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Jean Thibodeau
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 Posted: Wed 08 Sep, 2010 1:31 am Post subject: Food, knives and safe rust protection ? |
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Just wondering about a knife used for food preparation and rust protection and what safe lubricant/rust protectors one can use ?
Break free and other gun oils are great for rust protection and cleaning of blades but I'm not too sure they are a great idea for a knife used to cut up food ?
I'm not really concerned about some staining a blade might get from tomatoes or other acid foods but I certainly want to wipe the blade clean after cutting up my vegetables or meats before I put it away in it's leather scabbard.
I'm thinking about just wiping with olive oil and leaving just a thin film of it since I mostly use olive oil for cooking or as a base for salad dressings.
Will the olive oil turn rancid or do other negative things ? Other vegetable oils are an option but it's certainly easier using the same oil one uses for everything and other oils or animal greases should have the same qualities or negatives in general I assume.
For long term storage the Break-Free might be O.K. as long as one does a very thorough cleaning before using the knife cutting up foodstuffs.
You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Michal Plezia
Industry Professional
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| Posted: Wed 08 Sep, 2010 2:06 am Post subject: |
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I would recommend olive oil. Never had any problems with it.
www.elchon.com
Polish Guild of Knifemakers
The sword is a weapon for killing, the art of the sword is the art of killing. No matter what fancy words you use or what titles you put to
it that is the only truth.
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Jean Thibodeau
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| Posted: Wed 08 Sep, 2010 2:09 am Post subject: |
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Thanks for the quick response and the answer I was hoping for ...... there is nothing as good as hearing what one wanted to hear.   
You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Andreas Auer
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| Posted: Wed 08 Sep, 2010 2:43 am Post subject: |
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hi...just use it regularly with some Bacon or sausage and just wipe it cleanly with a clean cloth (napkin?) the Fat in these foods is just enough...and once i a year to some polish to get rid of stains...thats what i do and did the last few years...:-)
The secret is,
to keep that pointy end thingy away from you...
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Stephane Rabier
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| Posted: Wed 08 Sep, 2010 4:51 am Post subject: |
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Hi,
same answer as Andreas.
My Opinel knife gets some fancy colours when I use it to cut some fruits or vegetables but no rust at all.
"Saucisson sec" is almost the only kind of greasy substance I put on it.
My grandfather used to rub his knives and tools onto a big block of lard he kept on his workbench and he never had problems.
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Jean Thibodeau
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| Posted: Wed 08 Sep, 2010 5:04 am Post subject: |
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| Stephane Rabier wrote: | Hi,
same answer as Andreas.
My Opinel knife gets some fancy colours when I use it to cut some fruits or vegetables but no rust at all.
"Saucisson sec" is almost the only kind of greasy substance I put on it.
My grandfather used to rub his knives and tools onto a big block of lard he kept on his workbench and he never had problems. |
I don't mind natural patination as it's actually protective and not rust and has character.
Sausage grease is great as long as I eat sausage but in the absence of sausage gease a drop of olive oil wiped off before putting in the scabbard should also work. In any case if there was any real rust I could sand it away and restore the original finish if needed.
NOTE: I do like Toulouse Sausages with hot Dijon mustard. Like Blood Sausages also known as " Boudin " Sausages in French.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_pudding
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boudin
You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Dan P
Location: Massachusetts, USA Joined: 28 Jun 2007
Posts: 208
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| Posted: Wed 08 Sep, 2010 6:22 am Post subject: |
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The belt knife I wear and use most days is a Bark River with a high carbon steel blade. I don't have any dedicated kitchen knives (!) so this is the go to knife I use for meat, tomatoes, broccoli and just about everything else.
I don't use any kind of oil or anti-rust agent. I just make sure to clean it with dish soap and perfectly dry after every kitchen session before it goes back into the leather sheath. The patina is well developed and naturally protects the blade. Never had any real rust on the thing.
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Jean Thibodeau
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| Posted: Wed 08 Sep, 2010 6:48 am Post subject: |
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| Dan P wrote: | The belt knife I wear and use most days is a Bark River with a high carbon steel blade. I don't have any dedicated kitchen knives (!) so this is the go to knife I use for meat, tomatoes, broccoli and just about everything else.
I don't use any kind of oil or anti-rust agent. I just make sure to clean it with dish soap and perfectly dry after every kitchen session before it goes back into the leather sheath. The patina is well developed and naturally protects the blade. Never had any real rust on the thing. |
Thanks, I would probably do the same unless spots of rust appeared, the question about olive oil was mostly curiosity and being reasonably convinced that gun oil wouldn't be a good idea unless the oil was cleaned off very well before using it for food preparation.
Also a knife used almost day will get checked for rust often enough and cleaned often enough that rust should be just a theoretical problem.
Good to hear a variety of opinions and personal experience.
I do have ordinary kitchen knives that I don't really care about or take special care of but the Michael Pikula knife I just received I sort of want to " baby " and treat with more respect that the knives in the junk drawer.
You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Thomas R.
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| Posted: Wed 08 Sep, 2010 6:53 am Post subject: |
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Hi Jean,
I won't use olive oil before sheathing the knife. The oil will accumulate in your sheath, go rancid and at last you'll maybe even get mildew in your sheath... I don't oil my everday knives or trekking knives at all. I just keep them clean and dry. I also don't recommend olive oil for knife handles or wooden kitchen boards, those for cutting meat and vegetables, you know. Instead I treat these with linseed oil.
Thomas
http://maerenundlobebaeren.tumblr.com/
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Jean Thibodeau
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| Posted: Wed 08 Sep, 2010 7:04 am Post subject: |
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| Thomas R. wrote: | Hi Jean,
I won't use olive oil before sheathing the knife. The oil will accumulate in your sheath, go rancid and at last you'll maybe even get mildew in your sheath... I don't oil my everyday knives or trekking knives at all. I just keep them clean and dry. I also don't recommend olive oil for knife handles or wooden kitchen boards, those for cutting meat and vegetables, you know. Instead I treat these with linseed oil.
Thomas |
Yeah, I'm getting the impression that the consensus is that cleaning and drying is sufficient and if some oil is left on a blade from cutting sausages or something greasy it's O.K. as long as it's a light film that won't be there long enough to get rancid because of daily washing and drying.
Should I put a drop of olive oil at all leaving the knife out of the scabbard seems like a better idea than slowly accumulating " gunk" inside the scabbard.
Yeah, lots of talk but I guess I will first try the cleaning and drying route. 
( Oh, for the handle I already used a little linseed oil on it: I use linseed all the time for many things ).
You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Andreas Auer
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Michal Plezia
Industry Professional
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| Posted: Wed 08 Sep, 2010 8:09 am Post subject: |
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| Jean Thibodeau wrote: |
NOTE: I do like Toulouse Sausages with hot Dijon mustard. |
Be careful with the mustard. It can leave ugly stains on the blade. 
www.elchon.com
Polish Guild of Knifemakers
The sword is a weapon for killing, the art of the sword is the art of killing. No matter what fancy words you use or what titles you put to
it that is the only truth.
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Michael Pikula
Industry Professional
Location: Madison, WI Joined: 07 Jun 2008
Posts: 411
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| Posted: Wed 08 Sep, 2010 8:11 am Post subject: |
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What I do with the blades that I make and use in the kitchen is clean then after use as if they were a "normal" knife, and then give then a once over with a small square of gray scotch-bright that has a coat of olive oil. This will help clean up any patination that has started to form, as well as give it a nice protective coating. Plus the sheath has a healthy coating of olive oil already on the inside so if you miss from time to time it probably won't be a big deal, but make sure the blade is dry prior to sheathing wouldn't be a bad thing
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Paul Hansen
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| Posted: Wed 08 Sep, 2010 1:22 pm Post subject: |
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I agree with the "clean and dry" philosophy.
Nowadays everybody is used to stainless steel kitchen knives, but my grandmother only had black steel knives. Never hurt her...
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I Sam
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| Posted: Wed 08 Sep, 2010 1:27 pm Post subject: |
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| Andreas Auer wrote: | | ...just use it regularly with some Bacon or sausage... |
I guess I'll need to up my bacon/sausage intake in order to keep my swords in good condition, too. Darn.
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Jean Thibodeau
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| Posted: Wed 08 Sep, 2010 5:16 pm Post subject: |
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| Michal Plezia wrote: | | Jean Thibodeau wrote: |
NOTE: I do like Toulouse Sausages with hot Dijon mustard. |
Be careful with the mustard. It can leave ugly stains on the blade. |
Yes but the knife will be used for food preparation when I need to cut things but not as an eating knife so the mustard won't come into contact with the blade.
I already use mustard when I want to create a patina on a blade , that or lemon juice.
You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Jean Thibodeau
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| Posted: Wed 08 Sep, 2010 5:27 pm Post subject: |
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| Michael Pikula wrote: | | What I do with the blades that I make and use in the kitchen is clean then after use as if they were a "normal" knife, and then give then a once over with a small square of gray scotch-bright that has a coat of olive oil. This will help clean up any patination that has started to form, as well as give it a nice protective coating. Plus the sheath has a healthy coating of olive oil already on the inside so if you miss from time to time it probably won't be a big deal, but make sure the blade is dry prior to sheathing wouldn't be a bad thing |
The scotch-bright is certainly something I would use to maintain the finish if staining annoys me.
Nice to know about the olive oil used very very sparingly: I'm not talking about a heavily oiled blade dripping with oil.
Already used the knife to cut up garlic and Spanish onion to got with the blood sausage and baked potatoes.
Wiped dry, look fine: Very happy with it.
Might have to start a very " off topic " cooking Topic.  
Thanks Michael for a really nice knife and the great customer service.
You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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P. Frank
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| Posted: Sun 23 Dec, 2012 3:09 am Post subject: |
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....plus, it smells nice. I use it quite a lot for my stuff.
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Nathan Smith
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Mick Jarvis
Location: Australia Joined: 18 Jul 2010
Posts: 78
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| Posted: Sun 23 Dec, 2012 5:36 pm Post subject: |
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just a food type oil, i use Olive
or you can put some mustard or something on the blade let it site for an hour or 2, wide it off and wash the nice and now it will have a nice patina on it and will be a little more resistant to rust and wont need oiling much at all.
but also any fat or oils left after cooking, like bacon are great.. wipe it on and wipe it off and you are done
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This is a standard topic