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Letter 14050
Cleaning a burned stainless steel surface
My stainless steel ware have been burn to black by careless. Is
there any method that I can clean up the carbon or black color to
normal stainless steel surface?
Christo Chow
QBC CCCC - Hong Kong
Well, you can certainly abrade or grind the stain off. If you use
steel wool, however, you risk imbedding small iron particles in the
abraded surface which will hurt the corrosion resistance. You will
need to remove the particles by acid etching (nitric or citric are
most commonly used) or additional abrasion with a stainless steel
pad. So you might consider using
sandpaper [link is to product info at Rockler] rather then
the more easily available steel wool, or wire brush.
Something I've never tried, so I don't know if it will work, would
be to use an oxidizing flame- one with added air, to try to burn off
the soot.
Good luck!
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Lee Gearhart
metallurgist
East Aurora, NY
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February 26, 2009
Dear Dean,
I came home this afternoon to find that my roommate had left a
stainless steel pan on the stove with the flame on high. There was a
smoky haze in the entire apartment and the air is making a metallic
taste in my mouth. I have all the windows and fans on. It has been
two hours and the haze has dissipated but the smell of burnt steel
and the metallic taste remain. I am concerned about this damaging my
lungs/brain cells,etc. And the dog, too. Are we in danger of any bad
effects?
Thank you for your kind response.
Gail Gondek
- New York, NY, USA
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