Toxic Metal Utensils?

[Robson Valley]

"Aircraft Alloy" is advertising BS like so much of the rest of it. Truth in advertising? Guess again.
Wait until you see crap labelled as "Genuine Plastic."

For all practical purposes, I live on the Pacific Rim.
Looking west, I can see most small goods being manufactured.
I think it's as funny as Hell to discover winter coats stitched up in S. Viet Nam.

If you want inexpensive stainless steel cutlery, look for goods made in India and Pakistan.
Sit in your camp by the fire with a couple sheets of 800 grit or a rock and knock the edges off the spoons.
Other than the finish, any metal goods (tweezers, pin vises, etc) that come out of India are good quality metal.

 

[Janne]

Recycled Sheffield, Krupp and Sandviken steel?

 

[petrochemicals]

Any cutlery that is silver plated is a bit dodgey, the base metal is probably quite toxic, chuck it and buy a new one. Gold is quite good for hypo allergenic qualities, I believe dentists use it.

 

[Janne]

Some dental high precious metal alloys are yes, but not many dentists in UK specify them as they are really expensive.
Gold - platinum - palladium alloys.


Titanium is the best, but you will not get that either from your dentist.
Very few labs in Europe cast Ti.

Cutlery?
Stainless steel, the standard food grade ( 18/8?) is wonderful.

 

[Keith_Beef]

I decided to do a bit of research on EPNS on Wikipedia and was a bit disturbed to find a reference to possible toxicity when copper, which I understand to be part of the alloy used for the base metal, leaches out when used for some foodstuffs. What I assumed to be patina had a greenish tinge which I associate with copper.

I think I remember reading that In ElectroPlating (the EP bit of the name), the silver deposits better on copper than on the Nickel Silver (the NS bit of the name). I don't remember the chemistry behind it, but I think it's to do with the galvanic series... So there was a two-stage process of first depositing copper onto the nickel silver, then depositing silver onto the copper. When, after many years, the silver has worn away, it reveals the copper.

You can electroplate fresh silver onto your spoon at home, if you can find a supplier of the appropriate silver salt. Commercially, I think that silver cyanide is used, which releases cyanide gas, but I think there's a process using silver nitrate that is more suited to home plating.

Edited to add: I found a very good FAQ on silver plating, including processes that don't use electricity.

The copper can leach into very acidic foods, and make you ill, if you leave the spoon in there for a long time. SWMBO once left a copper or brass spoon in a jar of mint sauce for a couple of hours, and then spooned that onto the side of my plate. Ugh, it make me sick.

I don't really want chrome around me otherwise if I can avoid it....and that includes in my cutlery.

You'd be hard pressed to find any everyday cutlery made since about 1920 that doesn't contain chromium, unless it's wooden, plastic or aluminium. The stainless steel used for cutlery is usually 8% or 10% chromium.

 

[Toddy]

Yes, and look at the state we're putting the natural environment into. It's horrific the damage we're causing. It's right up there with extinction level events.

M

 

[Janne]

Yes, sad, but we all contribute to it, even if we try to do our best not to.

My sister suffers from a severe Nickel allergy, and my son too.
Quality s/s cutlery is usually ok, but for some immunological reason sometimes causes a reaction.
The solution is - quality Sterling silver .
It is nice to with too.
If you worry about Chromium just buy sterling s. cutlery.
Worth it.

 

[Robson Valley]

Correct = cheap cutlery is made out of cheap metal scrap all over the world. I suspect that you get what you pay for.

I must replace a variety of my oldest metal kitchen prep tools. Mostly those which have seen wok service for 30 - 40 years.
Last night, I noticed the copper showing through from wear. Then the damn thing, a slotted ladle spoon, broke at the neck.
I don't think any of the others are less than 15 years old. Older than some Asian grocery stores!

 

[Janne]

Bit off topic, but I find charity shops can have some really nice finds.
No Silver, ( I do find tea spoons in silver from time to time) but old, high quality European made stuff.