Knives is one of kitchen’s utensil used for cutting food. Many types of kitchen knives in the market nowadays. Each have different purposes.
Even though knives was made of stainless steel, it is unavoidable for it to get rusty. Rust is commonly persist in utensils made of steel such as knives.
Usually rust persist when the knives is not properly cleaned after usage or let stayed in a watery place such as sink.
Rusty knives may prevent you to cut smoothly the food, contaminated food with the rust chemicals’ and of course endangered your health.
However, you can wipe away the rust from your knives. Here are several ways to clean up the rust from the knives:
1. Soaked in a Vinegar Water
Vinegar is usually used to cleaned up rust from steel’s utensils such as knives. The content in a vinegar water able to dissolve the rust’s compounds.
To cleaned rusty knives using vinegar water:
- Prepare vinegar water in a container.
- Soak in your rusty knives until all rusty parts watered, let overnight.
- Scrub the knives with a steel brush until clean.
- Wash clean your knives with dish soap.
If in case you still found some rusts persist in your knives, repeat the second and third process until your knives perfectly clean.
2. Greased with Baking Soda
Another way than soak in a vinegar water, you can also use baking soda. Baking soda had been proven can cleaned all dirt away including rust.
How to clean rusty knives using baking soda as follows:
- Mixed baking soda with water proportionally until it become a pasta dough.
- Greased your rusty knives with the pasta dough.
- Ensure all the rusty parts have covered with the pasta dough.
- Let stayed for a couple of hours.
- Cleaned up using steel brushed until all rusts have been removed.
- Wash using dish soap, let dry.
3. Soak in Lemon Juice and Salt Mixture
Lemon juice also can be use to washed away rust from your knives, this lemon juice have a high acid level, added up with salt to make it more optimally in cleaning the rust.
To washed away rust from your knives using lemon juice and salt mixture:
- Prepare lemon juice mixed with salt as needed.
- Soak your rusty knives until all rusts covered, let stayed a couple of hours. If the rust is quite severe, you may let stayed over night.
- Scrub using steel brush until clean.
- Cleaned using dish soap, let dry.
4. Soak in Citric Acid Mixture
Other than lemon juice and salt mixture, you can use another chemical’s compound to clean up rust, such as citric acid. Citric acid is quite powerful to washed away all the rusts from steel utensils.
Since the citric acid is powerful enough to washed the rust, but also may damaged the outer layer from your knives. Therefore you need to be careful when using this mixture.
Here are the steps to clean rusty knives using citric acid mixture:
- Prepare 3-5 tablespoons of citric acid in a container.
- Mix the acid using hot water.
- Soak your knives until all rusts covered. Let over night.
- Scrub with steel brush.
- Cleaned using dish soap, let dry.
5. Potato
Potato may also be useful to cleaned rusty steel utensils such as knives. Potato have the active components which is oxalate acid. Using potato to cleaned rust is also quite simple. Here are the steps:
- Prepared the mashed potato in a container.
- To get a maximum result, you can mix this with a dish soap.
- Greased on to your rusty knives, let stayed a couple of hours.
- Scrub with steel brush.
- Clean up using dish soap and let dry.
Sometimes, rusts may persist even after cleaning. To prevent this from happening you may take these steps:
- Stored your knives in a container specifically for knives.
- Don’t let your knives stored in a watery place for a long time.
- Scrub your knives gently, not too harsh.
Well now you can have some alternatives to clean rusty knives in easy way. Always look after your knives cleanliness, so you can cut your food hygienic.
Don’t forget to sharpen your knives when its already blunt. Make sure to know on how to sharpen a dull knife in a right way to keep your knives convenient to use.