Tip of the Day: Clean stained "stainless" steel

by Emily Matchar (Subscribe to Emily Matchar's posts)
Posted Jul 3rd 2008 6:00AM
Filed under: Science, How To, Tip of the Day

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They call it stainless steel. But your once-shiny knives, bowls and pots end up with greasy, yellowy splotches. What gives? And what to do?

So my, uh, friend, was house-sitting and she was hungry and wanted to make popcorn. But, believe it or not, the house she was sitting did not seem to have any big popcorn-worthy pots. So she improvised, putting one big stainless steel bowl on the stove and using another, bigger stainless steel bowl as a lid. The popcorn was fine, if a little burned. But the pot was messed up, with brownish-yellow streaks and black burned spots.

What did she do? She dipped a sponge in olive oil and rubbed at the streaks until they seemed to recede back into the steel itself. The burnt spots were still there, but that's what she gets for burning popcorn.

That's right: stained stainless steel + olive oil = equals clean.

Tags: clean, olive oil, stainless steel, tip of the day, TipOfTheDay

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7-03-2008 @ 9:34AM

Ron Ford said...

Stainless steel will heat scorch, like you've described, as well as scratch, stain from harsh chemicals and even rust. What is happening is the actual surface metal has been damaged. Stainless steel is durable, but fairly soft. Brushed stainless steel, as is used on most appliances, sinks and grills is surfaced during manufacturing using abrasives. Then the metal oxidizes which is what produces the rich,warm tone we like. To repair damage like burns, scratches,etc., these abrasives need to be re-applied along with an lubricating, oxidizing agent to resurface the metal and re-oxidize it so the color blends in with the surrounding metal. A product called Scratch-B-Gone does all of this and would easily remove the remaining discoloration you have described.

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