Cleaning knives in a dishwasher ?

C

cm64

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Oct 13, 2007
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The dos & donts of cleaning knives in a dishwasher ?
Is this an easy way or will this damage some knives ?
 
Do: Wash your knives by hand in warm/cool water with a mild detergent.

Don't: Wash your knives in a dishwasher.
 
There are no "dos", just one big "don't."

The heat and caustic properties of the detergent can destroy a knife, especially if has non-metal handles. I've washed my cheap Victorinox utility knife in the dishwasher, and while it didn't rust or pit or anything, the edge was gone and had to be resharpened.
 
The grips on a lot of knives are fixed using epoxy. The heat in a dishwasher is more than enough to cause the epoxy to breakdown.
 
When I work in the kitchen, I constantly rinse off my knives as I finish a job. If I'm not sure I'll be using them again soon, I may hit them with soap and warm water, and dry them off. Dishwashers are an expensive way to clean a simple meal's utensils and dishes. Maybe for a big dinner.
 
wife put my byrd raven in dishwasher once. knife came out okay, but my clip came right out.
 
I would never put any decent knife in a dishwasher....come to think of it I don't even put dishes in the dishwasher. It's easier to just wash them by hand and be done with it
 
I generally don't put my knives in the dishwasher, but I have done it with a Spyderco Salt in H1 with no noticeable negative results.

My wife has run our Shun Classic paring knife through the dishwasher a few times without any problems. I think being in the rack with the other flatware tends to dull the edge, though. (I'm not positive, but I think Shun says dishwasher use it okay.)
 
A dishwasher effectively sandblasts your edges in a salt solution. While this muight not affect serrated edges much, a plain edge relies on it being polished (as well as angle, steel etc.). Irrespective of handle attachements and glue bonds, you shouldn't dishwasher any knives that use a cutting edge.
Although it does give you an excuse to "touch them up on the stones more regularly, if you enjoy that sort of thing. I can put a fairly decent edge on a knife, but I'd rather spend my free time making them than sharpening them.
 
i had a customers daughter put a knife her dad bought off me in the dish washer and like 2manyknives said, the handles came off. she had it on the sterilize setting. luckily i was able to fix the knife back up for him.
 
If you search on the Spyderco.com forums, you'll find that Sal Glesser has said that dishwashers are not a problem (at least for most Spyderco knives). He recommended "dishwasher, oil soak and compressed air blast" for dealing with a very dirty, sandy knife. He also said that he sometimes uses a dishwasher to clean his knives.

I just mention this to show that there are different points of view.
 
I sometimes use the dishwasher to clean my ceramic and Titanium kitchen knives but only the ones with plastic handles.
 
never in dishwasher. i either use just soap and water or bleach based spray cleaner(especially after cutting up chicken) then soap and water.
 
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