I recently tried using Nick Engle's potato solution for getting rid of rust. I found it searching the internet and decided not to do the reverse electrolytic process I had found.
I am not sure this method of using potatoes was a good idea. I think I could have gotten the same results without the potatoes using just oil and elbow grease. The biggest downside is the stink of the potato solution, and now the tools stink. I can't get rid of the stink.
I don't recommend this. I have tried mineral spirits, acetone, alchohol, etc... nothing will get rid of the smell. 1month after it still stinks.
Go electrolytic, don't follow his advice it is bad.... real bad.
Use charcoal briquetts. Just grind them up into a powder and coat the tools with them. After 24 hours clean and rinse. The charcoal has some kind of negative charge or something that sucks up smells. I think it would work just to pile them all in a closed box together for a few days with no powderizing.
Can use briquetts to get rid of cat piss oder, etc. But don't use after.
It's an organic rot. Bleach will kill it, ammonia might, and lemon juice might.
Have you made the potato-based doll of Nick Engle yet? How many pins will it hold?
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not what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive... then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. -- Howard Thurman
Various analyses have shown what common-sense reflection has no trouble endorsing: storing knives in slots in blocks makes the latter a great bacterial reservoir. Of course, if you scrupulously dry, chemically disinfect or autoclave your knives and use a block maintained in germicidal condition, you're all good.
Aside, when Carl Linnaeus first grouped bacteria and viruses, he put them under the taxonomic heading "Chaos".
Please explain how a wood in a cutting board has anti bacterial properties, but when it's made into knife storage, it becomes a death trap.
Your body has its own defenses. Use them - exercise them. This anti bacterial _everything_ crap is doing way more harm than good.
R
I have never heard that wood has antibacterial properties. Or plastic. The point that was perhaps not acutely made is that if knives are ever put away wet--or dirty--in a dark trap like a slot, it would follow that the chances of bacterial formation increase as does likelihood of corrosion in certain blade steel.
Please explain how a wood in a cutting board has anti bacterial properties, but when it's made into knife storage, it becomes a death trap.
Your body has its own defenses. Use them - exercise them. This anti bacterial _everything_ crap is doing way more harm than good.
R
R:
I'm with you on germophobia a la Howard Hughes. But kids can't be guaranteed to always put away knives cleaned and dried nor can all adults. From that perspective alone, I like the OP's consideration of alternatives.
A quick search of the web--which measures the extent of my interest--said wooden cutting blocks absorb water from bacteria in the process of killing them. An assumption would be that this process more readily occurs on a cutting board surface freely exposed to both light and air than it would in a blind slot on a standard knife block. It is also much easier for any observer to discern whether a cutting board is wet, dirty or greasy and remedy that than it would be with a dark trap like a blind wooden slot which, if also greasy, will be less effective at dessicating bacteria.
This culinary link contains a discussion that tangentially touches on the topic, making some reference to alternative products offered by Lee Valley, including a magnetic one that may interest the originator of the question:
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interesting hollow plastic block is offered which apparently can be cleaned in a dishwasher.
And, not to neglect the legacy of Howard, a UV-irradiated, metal knife block is out there, perhaps one step too far.
C'mon, Pucky. Don't you wipe some of the drippy soap onto the germy button before pressing it?
But then how does one get out of the bathroom? Some folks don't wash their hands after using the restroom. We're stranded until someone else comes in!
-- Ask not what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive... then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. -- Howard Thurman
My perspective is that if they want to use the good knives, they must have good habits. If not, there's a whole drawer full of sketchy knives they can play with. This goes for adults as well as kids.
I don't rip off a piece of the towel. And if the company was not bright enough to put a trash basket by the exit door I throw the towel on the floor. If enough people would do this even the dimmest janitor will quickly catch on and put a basket by the exit door - just as it should be everywhere.
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