Otter's user note

Alex.Y.

Alex.Y.

Gold Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2021
Messages
1,794
I haven't found any alive and appropriate thread for this, so here it comes.

Going through knife boxes I found this Otter's knife care note:
IMG_20220926_234005.jpg

"Please do not cut any food that is hotter than 40 degree Celsius with the carbon steel blade."

What is going to happen? Why 40 degree? And how am I supposed to determine the food's temperature, stick a thermometer in it?
 
What do you do when the AIR temperature is above 40? I have lived places where 40-plus is pretty much every day, with the occasional 50 thrown in as a bonus.

All I can think of is that warning is in response to a single incident or ridiculous complaint. Or maybe it discolors faster in hot food?
 
screened porch said:
All warnings should have an explanation. I never know how scared to be.
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Be very, VERY scared, my friend…

PM9yMdR.jpg
 
Odd indeed. Must be a new thing as my Mercator doesn't have that wording in English or German from 2020.

I'd suspect it's some crazy warranty pedantry: imbeciles have been cutting hot meat with carbon- OMG it's gone blue, must be faulty I must get a refund!!! Or else sticking the knife in their mouth and getting burned 🤣 Compensation!!:rolleyes: But, who knows? Maybe carbon harbours more bacteria than stainless at high temps??:eek::D Maybe Otter is working to lower its carbon footprint?😈
 
Just Tom. said:
What do you do when the AIR temperature is above 40?
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Uhm... Cry in agony?

Just Tom. said:
All I can think of is that warning is in response to a single incident or ridiculous complaint.
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Will Power said:
imbeciles have been cutting hot meat with carbon- OMG it's gone blue, must be faulty I must get a refund!!!
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That's possible, haha

Just Tom. said:
Or maybe it discolors faster in hot food?
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JoKr said:
the higher the temperature the more oxidation of the carbon blade and the warm foods take on the typical carbon taste.
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That's what I thought initially, but seems pretty weird of Otter to mention this specifically, while they have already said before that carbon steel blades might develop patina. Wouldn't that be much easier to say "food especially causes patina"? And "your food will have a metal taste afterwards" or something like that.

Will Power said:
Must be a new thing as my Mercator doesn't have that wording in English or German from 2020.
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Mine is circa 2021, I think.
 
I bought a professional chef's quality set of stainless cookware from a shopping channel, and was warned not to get it too hot or it would change color.
 
Regarding heat - white vinegar will put a mild patina on carbon steel if you just wipe it on. Heat that vinegar to boiling in a pyrex glass or beaker in the microwave, take it out, then stick a carbon steel blade in the hot vinegar. It literally SIZZLEs. The steel turns black in seconds.

Good way to force a patina if you so desire, but the result is impressive to watch.

(A fair bit of the black will wipe off with an oiled cloth or paper towel. You can do repeated treatments until your blade is the shade you desire. Try to keep the sizzling vinegar out of the joint. Just in case someone plans to actually try this.)
 
jc57 said:
Regarding heat - white vinegar will put a mild patina on carbon steel if you just wipe it on. Heat that vinegar to boiling in a pyrex glass or beaker in the microwave, take it out, then stick a carbon steel blade in the hot vinegar. It literally SIZZLEs. The steel turns black in seconds.
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That might be the answer. Someone did something like this, watched the blade gone black, got scared and contacted Otter for a refund...
 
Yeah, the heat really accelerates the 'patina' AND rusting - more so where acids and alkalines (salt, etc) are involved. And when I've used a hot vinegar & water mix to patinate a blade, the dark oxide will form in a thick & somewhat loosely attached layer. So, when it forms that way, a good bit of that oxide will also be easily rubbed off the blade, onto anything it touches. I wouldn't want that going on if using the blade to cut food. I don't think there's a health hazard in that - it's just iron oxide. But it tastes terrible.

The natural patina that forms in contact with the air alone, and not any liquid moisture or acids / salts, is much more stable and durable, and not as prone to rubbing off.
 
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Just Tom. said:
Be very, VERY scared, my friend…

PM9yMdR.jpg
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OK, I'm suitably scared by the 5 piktograms! :eek:o_O
But I'm not sure that I know what actions I'm being advised to avoid. Here's my first set of guesses, left to right:
1. NO knife throwing (I'm quite confident of my interpretation on this one)
2. NO prying with knife? (Looks more like no prying on knife)
3. NO using knife as weapon??
4. NO experiments (harsh chemicals?) on knife
5. NO water on knife
(Maybe 4 & 5 together imply that the knife should never be cleaned with any sort of liquid.)

- GT
 
5K Qs said:
OK, I'm suitably scared by the 5 piktograms! :eek:o_O
But I'm not sure that I know what actions I'm being advised to avoid. Here's my first set of guesses, left to right:
1. NO knife throwing (I'm quite confident of my interpretation on this one)
2. NO prying with knife? (Looks more like no prying on knife)
3. NO using knife as weapon??
4. NO experiments (harsh chemicals?) on knife
5. NO water on knife
(Maybe 4 & 5 together imply that the knife should never be cleaned with any sort of liquid.)

- GT
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I FINALLY figured out just last night that #2 was “no prying with knife” 🤣

I couldn’t for the life of me figure out who would be pole-vaulting with one…
 
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