Care of carbon steel chef's knives

[bandaidman]

I bought my wife a Murray Carter kitchen knife for Christmas

She is a great cook but not a knife person

The stuff I traditionally use to coat my blades is not stuff I want in my food. We have never had any non stainless kitchen knives before. Any recommendations on protecting the blade. It must be easy and food safe (I dont want tuff cloth stuff in my food!). I used veggie oil tonight.....

 

[Paul Work]

You can also just keep the blade clean and dry until a good patina develops. This will act like the blueing on a gun.
Paul

 

[bob bowie]

Veg. oil or Mineral oil is a good choice for kitchen knives. Also watch them around salt, and various Citirus/acidic fruits,etc...

 

[turkeyman]

I agree with Paul. I, too, have a couple of Carter knives and love them both!! Each really holds an excellent edge and is easily maintained with a smooth steel.

 

[Tightwad]

Mate, Go with Paul Work's recommendation and keep them clean and dry
letting a natual patina develop to seal the steel.

We have a set of Ontario Old Hickory carbon steel kitchen knives we've
used for over 30Yrs. and they have the patina mentioned. They are used
daily with little care other than hand washing and then hand drying. It
takes a bit more time but any knife should be hand washed and dryed
anyway. NEVER put any knife in a dishwasher!!!!

The key is keep it DRY and store it in a block or make a cardboard
sleeve to protect the edge. It'll last that way for as long as you need it.

 

[Walt Welch]

That natural patina is actually iron oxide, it is just that the (Fe)valence is different from rust, so that the molecule is not greatly enlarged (as it is in rust). This is exactly the same process which was (and still is, in double bbl. shotguns) to produce the beautiful rust blueing.

However, as anyone can tell you, blueing is at best a decorative coating, and does not protect against rusting well at all.

So, if you are going to let your knives get that patina, you still need to be careful and wash and dry then as soon as possible, then apply mineral oil or whatever sort of rust preventative immediately.

Putting high carbon knives in a dishwasher is a truly foolish thing. This is ONLY true of high carbon steel. Stainless steel, such as my Henckels' four star knives, are not harmed at all by washing in the dishwasher. The heat (120 degrees F) is not enough to affect the temper. The only problem is that the edge, being thin, is likely to oxidize a little (since more surface area/unit volume is present on the edge). So, I have to put my knives on the steel a little more frequently. I have never seen visible oxidation on the edges.

Of course, my Rob Simonich Talonite chefs' knife with G-10 handles just laughs at hot water and soap.

Hope this helps, Walt

 

[RaynorShine]

I agree with many of the comments already made here. I have two of Murray Carter's forged kitchen knives and one of his Muteki line of knives. They are exceptionally sharp as has been noted in other posts. While I use them, my wife does not as "they are too sharp." This is certainly not a complaint with her Henckels knives! I think the dishwasher cycles really dull them, probably through banging around against other silverware.

The Murray Carter knives I have are all stainless outer layers with the carbon core. Even a few minutes contact without cleaning the knives will start to stain the carbon steel core. I've considered cutting some apples and oranges and leaving them in contact with the blade to go ahead and develop the patina but haven't done it yet although I've done that with other knives. As already mentioned though, they should be cleaned and dried after use and oiled when not in use. I've used vegetable oil successfully before and I guess if you are using the knives daily, wiping old oil off and applying new oil, the vegetable oil would never go rancid. In spite of that I've switched to mineral oil. I use mineral oil on the cutting board and have just gotten in the habit of using it on the carbon knives in the kitchen. Besides it is cheaper than the olive oil my wife keeps in the kitchen!