"I have a problem when frying eggs and the surface is so rough the turner/flipper won't slide smoothly under the eggs. Likewise, pancakes come apart and leave parts behind when they're flipped."

New cast iron has to be broke in for such things, meaning that the seasoning has to be built up a bit. Well seasoned cast iron, which has been in good use for a while, will have built up enough of a seasoning layer on the cooking surface that it will be smooth enough to slide the spatula along, and with just a hint of oil those pancakes and eggs will release nearly as good as the best teflon coated pans on the market today.

Generally, I start most of my pots and pans cooking foods that stay wet during the cooking process, such as roasts or stews, or I cook breads in them, like corn bread or shepherd's loaf. After perhaps a dozen seasoning sessions, my skillets have enough seasoning coatings built up to where they are smooth on the bottom cooking surface.

On griddles and such, I will use them as broiler pans to begin with, or for stir frying. Same as with the other cast iron, after about a dozen uses, they are seasoned up enough that I can do eggs and pancakes like a short order cook.

Speaking of which, back in high school, we had a big smooth steel griddle we did burgers and such on at a restaurant I worked at. I recall that after getting the griddle up to temp, we had to season it before we could start cooking orders on it. Usually I was told to drop an egg on a spot where I was going to fry burgers on. I'd work the egg, shell and all, into the griddle. Every night at closing we were required to scour the griddle back to shiny metal, and I learned a thing or two about seasoning coats then.