How do you clean your blades?

S

sisk61

Joined
Jun 24, 2011
Messages
508
Howdy guys!

Recently, ive been using my traditional blades to cut up apples for a snack. Ive noticed that the carbon steel blades leave a very strong smell and sometimes a taste when the juices from the apple get on them. Is there any way to counter this? The smell and taste isnt as strong on carbon blades that already have a patina, but on my Laconico Slippie, it just wreaks of an old sharpening stone or something.

Ive just been cleaning my blades with a little hand soap and a napkin.
 
That's one of the reason why I'm partial to stainless steel (I use my knives alot for food).
Anyway, any patina (natural or "artificial") will reduce the metallic smell and taste given to food.
As for cleaning the blades, in my experience the way you clean them has no big effect on the carbon taste.

Fausto
:cool:
 
There may be other ways but letting it patina is the best way IMO. If you put oil on it then you will taste the oil...same with polish or wax etc.

If you put a food safe mineral oil its going to be long gone by the time you finish your apple :)

Kevin
 
A light coat of baby oil for carbon blades and then wiped down really good. On my SS blades if it's bad I'll run some warm water over it and then wipe it down with the same rag I use to treat my carbon blades with. Most of the time on my SS blades I can just wipe it across my pants leg.
 
Well... I have a lot of carbon steel blades in my EDC rotation. And one their maintasks is cutting for food prep. You´re right, when saying that there´s the smell of the apple on the blade. I´ve made the experience, that when you clean it with handwarm water and some soap, it will taste much more like the soap. I don´t like the taste of soap ;)

So I use to clean my blades just with some water and oil the joints and blades regularly. That´s all. But as Kevin already said, when cleaning it with oil the taste of any other food will leave. Oil usually has no taste. Except of some weapon oil I use formally, that had a very bad taste...

I just use handwarm water and a little oil. When cleaning a well used knife I use also soap, but not too much.

Hope this could help :)

Kind regards
Andi
 
Ok thanks!

The Laconico is starting to get a patina from the two or three times ive used it to cut up apples. I dont really want to force a patina on such a nice knife, so i guess it will come with time.

No matter how i clean it, the smell comes back the moment the acids from the apple touch the metal on the blade. Should i just tough up and deal with it? :D

Thanks so much guys for the advice!
 
You seem to have two choices.
One is, keep it like that and be patient. Apples will do their job eventually.
The other is, speed up the patina. There are nice ways to do it, and you will eat less "carbon apples" and smell less "apple steel" :D

Fausto
:cool:
 
quattromori said:
You seem to have two choices.
One is, keep it like that and be patient. Apples will do their job eventually.
The other is, speed up the patina. There are nice ways to do it, and you will eat less "carbon apples" and smell less "apple steel" :D

Fausto
:cool:
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How would i "speed up the patina"? Right now, i just peel the apple with the laconico and then let the juices sit on it until i finish the apple with my sodbuster or whatever. sometimes i lay a couple of peels on the blade.
 
I prefer to use a stainless blade for fruits & other acidic foods, for this reason. The exchange of ions between the fruit acids and the iron in the steel is what makes the flavor & smell change, and also what creates the patina. I don't mind the fruit-induced patina on the steel, but I don't like altering the taste of my food. Really ruins some things, flavor-wise (a really good, tart & sweet grape is nasty, after slicing it with a carbon steel blade). Some 'carbon steels' seem to be much worse than others, in terms of how much effect they have on food. Some patina might help reduce the effect, but cutting acidic foods will also remove some patina (temporarily), each time. So, I don't know if it's possible to make the effect go away completely. Some 'carbon steels' with a little bit of chromium added might reduce it, but I'm not sure about that. A 'flavor comparison' between 1095 (no chromium) and CV (small amount of chromium) might be an interesting experiment, even if not scientifically conclusive. :)

I clean all my blades (carbon and stainless) with a Windex wipedown every evening, before putting them away. And even do the same after each use, if the Windex is nearby & convenient. I don't know that this would have any significant effect on reducing the 'twang' added to fruits, though. That's more about the steel itself, whether it's clean or not.
 
sisk61 said:
How would i "speed up the patina"? Right now, i just peel the apple with the laconico and then let the juices sit on it until i finish the apple with my sodbuster or whatever. sometimes i lay a couple of peels on the blade.
Click to expand...

Some fruits are much more acidic than others. Might try something other than apples (grapes or citrus seem pretty fast, from what I've seen). Or vinegar would speed it up, I'm sure.

I've noticed some apples don't seem very acidic at all, on my carbon-bladed Opinel. Didn't do much to the patina at all. Might also explain the lack of flavor in these particular apples too. Some seem almost devoid of the acidic tartness I associate with a really 'good' apple.
 
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Obsessed with Edges said:
I prefer to use a stainless blade for fruits & other acidic foods, for this reason. The exchange of ions between the fruit acids and the iron in the steel is what makes the flavor & smell change, and also what creates the patina. I don't mind the fruit-induced patina on the steel, but I don't like altering the taste of my food. Really ruins some things, flavor-wise (a really good, tart & sweet grape is nasty, after slicing it with a carbon steel blade). Some 'carbon steels' seem to be much worse than others, in terms of how much effect they have on food. Some patina might help reduce the effect, but cutting acidic foods will also remove some patina (temporarily), each time. So, I don't know if it's possible to make the effect go away completely. Some 'carbon steels' with a little bit of chromium added might reduce it, but I'm not sure about that. A 'flavor comparison' between 1095 (no chromium) and CV (small amount of chromium) might be an interesting experiment, even if not scientifically conclusive. :)

I clean all my blades (carbon and stainless) with a Windex wipedown every evening, before putting them away. And even do the same after each use, if the Windex is nearby & convenient. I don't know that this would have any significant effect on reducing the 'twang' added to fruits, though. That's more about the steel itself, whether it's clean or not.
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Thank you! Now i really wish i owned a few stainless blades... :rolleyes: I have noticed with my CV knives that already have a patina, that there is less of that taste, but the smell is still there. so that is ok with me as long as the food tastes fine! sometimes the patina comes off on the food... which is a bit nasty... but oh well.
 
I clean my blades two different ways, one is dish soap and hot water, the other is isopropyl alcohol. The alcohol is great for getting the gunk out of the pivot joint. I also use a high grade mineral oil that is safe to eat. Mineral oil is a digestion aide I use the oil to maintain the carbon blades and wood and bone handles as well as lubercation not to clean. Also I use the alcohol when camping/traveling when water is scarce to clean knives and other camping utensils. It's cheap and is lighter then water, and is good enough for the operating room. I tend to use the alcohol more then the soap and water.
 
David,

I have found cleaning the blade with a light degreaser like windex will only make it worse.

It just strips any oil that may decrease the time before the acids meet the steel.

I keep mine clean with lemons...when I cut one for my water. A patina is ever changing if you actually handle and use your knives.

I either let them patina and use them for everything or keep them polished and use them for more specific tasks.

Of course, your mileage may vary :)

Kevin
 
Kevin,

I don't oil my blades, so I don't worry about stripping it with the Windex. In actuality, that's mostly why I use it in the first place, to remove finger oils (which trap moisture, salts and dirt against the blade; all rust makers). I got into that habit after finding some rust-colored 'fingerprints' on my Schrade 8OT a while back. I figure a clean & dry blade is always better off, oiled or not.
 
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Also, sorry for posting again most kitchen knives in the past were made of carbon steel, I was a Executive Chef in my earlier years, and if you wipe your blade on a clean rag after you have been cutting a little while you will not get that taste, you will see Chefs with a rag hanging over their apron to wipe the blades off. Also to get the max effectiveness of the alcohol wipe your blade and leave a wet film and let it dry naturally it is basically acting as sanatizer. Hope the is useful info.
 
There's also another reason for that.
The only foods that are really affected (taste-wise) by carbon steel are fruits and some vegetables. Most of the cutting tasks made by chefs do no include fruit, nor many of the "affectable" vegetables. I do like David, and avoid carbon steel on my dedicated food knives.
I'm not able to tell how the carbon steel composition may affect the whole thing, but surely some carbon blades do worse than others, and I'm sure it has nothing to do with maintenance, and it's all about chemistry.
This said, if you want to speed up a patina on a carbon blade and see if the "bad taste" effect reduces a bit, there are a couple thread on this subforum about that, so you might want to give it a try...

Fausto
:cool:
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
Kevin,

I don't oil my blades, so I don't worry about stripping it with the Windex. In actuality, that's mostly why I use it in the first place, to remove all finger oils (which also hold moisture, salts and dirt). I figure a clean blade is always better off, oiled or not.
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I agree 100%

Lemon almost works like windex in this way :)

I wipe it away right as soon as I am done my cut.

Kevin
 
Chefs at one time or another have cut just about everything, there are all sorts of soups and sauces that are derived from fruits(coulis). I think out of all my kitchen knives only 1 is 1095 the rest are a high carbon stainless steel. Way easier to deal with in a high pace environment.
 
wiping the blade off with a paper towel while im carving an apple really helps with the taste. this patina is forming pretty quickly, i got the knife yesterday. and along the edge, a patina has already started. so i think soon it will be ok.
 
I don't see much of a difference between forced patinas and natural patinas. Given enough time (as in, years), all patinas tend toward a full uniform grey. At least, that has been my experience with my old Ulster Boy Scout knives that I've owned since I was a kid. So, whether you "just use 'em" or "dunk 'em in some acidic something or other", give it another 10 years and they'll all look grey anyway.

In terms of household goods, warm apple cider vinegar and yellow mustard both hasten the process.

I use mineral oil (available at your local pharmacy as a laxative) on my carbon blades. I don't collect. All my knives get used fairly regularly. So I don't have any problems with finger prints or rusting. I persuade a patina on my blades for new knives (forced is such a harsh term) and don't worry about it. I agree with others that more patina means less taste issues.

I do have some stainless knives. I keep on in my backpacking gear. Used hard and put away wet, that knife is. I prefer to use 1095 otherwise, even for food.
 
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