That's true, you have to keep it well seasoned to prevent it from rusting. Can you do that with carbon steel? I'd think the surface chemistry would be about the same, so maybe? Does the greater flexibility of the thinner cookware make the seasoning flake off?
Yes carbon steel cookware is seasoned almost exactly the same as cast iron. Although it's sometimes thinner, it's still quite dense and heavy cookware that's comparable to cast iron stuff in use and seasoning lifetime in my experience. It cooks just as fantastically well too--I love carbon steel pans.
Carbon steel is the same as cast iron, just less brittle due to lower carbon content. They sometimes make it thinner (doesn't have to be as thick since it's not cast), but there is plenty of thick carbon steel cookware out there too.
