Are any steels or Damascus etching methods unsafe for knives used to prepare food?

Motega

Motega

Joined
Jun 20, 2006
Messages
456
I purchased an import Damascus on Ebay knowing what I was getting into but since my sharpener/strop is in a kitchen drawer didn't care that much about edge retention. It's a heavy chopper for splitting squash, watermelon, etc. and had a nice pattern. I thought it would just be fake damascus and was fine with that. Turns out it's definitely layered metal, maybe not a purists idea of Damacus but not just etched.
My concern is that it got a few small rust spots that seemed somehow "off" to me- not deep into the metal, but an unusual texture and a bit shiny, and a brighter red than I'm accustomed to. The metal also has a strong iron odor to it. Maybe .5mm in a few spots. Has anyone ever heard of something that would make this unsafe to use for food?

Thanks!
 
No problem except that acids in the food may change the look of the damascus . Make sure you minimize exposure to acids and clean carefully after use .
 
What he said... one of the steels used had probably a lot of carbon and it rusts. Shouldn't be anything different from regular rust. Maybe give off some metallic aftertaste, but nothing toxic...
 
Patina and rust are actually another form of iron oxide which is one of the important nutrient therefore it sure safe to eat.
 
I think it was the usual Pakistani culprits, but there's no way to tell for sure.

So nothing anyone has run across? I was thinking that if it was a piece of machinery in its former life (no Hindu pun intended) it could have absorbed some kind of toxins and I don't know enough about blacksmithing to know if anything like lead, mercury, or other toxic materials would be able to make it through a forge to present issues.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top