Is kydex toxic?

K

Krav Dragon

Joined
Sep 7, 2004
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64
A little off topic here... I just got this idea of making camping utensils out of kydex. (I just came back from a few days of camping, during which my new plastic "spork" (spoon/fork) snapped clean off in the backpack :mad: ) Is kydex toxic, or could it be used to make camping utensils? Has anybody done this before? If it's not toxic, would it deform while eating/stirring hot foods? Could you treat it somehow to decrease the thermic plasticity?
 
It's often used for thermal forming , so it's not the greatest for using with hot foods ! Plastics and rubber can be formulated different ways . If you look through www.mcmaster.com you will see some of them listed as FDA grade which may be substantially different from other grades. Polycarbonate is a common plastic for foods, cups,forks ,dishes etc.Better quality ones would be thicker etc. The there's always stainless steel or titanium !!!
 
Best to assume all things we do in knife making is dangerous whether toxic or hazordous. Most what we do can be hazordous or toxic (which can be hazardous). High heats, chemicals, dusts, machinery, you name it; every aspect just about can be dangerous. If it was easy we'd all be doing it. As for Kydex I defer to Mete's statement but knife making is something to keep on your toes while doing it.

RL
 
mete, rlinger, thanks. So kydex is a poor choice for this application then. I was just curious if it could be used for making cheap and tough utensils - but it seems that there are better choices out there.
 
I remember reading an article several years ago that mentioned kydex is part acrylic and part PVC plastic. Both seem to be fairly benign compounds. No claims of plastic expertise here though.
 
PVC is pretty toxic, particularly when it's heated up or burned. If I understand correctly, you can also judge a polymer's toxicity by its flexibility. More flex means greater instability and that means that there are more VOCs leaching out of the plastic all the time (You around, fitzo? Do you know anything about it?). PVC is pretty flexible.

And since I know you guys love hippies to pieces, there's a great rant about PVC here.

-Allin
 
On the info provided by Crocker Knives (and I have no reason to believe he's made any error), I can shed some info on the acrylic component. Provided the acrylic has been properly cured (which removes any free monomer i.e. the methyl methacrylate liquid component), then it is quite stable and safe to about 250 degrees F. Only a very very small percentage of the population (<0.001%) exhibit any sensitivity to poly-methyl methacrylate. This is one of the major reasons it is the most commonly used base component in dentures, and for the denture teeth as well.

At higher temperatures, however, it is quite flammable. Yet this should not be any problem for eating utensils (but I wouldn't recommend you put it into any type of flame.

I will defer to others about PVC since I have absolutely no knowledge about that.

Cheers
 
In my experience I don't think kydex will work too good for spoons/forks/etc.

I think you will find it to be too flexable...even in pretty thick cross sections.

Tom
 
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