Blade toxicity

J

John Galba

Joined
Jan 23, 2014
Messages
22
I was warned by a knife seller not to use black powdered knives to cut food with.

Once, I actually used my black KA-BAR to decapitate fish for our family Christmas dinner.

However, I am still unaware of the possible danger of this black powdered finish of the KA-BAR knives and several other blade surfaces.

I would be more than happy if someone could tell me which blade surfaces or finishes are safe and adequate for food and which are dangerous for our health (toxic).

For instance:
The black finishes on knives (teflon, black powder... I cant think of more).
I quess the various stainless steel finishes are safe (bead blast, stone wash, satin...).

Thank you in advance.
 
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I was warned by a knife seller not to use black powdered knives to cut food with.

Once, I actually used my black KA-BAR to decapitate fish for our family Christmas dinner.

However, I am still unaware of the possible danger of this black powdered finish of the KA-BAR knives and several other blade surfaces.

I would be more than happy if someone could tell me which blade surfaces or finishes are safe and adequate for food and which are dangerous for our health (toxic).

For instance:
The black finishes on knives (teflon, black powder... I cant think of more).
Or the various stainless steel finishes (bead blast, stone wash, satin...).

Thank you in advance.
 
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I worry more about cooking utensils, pot, pans etc. I don't think that using a black coated knife to spread your peanut butter is going to kill you.
 
Just about any coating is toxic, if you ingest the coating.
Most coatings are tough enough not to come off on food.
 
Teflon is a coating used in cookware so that at least shouldn't be a problem. Apart from having the finish flake off and eating it, and even then, I don't see any reason for concern about your well being. Would be interesting to hear any opinions from someone with certain knowledge of potential dangers.
 
Indeed, it basically comes down to the quality of coating. However, I am curious whether the micro particles on the surface get into the food, since the coating wears of after time, no matter how tough it is.
 
Indeed, it basically comes down to the quality of coating. However, I am curious whether the micro particles on the surface get into the food, since the coating wears of after time, no matter how tough it is.
 
Some metals can leech into food, and aren't used as a direct cooking surface (aluminum/tin) but that is usually only when heated, and with continued use. I do know that should a teflon coating on a pot start to flake off, that it should be immediately discarded. The effects of both metal and teflon poisoning will kill animals and give you flu like symptoms.

Since we don't know exactly what materials and chemicals are on a coated blade, I would not use them for food prep. The last thing you want is to make your family sick, or expose them to an unknown carcinogen.

I carry an Esee 6 in my hunting pack for utility purposes, but use my stainless steel knife for skinning and cleaning game.
 
Since most traditional knife blades aren't coated, I'm going to move this to General Knife Discussion.
 
And whatever you do... do NOT let a three year old play with your knife or they may swallow a small part.

(At least that's the warning I always see. I read it on the internet so it must be true.)

You're welcome.
 
Processes like bead blasting, satin finishing, stone washing, etc, are ways of finishing bare steel, not coatings. you might have meant that when you said finishes, slightly unclear, just wanted to clarify. :)

Personally, I'm weary of power coat, teflon, and paint. I would feel more comfortable with DLC or Ceracoat, no real facts backing this up, it just seems like the aforementioned wear off more easily, i.e. in your food.

I'm going to stick with my satin blades for now. :)
 
9blades said:
Processes like bead blasting, satin finishing, stone washing, etc, are ways of finishing bare steel, not coatings. you might have meant that when you said finishes, slightly unclear, just wanted to clarify. :)
Click to expand...

A coating is considered a finish.
 
Did we NEED two threads on this?

Stonewashing, satin, etc., will not come off in food, as it's just the texture of the metal. The coatings wear very slowly in my opinion. If you're still worried, just strip it with ZipStrip. At some point, you've got to be more concerned about wt you're cutting the food on/the pot or pan used to cook it/the freshness of the food itself/etc.
 
Just use your knife and eat your food. If you die from micro particles of blade coating, you had it coming.

---

Beckerhead #42
 
spydercobenchmadekai said:
Did we NEED two threads on this?
Click to expand...

You might be more effective reporting you opinion as opposed to questioning a mods move on the open forum...just a tip! :thumbup:

As for coating, as others have mentioned, if you are OK cooking on teflon and similarly-coated fry pans, then I wouldn't worry about the coating on a knife.

If you do worry about those things, there are more than enough uncoated kitchen knives out there! :) Or carbon steel!
 
k1ssthecook said:
Some metals can leech into food, and aren't used as a direct cooking surface (aluminum/tin) but that is usually only when heated, and with continued use. I do know that should a teflon coating on a pot start to flake off, that it should be immediately discarded. The effects of both metal and teflon poisoning will kill animals and give you flu like symptoms.

Since we don't know exactly what materials and chemicals are on a coated blade, I would not use them for food prep. The last thing you want is to make your family sick, or expose them to an unknown carcinogen.

I carry an Esee 6 in my hunting pack for utility purposes, but use my stainless steel knife for skinning and cleaning game.
Click to expand...

Thats what I was looking for. Thank you!
 
Teflon flaking off.... if you like to keep buying frying pans, go for it. I do prefer your basic cast iron skillet for most things. I do eventually throw out an electric skillet after the teflon finish gets in pretty bad shape. But usually by that time, there is all kinds of other issues like that grease that you missed when washing or the baked on grease that you can't get off and the skillet becomes "unsightly" for many.

I think there are far more important things to worry about than a knife coating scratching off. As was mentioned, if you don't like the coatings (and I generally don't), you can strip off the coating or just buy knives that have no paint-like coating.

My geneal approach is to NOT ingest coatings via food when I am aware that they are flaking off. I don't worry about the micro stuff that you really can't see. My sister was visiting and looked at one of my old serving spoons (big ones) that had rust on it. She wondered why on earth I hadn't thrown it out. My comment was "it's just rust".
 
"Since we don't know exactly what materials and chemicals are on a coated blade, I would not use them for food prep. The last thing you want is to make your family sick, or expose them to an unknown carcinogen...but use my stainless steel knife for skinning and cleaning game."

Stainless steel contains chromium...a toxic metal...but you'll use a stainless blade for food over a coated one?

Small children eat and chew everything and live long lives. We've all eaten paint, dirt, pens, plastic, etc. The human body is wonderful thing and you won't die or be affected by the few molecules of a kife coating that may come off in your food...trust me I'm a scientist :)
 
Teflon is often thought to be poisonous. It is not. It is inert and passes through with no change. If a teflon coated piece of cookware is overheated, however, the gas is deadly to birds and mildly irritating to humans. Don't let your birds cook unsupervised.....
 
Since there has not been a study on this it is really hard to say. Just do what you are comfortable with. If cutting food with a coating on freaks you out dont do it. Simple as that, no fuss. Rationally though you probably ingest more "toxic" things unwittingly than could possibly come from the coating of your knife. Heck you could probably scrape all that stuff off, sprinkle it on your food, eat it and be just fine, or you could kill over and die instantly. Dont know... However, I do not think it would be a good business practice for a knife company to knowingly coat a knife in a possible toxic substance when there is a possibility that the knife could come into contact with food. I am sure there has to have been a conversation when a knife company is deciding on a coating on whether it is toxic or not. Who knows maybe not, maybe they are trying to kill us :D If you are that worried about it bring it up with your doctor, or have someone do an actual chemical analysis on the coating. Here peoples opinions are going to vary widely from someone who is worried about it, to someone who doesnt care.
 
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