Kittish
Enthusiastic Newbie
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2017
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You can find a lot of utensils and equipment sold as "stainless steel" that isn't actually. I learned this first hand, bought what I thought was a set of stainless utensils and the one I used to stir my lye water.. well- see for yourself.
This discoloration is even after washing the spoon with dish detergent. The shiny surface is just GONE where the spoon was immersed, along with the black spots and streaks that won't come off. This change in appearance happened the very first time I used the spoon. Yes, I tossed that batch of water and mixed up fresh.
My lye pitcher is also stainless steel, but the actual real deal. I can't see ANY difference in it after a couple of uses, no residue or color or surface changes.
So, my original question- is there some easy, reasonably reliable way to test whether stainless steel really is or not, aside from mixing a batch of lye water in or with it? (I don't consider magnet tests to be reliable- most older stainless steel isn't magnetic but a lot of new stainless is, especially cookware for induction cooktops.)
This discoloration is even after washing the spoon with dish detergent. The shiny surface is just GONE where the spoon was immersed, along with the black spots and streaks that won't come off. This change in appearance happened the very first time I used the spoon. Yes, I tossed that batch of water and mixed up fresh.
My lye pitcher is also stainless steel, but the actual real deal. I can't see ANY difference in it after a couple of uses, no residue or color or surface changes.
So, my original question- is there some easy, reasonably reliable way to test whether stainless steel really is or not, aside from mixing a batch of lye water in or with it? (I don't consider magnet tests to be reliable- most older stainless steel isn't magnetic but a lot of new stainless is, especially cookware for induction cooktops.)