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I was cutting Danish feta cheeze with my CPM M4 Military & could smell the steel. The cheeze is quite salty, soft & sticky. I figured the salt had reacted on the steel. I sucked the sticky cheeze off the blade & the steel had tainted the cheeze & tasted horrible.
I then tried ZDP 189, CPM S30V, VG 10, ATS 34, ATS 55, 8Cr 13 MoV & H1, none of them taste at all. I then tried the carbon steels of Green river & Shrade, nothing noticable.
The military sure tastes horribe & I am wondering if the Gayle Bradly tastes bad too. I cannot suck it & see as I don't have one.
O.

Interesting thread. I'm sure there'll be a few cheese cutting jokes to follow :p
I've cut cheddar with my Pac Salt but didnt notice anything.

Did it leave any visual imprint behind?

Sounds like your collection survived the floods and Yasi, hope you did too.

never knew steel tasting was part of this hobby. o well, we always learn new things

Stop sucking steel!!!!....You might suck on an aluminum trainer by mistake and get Alzheimer disease, then you won't remember that you even have a knife collection or the fact that you bought cheese.... :p Doc :p

Carbon steel blades always make food taste bad at first, in my experience (1070, 1075, 1095, o1, m4, Case's CV). After cutting a few things, however, it's always gone away, including with my M4 Military and Gayle Bradley.

Let a bit of patina build up, I'd say.

+1 to phaust. I don't know much of anything about kitchen knives, but I've heard that the people who are really into high carbon steel kitchen knives (im sure there must be a few on this board?) allow a bit of a patina to build on their blades for this exact reason. Apparently it's a big deal because they love the old school look it gives a blade after years of use; and it is quite an attractive finish albeit a stark contrast to say a high polish mirror shiny blade. Both have their merits, time and place i suppose.

P for Patina may be the answer. I was about ready to try peeing on it.
Yeah JT, Yasi was all of nothing for us here west of Bundaberg.
O.

O,just,O wrote:P for Patina may be the answer. I was about ready to try peeing on it.
Yeah JT, Yasi was all of nothing for us here west of Bundaberg.
O.

Peeing on your knife voids the warranty.

Peeing on the blade would taste bad too.

Yup, M4 is a tool steel and will react with food and other funky substances. When it does so while cutting food the result of the reaction will also end up on the food itself.
When it develops a patina it will no longer react (no bare steel exposed) and leave nasty tasting substances in the food, your carbon steel knives have probably already developed a patina.

Sucking cheese, or anything else, off a sharpened blade... :confused: :eek: :rolleyes:

phaust wrote:Carbon steel blades always make food taste bad at first, in my experience (1070, 1075, 1095, o1, m4, Case's CV). After cutting a few things, however, it's always gone away, including with my M4 Military and Gayle Bradley.

Let a bit of patina build up, I'd say.

Oh the taste doesn't go away. You just get used to it.
Like anything sophisticated, it's an acquired taste. :D

I kid. Honestly I've never experienced this. I know I've been camping and cut foods with 1095. Hmm. Interesting.
I think maybe the solution is a good scotch with your meal. Then, even if you notice the taste even slightly, you just won't care. :D

Don't pee on your blades. Mustard works well for patina and tastes much better. :p

I put a patina on my Super Blue Mule by cutting apples. I also put a patina on a D2 blade using mustard. The mustard smelled pretty horrible as it was reacting. The apples on the other hand were not too bad.

This thread is... Interesting. :)

I have been cutting tomatoes with a 3V blade. In spite of cleaning it and putting a little olive oil on it afterwards, it is developing a mild "patina.""

hey o. many years ago my grandfather who was a machinist toolmaker taught me if I ever wanted to test carbon or stainless steels all I had to do was cut a lemon or any high acidic food and lick the residue off the blade. If it tasted rancid it was carbon steel, I had forgotten that until I read your post, thanks for triggering that memory,Andy.

high wrote:hey o. many years ago my grandfather who was a machinist toolmaker taught me if I ever wanted to test carbon or stainless steels all I had to do was cut a lemon or any high acidic food and lick the residue off the blade. If it tasted rancid it was carbon steel, I had forgotten that until I read your post, thanks for triggering that memory,Andy.

This thread is great... what a wealth of esoteric knowledge!

I'm pretty sure the problem is just that your "Feta" comes from Denmark.

Absolutely Awsome thread , I can see the orderve plate of spydercos being passed around now with a cigar and a nice bourbon afterwards.