Using Blade for Work AND Food Prep

I'm more cognisant about it lately. I cut plastic wrap that's been god knows where, dirty cardboard boxes that have rubbed against trucks and other boxes. Then, I cut an apple without having washed the blade, realize it and think to myself: "Self, WTH are you doing? You're going to poison yourself one day."

I don't worry much about the oil, as I only use a tiny bit right in the pivot; it stays off the blade. More than that and it just collects too much lint. Once in awhile, I'll clean my pocket knife blade so I can use it on food as a little thrill, but mostly I just don't use it for food any more. I keep a 4" utility kitchen knife in a blade cover in my desk drawer at work for this use, and of course I have many good kitchen knives at home. That only leaves picnics and restaurants. For picnics, I can prepare ahead of time, and at restaurants, I can usually ask for a steak knife when they forget and leave me just with a butter knife.

For multi-bladed SAKs, I've been keeping the large blade clean for possible food use, and use the small blade for utility-type jobs. Probably, that doesn't make sense either, since the blades are so close to each other when folded up; one is going to contaminate the other.
 
I carry a serrated Spyderco Pacific Salt 2. 100% impervious to rust. I use it for work. I use it for food prep. I use it for everything in between. A good scrub in between tasks and it's ready to go again!
 
Already been mentioned, but throw some Ballistol on the blade, wipe it off, but leave a real light layer on there. Cut lots of stuff all week, and cross your fingers that you’re cutting food with it first. Rinse and repeat! Haven’t died from this technique even once.
 
I rarely use an EDC knife for food preparation or eating, but when I get to 🤓, I wipe the blade on my pants leg or shirt tail, and I’m not concerned about the type of oil that is in the pivot. My blade would only have oil on it if I’d cleaned it very recently.
My EDC slipjoint is a #88 with two 3-inch blades. I use the clip point for food and a lambs foot for work. This patina is mostly from peeling fresh peaches.



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I use my edc for both but before food use I give it a good cleaning with soap and water or use a handy wipe towelette in those foil packs if Im out away from civilization. Those are handy to have around. Otherwise a swipe or two on my jeans and make sure nothing is stuck on the blade. Lol. And I don’t use oil on a stainless blade.
 
Backpacking, hiking, etc, I'll use the same knife for everything, because I almost by definition won't be cutting anything toxic. Working the trades, it's a different story. Provided I can wash or care for a knife, it's good for anything as long as I keep track of what's what.
I got Opinels for food, leatherman for plumbing, griptilian for everything in between. I gifted my brother a CRK that does plumbing and then lunch duty. (If he's any indication, that leads to extreme dumb-ness and poor vocabulary.)
Coconut oil is good for long-term storage (it'll melt over about 70deg, though). Mineral oil gets kinda gummy over time, but it's a good choice. I buy mineral oil from the drug store instead of "butcher block oil" that's four times as expensive, so I've always got a ton of it around.
 
All my folders are full of hand and pocket funk. I've field dressed animals without cleaning it for a days. I cut a bunch of nasty things.

Never have I used it for food prep. Not even slicing an apple. That'd be like cutting your food with a grungy car key.

Fixed blades. You can get them clean enough for food. Where you won't be dumping your guts from a sick stomach.
 
6thtexas said:
Some folks worry about too much.
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That might be true, but on the other hand, some people just don't know enough to be cautious.
Just because you haven't gotten sick from contamination from raw meat yet doesn't mean you're not rolling the dice.

I highly recommend washing any utensils that come into contact with raw meat.

... but I'll look forward to someone telling me I worry too much while they're ralphing their brains out, bent over the porcelain throne.
 
I haven't hardly ever had a big problem with rust, except for storing knives long term. Due to crazy life events, I had a cardboard box full of knives in my parent's basement for about 8 years. The basement is unfinished and unfloored, but with thick plastic sheeting on top of the earth. This was in the Pacific Northwest, and when I grabbed them years later about a handful of them had some decent rust spots. They were not oiled most of those years, and I think I went back like 6 years later and gave most a wipe down with WD-40.

Other than that, I've rarely had any issues with rust, and even the ones from above just had spots of rust. However... I did have a few cases of blades acquiring a few rust spots in the past few months, which I found strange because I keep them inside in a temperature controlled environment. I always clean my phone and the knives I carry each day when I get home from work. I clean most of the handles with alcohol or windex on a paper towel to get rid of the oils from the materials I work with. For a few weeks I was using those sanitizing kitchen/bathroom wipes because I had a lot of them. I found that it's a bad idea to wipe the blade down with those wipes, I started seeing a few light rust spots on knives that had never had a problem in the past. Careful with those wipes, I'd hate to see others get rust spots on their knives by using them. My latest technique is just wiping the handles down, and only cleaning the blades if I need to get off tape residue, food residue, or other nastiness.

I do have a strange issue with my small damascus SHF. It has a few light pin pricks of surface rust that sprang up out of nowhere. It's weird too because unless I had a ton of oil on the blade, the rust continued to come back. Rust on damascus is a tough issue because you can't just take a bit of metal polish to it without lightening the etch. CRK says to use Flitz, but it also will lighten the etch, so it's a tough one. I ended up rubbing some oil in to the spots with a pointed q-tip and it cleaned it up decently. I put 3 or 4 coats of Ren Wax on it a month ago and the spots haven't returned, so that's good.

Whew, that was a lot to say this early, but I wanted to get it down in case it helps anyone.
 
It doesn’t stick around as long as the toxic options, but I use mineral oil on folders. It’s good enough, even though I have to apply it more than twice as often as the better lubricants. Works out to being less expensive, food safe, and a good sharpening stone oil.
 
I don't really worry about it. Clean it off and use it for whatever.

3 in one oil gives a nice tinge to a pear or an apples taste every once in a while. 😂🤣🤪. Smells good too
 
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