Cutting fruit

[Roverrich]

Ok, so I have a question for the group. Does cutting fruit affect blade steel or the locking mechanisms in any any way? I mean, I've been carrying and using my Sage 2 the most and thought about the effects of cutting oranges / grapefruit etc with the blade. Can the acid in fruit affect the steel or the bearings? Any special precautions or just a rinse with water enough? Thanks guys.

[rg02]

A warm water and soap rinse is all I use for my stainless steels (cpm-s30v,vg-10,cts-xhp). Just keep up with oiling the pivot when needed.

As for steels like M4, d2, SB, etc that are not stainless----same protocol with warm water and soap, but you not only need to keep the pivot maintened with oil, but treat the blade with oil, tuff glide, etc. that is of course unless you want a Patina

I am sure others will have more input. Just my 2cents.

[toomzz]

Do it all the time. With stainless, like your S30V, as with non-stainless like M4 and my favorite superblue. The juice run indeed in pivot but rinsing it with warm/hotwater keeps the effect of the acid down. One word: rinse immediately after use, don't wait, especially with non-stainless. For the rest have I never seen any bad effects on Phosphor-bronze bearings, liners or pivots.

enjoy both your fruits and knives
:-)

[O,just,O]

My Mr's has a burgundy FRN ZDP189/420J2 Jess Horn. It is in her work gear bag & cuts all the fruit she has for lunch when out in the field. It is Rare indeed for this knife to be washed with warm soapy water, that would be a baptism & birthday all on the same day. Generally it just gets a wipe on her shirt tail & it shows. The blade is sticky to the touch & the pivot & lock are gunked up.
ZDP will rust, but not this one its all good under the gunk. If she were to give it a rubby dub dub in the tub you would never know.
Mate, it is a Spydie, not Noritake fine bone china. Rip into it.
O.

[JD Spydo]

I can give you one very important lesson in regards to Spyders cutting fruits and veggies>> About 3 summers ago I was tending to my tomato garden that I had growing at the time>> while cutting up some "Cherokee Purple" variety tomatoes I forgot to wash up the blade on the ZDP-189 Caly Jr.>> That made me very sad when early the next morning I picked up my Caly at the water faucet and seen several deep corrosion pits particularly on the edge of the blade.

It was so bad that I sent the knife back to Spyderco to have them look at it and to also share the knowledge with the warranty and repair department. They professionally reground the blade and returned it to me. But I was still totally amazed at how susceptible the ZDP-189 steel was to corrosion>> and particularly due to food acids.

As much as I love ZDP-189 steel I will say that you truly need to treat it as though it were a high carbon steel because it is very vulernable to certain food acids for sure. I know that many tomatoes have a very high acid content but that Cherokee Purple variety has never been mentioned to me as having an unusually high acid content and I don't believe it's one of the worst by any means. But any time you use ZDP-189 in the kitchen or in the field or on the lake/stream/river/ocean you darn well better keep it rinsed with fresh water ASAP

[Roverrich]

Thanks guys!

I was worried about corrosion exactly as JD Spydo described. I'll be sure to rinse off my ZDP Caly ASAP!

RR

[Blerv]

Corrosion is like any abrasion force: Intensity x time.

I occasionally use a ZDP knife to cut an orange but as Toomzz mentioned it immediately has the contacted areas rinsed off. Actually, once before and once after with a quick wipe.

Another reason why longer blades work better for food prep. You don't have to worry about getting the pivot gunky.