Knife Care Woes

tkroenlein

tkroenlein

Well-Known Member
So...ugliness warning.

I gave verbal instructions. These are owned by a lifelong acquaintance who I am sure understood. However, the SO has been using the knives and I get this pic after one use. I'm kind of miffed...I really don't understand how this much staining happens after one "hand washing." I'm kind of thinking that SO got the blade hot and soapy and then rubbed veg oil on it making an ugly mix of knife corrosion sauce. I need some wisdom.
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That doesn't make sense to me. I think it's had more done to it than that. Maybe his SO doesn't want to admit to more. I'm wondering if it got put in the dish washer 'by accident'

Carbon steel I presume?
 
Yup, 52100. Idk. Both were present and I specified no dishwasher. I think they'd be worse than this if it was.
 
Different types of materials sliced (foods) have different effects on the metal and what was done afterwards also has big effects. Though I'm sure you know this.

Is that pitting I see in the blade? If it is, that doesn't seem normal after a single use.
 
If it ain't pitted, it's darn close. I'm wondering if she didn't hot soapy water wash the knives before use, and strip all the oil off giving whatever a good opportunity to affect the steel. But it still looks worse than it should.
 
It's pretty easy to see.... whomever "washed" it, got their fingers wet/soapy, and lightly rubbed the blade back and forth a couple of time....no rinse, and no dry. You can see the "finger" tracks in the mess.
LIGHTLY scrub with Flitz and #0000 steel wool, then a coat of a good quality paste wax.

Issues of that type are what you will ALWAYS deal with when using carbon/alloy steels for blades.... no matter how intensely you try to get the "caring for" point across. What you have to come to grips with is..... it IS NOT your fault, no matter what the owner of such a blade/situation thinks. People are lazy, and if they can wreck it, they will.
The entire reason I send a "Knife Care Instruction" sheet with each knife is for this exact reason..... when someone complains that their knife stained or discolored, I ask them why they did not read the paperwork that came with the knife..... because if they had, the situation would not have happened.
The solution? Part of mine is including a care sheet with each knife. I also tend to use satin clear Gun-Kote on most blades these days. The Gun Kote isn't a cure all....but it sure helps avoid bigger issues like this one.
 
I also send a care sheet/warranty out with all my knives. Especially carbon kitchen knives. I also ask the customer if they have ever seen an old slip joint or an old kitchen knife where the blade is dark grey and explain to them what a patina is and how once it's formed it makes the blade more rust resistant.
 
I have so many questions - going to do some searching - please post results so we may learn - thank you for sharing
 
EdCaffreyMS said:
The Gun Kote isn't a cure all....but it sure helps avoid bigger issues like this one.
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Big fat +1 on this one. If I etch a blade in the least it gets clear Gun-Kote. That includes all Hamons and Damascus. Its not expensive to get started with Gun-Kote and thanks to Ed the learning curve is short too.
 
Another possible contributing factor I didn't see mentioned: They say this is after hand washing once after use. I'm wondering how long after use before washing, and what was it used on? If the knife was used to cut onions, tomatoes, or other foods with some acid content, then let sit until the cooking was done and all the utensils washed at the end, this could be from that lag time.
EdCaffreyMS said:
I also tend to use satin clear Gun-Kote on most blades
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Do you use this on kitchen knives?
 
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EdCaffreyMS said:
It's pretty easy to see.... whomever "washed" it, got their fingers wet/soapy, and lightly rubbed the blade back and forth a couple of time....no rinse, and no dry. You can see the "finger" tracks in the mess.
LIGHTLY scrub with Flitz and #0000 steel wool, then a coat of a good quality paste wax.

Issues of that type are what you will ALWAYS deal with when using carbon/alloy steels for blades.... no matter how intensely you try to get the "caring for" point across. What you have to come to grips with is..... it IS NOT your fault, no matter what the owner of such a blade/situation thinks. People are lazy, and if they can wreck it, they will.
The entire reason I send a "Knife Care Instruction" sheet with each knife is for this exact reason..... when someone complains that their knife stained or discolored, I ask them why they did not read the paperwork that came with the knife..... because if they had, the situation would not have happened.
The solution? Part of mine is including a care sheet with each knife. I also tend to use satin clear Gun-Kote on most blades these days. The Gun Kote isn't a cure all....but it sure helps avoid bigger issues like this one.
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Thanks Ed.

That's kinda funny you said it that way. I know it isn't my fault, but still feel like I need to do something about it.
 
That's kinda funny you said it that way. I know it isn't my fault, but still feel like I need to do something about it.
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I said it that way, because I've been in your shoes! It took me getting hosed by several "friends" before I got tired of it and put the monkey right back on them! :) I've also had A LOT of customers do some really "duh" things to knives/blades, and then expect me to fix it for free...... so when I write "you can't fix stupid".... that's from experience! :)

Ed, do you use the additive that lowers the baking temp to 185*?
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No. It's not necessary since the baking temp for Gun Kote and/or MolyCoat is 300F. Tempering temps START at 350F, so you don't run any risk of messing up a blade's temper by baking Gun Kote on at 300F. That is unless your oven fluctuates more than 50F..... which I have seen in the past.
 
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