turning it.
3. Heat the oil and keep the oil spread across the surface until it starts to "glaze" the wok - in other words, it turns into a thin layer of film. Use a wok spatula to move the oil around and tilt/turn the wok to move the oil as well. Be careful not to spill any oil that would start a grease fire!
4. Let the wok cool and the layer of oil will harden on the surface.