Urshag Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Hi, I'm not a blacksmith, but I have a question that you may be able to help me with. I just bought some wrought iron cutlery from an online shop, the maker is Windlass Steelcraft. ( have attached a photo of them after the cleaning) They have a black coating on them and when I got them I scrubbed them with a steel wool SOS pad, (some of the black came off) rinsed them and then coated them with mineral oil. My questions are:I am using these at Ren Fairs, these should be safe to eat with correct? Is cleaning them with an SOS pad and then coating with mineral oil the best way to care for them? To get them to be a uniform color, could (and should) I use a gun blueing agent? Included is a picture of the knife edge. To sharpen this, is there anything I can do myself to sharpen it considering I don't have a lot of tools? Do you have any other suggestions for me in the use/care of these? Thanks for any help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 I would treat them like cast iron pans, heat up, coat in shortening, bake at 400 for a while, an hour or so, repeat if needed. The knife is a butter knife, and anything sharper than a chisel edge will dull immediately. Use a file to dress the edge, then coat and bake. What you end up with is all you are going to get. Contact the maker about the coating, I bet it is vegetable oil or shortening applied to hot steel. Enjoy. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 DO NOT USE GUN BLUING! poisonous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urshag Posted December 17, 2009 Author Share Posted December 17, 2009 I would treat them like cast iron pans, heat up, coat in shortening, bake at 400 for a while, an hour or so, repeat if needed. The knife is a butter knife, and anything sharper than a chisel edge will dull immediately. Use a file to dress the edge, then coat and bake. What you end up with is all you are going to get. Contact the maker about the coating, I bet it is vegetable oil or shortening applied to hot steel. Enjoy. Phil Thanks, that's what I'll do then! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urshag Posted December 17, 2009 Author Share Posted December 17, 2009 DO NOT USE GUN BLUING! poisonous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good to know! Thanks! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWooldridge Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 (edited) They have scale all over the surface - that's the mottling. I'd probably sandblast them, wire brush for some sheen and put them in the oven to warm then oil like a frying pan. FWIW, I have used gun bluing for over 30 years to color eating utensils and nobody has gotten sick yet (I used to peddle BBQ sets at craft fairs and sold several hundred pieces during that time). Sure, it's poisonous if you drink the solution - but the bluing leaves an oxide which is likely much less dangerous than grinding with no mask. Of course, your mileage may differ...;-) Edited December 17, 2009 by HWooldridge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterbear Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 not to disparage Windlass or imports, but most of their iron work I believe is produced in india/pakistan, much lower safety standards in general. And alot of these imported items have a caveot of display only ect. If it were me I would take them down to the metal surface and start over from there to be sure what I was eating with. I would be worried about the same issues that surfaced with China And lead paint on toys, who knows for sure that isn't black lead paint . Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 HW; I'm just not willing to bet my house and shop that some yahoo won't sue. Did you read about the small winery that got sued for using lead foil to cover the top of the bottle. No one was harmed, they were included in the suit to shift it to where the Lawyers lived---the laywer's secretary filed the suit! They only hat to pay over $30K as part of the settlement... I also personally would not be able to represent them as being food safe. I certainly would not make such a suggestion on an open forum; just in case it later came back and bit me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustyshackleford Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 As far as them being historically correct: No. Forks were reserved for holding meat while it was cut (with exceptions for persons of means, who *might* have a fork, but it would be much nicer). It was also much easier to make a spoon out of wood, horn, or pewter than valuable metal, even wrought iron. Which, btw, your implements are made from mild steel, not wrought. For a ren faire: Yes, these are fine, but you may find that a wooden spoon has a better feel in your mouth because the metal spoon's shape is different than your home utensils, and you may bang your teeth (ouch) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Einhorn Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Joseph is right. Plus you would likely mainly be eating with your knife. As late at the 1860s a lady wrote in a letter that someone brought a fork to use while eating at her table, and she was afraid that he would poke his eye out. As far as them being historically correct: No. Forks were reserved for holding meat while it was cut (with exceptions for persons of means, who *might* have a fork, but it would be much nicer). It was also much easier to make a spoon out of wood, horn, or pewter than valuable metal, even wrought iron..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWooldridge Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 HW; I'm just not willing to bet my house and shop that some yahoo won't sue. Did you read about the small winery that got sued for using lead foil to cover the top of the bottle. No one was harmed, they were included in the suit to shift it to where the Lawyers lived---the laywer's secretary filed the suit! They only hat to pay over $30K as part of the settlement... I also personally would not be able to represent them as being food safe. I certainly would not make such a suggestion on an open forum; just in case it later came back and bit me! Thomas, I've learned the lawyers go after deep pockets - something I don't now and likely will never have... The residual black oxide is Fe3O4, which is simply rust (Fe2O3) with an extra molecule picked up from boiling. Selenium is the bad stuff in cold bluing (and cyanide in the old days). The solutions must be used with caution and I emphatically recommend that anyone who handles cold blue use good PPE so you don't absorb the solution thru the skin. Here is a good Wiki entry on the basic process: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluing_(steel) I thought it was interesting that razors were often blued - I can't remember ever seeing one that wasn't plain silver in color. I started cold bluing stuff many years ago using Brownell's Oxpho because it yielded a rich iron color that looked much better to me than leaving forge scale on the part. I sand blast the piece, spray on the cold blue, rinse in water that has a bit of baking soda dissolved in it to kill the etch, then I dry and oil the piece with Pam. This process will leave a black soot that can be wiped or washed away just before the first use but after that, it must be treated like any iron item or it will rust. Bluing is fairly fragile and must be dried and oiled. I'm neither recommending or condemning the process - merely stating that I personally have never seen ill effects from eating with blued tools. In fact, I have a fork and spoon set that we use here for BBQ which is about 20 years old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 I heat blued my eating set; of course I forged it from Ti so it's dishwasher safe!. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBrann Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 Personally for me, I grind file and polish the eating surfaces I make. It leaves no chance for scale falling into food, is easy to scrub clean, and leaves me with no doubt that the surface is clean and safe. I then wirebrush or file the handle parts, then coat the handle parts with urethane, the eating parts I coat with USP mineral oil. I have thought about bluing, and decided I didn't want to take the chance that it might be toxic. The oxide formed can't be that thick, and takes a lot of work and something abrasive to get off, but if you have acidic food it could come off easily... so I don't. reguards Cliff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentiron1946 Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Go high class and make some out of silver like the upper crust used then you don't need to worry about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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