[Sca-cooks] Another knife question

[marilyn traber 011221]

> > And as far as the other knife discussion going on. NEVER put a knife 
> > through the dishwasher unless it’s made to take the heat! You’ll take 
> > all of the temper out of the blade. 
> 
> Ok, I've heard this, but the temperatures are AFAIK way to low to
> accomplish this. Would the highly alkaline environment do it? Mechanical
> damage is of course an issue, but that is never addressed when this
> issue is discussed.
> 
> UlfR

It can cause tempering problems, depending on the temp of the water and how 
long it's hot. Some of the drying cycles on some machines can get pretty high-
 keep in mind, that you can temper and anneal some steels in the oven. The 
big problem, though is the alkaline environment, as far as the blades go.

But, there's the rest of the knife to deal with as well- the handle material, 
the rivets, and sometimes the glues can be seriously affected. Copper does 
considerable expansion and contraction from temperature changes, and 
considering many rivets are made of either copper or copper alloys (brass, 
occasionally bronze) you're just asking for trouble if it's continually 
shrinking and expanding- there's enough movement to create a fair amount of 
wear on the handle material, and eventually the handle's going to come loose. 
Steel rivets do it too, although not quite as obviously.

Dishwashers are just not good things for good knives, but y'all do what you 
want to...

Phlip

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