Weird question: Steel Taste

M

Mr.Stabby

Joined
Aug 20, 2022
Messages
12
Soooo, I have been grinding on knives for years and have had the dust in my nose and mouth. Most steels taste/smell kinda the same, but I feel stainless has a bit different tase to it than carbon steel. Some steels taste very different, like Mora stainless. Does anybody have any ideas, what elements make steel taste different? Are there steels that could be toxic to humans because of the added elements? What are your experiences?
Sorry for being weird. I just finished sharpening a Mora Companion in stainless and it literally stinks.
 
Mr.Stabby said:
Soooo, I have been grinding on knives for years and have had the dust in my nose and mouth. Most steels taste/smell kinda the same, but I feel stainless has a bit different tase to it than carbon steel. Some steels taste very different, like Mora stainless. Does anybody have any ideas, what elements make steel taste different? Are there steels that could be toxic to humans because of the added elements? What are your experiences?
Sorry for being weird. I just finished sharpening a Mora Companion in stainless and it literally stinks.
Click to expand...
I’ve never thought about it, but I strongly suggest wearing PPE when grinding. Some alloys could be more toxic than others but no steel dust is healthy to inhale.
 
I am using a FFP mask, but somehow it always finds a way in. Especially if you wera a good mask you will be able to smell it on your fingers/gloves.
EDIT: also my mora seems to shed its taste into some things I cut with it, so it has been sentenced to hard labour in the garden....
 
GmpaJim said:
This will help with your question.
As a sidebar, no two people taste or smell the same thing, the same way.
Long-term exposure to metallic particles may cause impairment of pulmonary surfactant and lung function and result in chronic respiratory diseases. A significant decline in lung function consistent with slight airway obstruction has been reported in individuals working in the continuous casting processes.
Click to expand...
Its not about particles, I mean metallurgical. I know for a fact chromium is quite toxic in certain alloys for example.
Also EDIT: Is there something that is toxic enough in some steels, to be detrimental to your health when ingesting a few hundread milligrams of shavings.
 
Last edited:
Some of the distinguished members of BF can recognize the alloy with a short lick. Once you have mastered this dark art, so it's been rumored, you can tell the exact percentage of alloying by the way it tastes and smells.
 
Well I know the smell of steel is more from the reaction that the oils on your skin have to the metal, than from the metal itself. So idk, I suppose it would make sense if the oxide layer formed by chromium can stop normal oxidation of the steel, it would reduce or change how they react with skin.

We will have to set up a double blind taste test to confirm that moras taste different though. 😂
 
Well then, lets lick some blades!
I do take some medicine, that alters my sense of smell/taste a bit (honestly forgot about that since its normal for me now), so it could be just me with the Mora.
I just used a diamond stone and rubbed the Mora on one part, a 440A on the middle and a K5 tool steel utility blade on the other end, Mora seems to smell strongest, then the K5 and then the 440A. Maybe its not whats in the steel so much as how much gets rubbed off by a stroke over the stone (I say this, because the Mora leaves a darker streak on the stone than the others)? Or the particle size? Or maybe I am just a bit delusional?
Rubbing it on my finger it gets an ozone-y smell to it. That might be the reaction with the skin oils. The Differences between the steels smell on skin are a bit more definate, the carbon tool steel does smell stronger of ozone than the stainless ones.
I was a chemist and am fascinated by the early chemists analytical mehtod: look at it, smell it, taste it, identify it.
Many died of this "great" method of research, but they had nothing else. And sometimes our senses are faster than other analytical methods, so I was just wondering about the smells I detect when sharpening steel.

Sorry for the long story ;)
 
As far as steel taste - we kid about it, but it isn't a real thing. I suppose vastly different alloying like 1075 vs Elmax might be discernable, but for the most part the difference in taste is created more by what is on the steel than what is in the steel.

Just an FYI, but a FFP mask is insufficient for metal grinding. It is a dust particulate mask.
You really want a P100 filter type mask or a PAPR (my favorite)
 
I'd double down on that PAPR. Best money I have spent for the workshop.

Fixed hearing, eye and lung PPE in one go, and it's almost like having a personal AC unit. Really important when you live in SW Texas!
 
I am not working in a shop and mostly with diamond or wet stones, very seldom use power tools. So flying dust is not that big of a problem for me.
 
A.McPherson said:
I'd double down on that PAPR. Best money I have spent for the workshop.

Fixed hearing, eye and lung PPE in one go, and it's almost like having a personal AC unit. Really important when you live in SW Texas!
Click to expand...
Well, in central South Carolina the thing still blows hot, humid air in your face, but it is way more comfortable than a regular mask. I only got mine a few months ago, wish I had bought it sooner.
 
Here is a great trick. Make a long umbilical hose from CPAP hose. Usually, 12 feet is plenty long enough. Two $7 CPAP hoses will make that length.
Buy the smallest AC unit you can find. Set the AC unit somewhere away from the grinder, outside in the driveway, or in a window/wall/door. Put the blower unit for the PAPR hood in front of the AC unit and connect the umbilical between the hood and blower. You will be bathed in nice cool clean air.
 
I'm almost embarrassed to admit I know what various steels, copper, aluminum, bronze, brass, oak, walnut, maple, etc...... Taste like.


Don't ask.

*'i also know what bar rags of mexican dive bars taste like at 2am.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top