Is it safe to...

kamagong

kamagong

Gold Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2001
Messages
10,884
prepare food with a blued blade? I'm asking because I blued one of my khukuris today with Birchwood Casey's Perma Blue. The packaging said that Perma Blue contained known carcinogens and other chemicals that can cause birth defects. Does this apply only to the liquid stuff while still in the bottle, or does the bluing solution still maintain its toxicity when it's already on the blade?

I also want to know if it's safe for me to blue the tang? The khukuri I blued is a pana butta with steel fittings. As much as I love the look of the blued blade this khukuri doesn't look quite right with polished bolster and buttcap. I want to blue the furniture, but the package also said to avoid prolonged contact with the skin.

Thanks for the help all.
 
There are several options in here that would surely be safe.

http://magichammer.freeservers.com/metal_finishes.htm
see paragraphs for:
1--hydrogen peroxide
2--At this point the wax is caramelizing on the surface, which hardens it a lot.
3--- simple method of achieving a blue/black finish


I ---think--- standard bluing on steel would be safe once
the treatment is done and the chemicals removed; it's just
a type of iron oxide--rust.
Other colors I'm sure contain selenium and other metals
that are not plainly safe.
As said though, check with the manufacturer RE the actual
composition of the color on the steel.
 
Safety? What's that? Seriously, I've never eated off of a khuk...HEehee...heee...I just blue 'em. I think life tends to be a buit carcinogenic....

I personally would not blue any of my kitchen knives, or use a blued knife for food prep. I chop rawhides for my dogs with a blued khuk, and some of the blueing rubs off on the rawhide...dogs seem ok.

Keith
EN Ferro Veritas
 
I use only things that will rust in the kitchen -- knives, pans, pots, etc. I figure the rust helps keep my system supplied with iron.
 
I wouldn't want to eat of a khuk either. I was just wondering in case I went camping or something and this khukuri was the only knife at hand...yeah right. I don't think I'll fret over it too much. IIRC Uncle Bill had a military customer who blued his 15" AK and prepared a goat dinner with it. His native guide was so impressed that he tried to buy the AK but our military friend was having none of it.

I also spoke to a Birchwood Casey representative. She assured me that there is no hazard in contact with the skin and a Perma Blued item once the blue has been applied. Apparently the warning is there primarily to discourage folks from sniffing Perma Blue for hours on end inside a poorly ventilated room. Now they tell me!

I know I've been gone for a while but there sure are a lot of new faces here. Fortunately Uncle Bill has been able to maintain the same friendly atmosphere as this has always been one of my favorite places to visit.
 
I used the Birchwood Casey Perma Blue to blue a khukuri. It left a funny, somewhat sulfurous smell on the blade. Later I found a great old knife that someone had apparently left in a tackle box or some such place. It was heavily oxidized, (to black) on one side. I scrubbed the knife and blued the other side with Birchwood Casey Perma Blue to give it a more uniform appearance. I began using the knife in the kitchen and the smell went away quickly. That was a couple of years ago and now I have worn away (eaten?) most of the blued finish I put on. There are no aparant ill effffectts. I ab stillll norbal amb fully functtionalll.
 
funny, somewhat sulfurous smell on the blade
Click to expand...

A lot of selenium compounds smell just like this--reminiscent of sulpher, or sulfer compounds but more penetrating, and maybe "oily". I understand that many cold blueing preparations contain selenic acid as the oxidant. The byproducts, reduced selenium compounds are gonna smell. They aren't gonna be "good" for you, but they're not horribly toxic like arsenic, mercury, or berylium. I'd think that trace ammounts wouldn't be anything to really worry about...Substitute water for part of the beer while your liver figures out what to do with the stuff so you can pee it away. :) If you can't smell it any more, I very much doubt that it's of any consequence.

Caveat: i hAve biN cHimySt Phor sub yArss.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top