Nickel allergy

A

AustinS1234

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Jun 8, 2018
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I recently spent a long time grinding the bevels in on two chef knives. This took two day’s and at the end of each day I developed hives all over my body. The type of steel is 440c stainless and from what I can gather it has a high nickel content. So my question is has anyone else experienced this? Is this nickel allergy common amongst knife makers? Also, does anyone know if s30v has any nickel in it. I looked and it seems it does not. Lastly anyone wanna buy them because I cannot work on these anymore of I’m allergic to them.
 
440C does not have an intentional nickel addition. Did you use a respirator?
 
It's easy to poke fun but for people experiencing real allergic reactions, it isn't funny at all. Lots of people are allergic to nickel. It might be the most common metal allergy. It usually presents with prolonged skin exposure and can be promoted by sweat.

Nickel is used in several common knife steels including 8Cr13Mov, AUS8, and S35VN. However, it is usually used in low concentrations. For instance, the highest concentration among the three steels mentioned should be around half a percent. For comparison, the 18/10 stainless steel used to make flatware and cookware is 10% nickel. That's generally considered to be safe for cooking and eating but I'm not sure about grinding.

Neither 440C nor S30V have nickel as a listed ingredient. It could be "heat rash" or contact dermatitis. Grinding can produce lots of tiny and potentially sharp particulants which could irritate the skin manually. Take steps to protect yourself in the future.
 
Where I used to work, a lot of the women had Nickel allergies which was attributed to them wearing “cheap” earrings in their pierced ears. The posts were Nickel plated. Once the allergies developed, they could not wear costume jewelry anymore.
 
Chronovore said:
It's easy to poke fun but for people experiencing real allergic reactions, it isn't funny at all. Lots of people are allergic to nickel. It might be the most common metal allergy. It usually presents with prolonged skin exposure and can be promoted by sweat.

Nickel is used in several common knife steels including 8Cr13Mov, AUS8, and S35VN. However, it is usually used in low concentrations. For instance, the highest concentration among the three steels mentioned should be around half a percent. For comparison, the 18/10 stainless steel used to make flatware and cookware is 10% nickel. That's generally considered to be safe for cooking and eating but I'm not sure about grinding.

Neither 440C nor S30V have nickel as a listed ingredient. It could be "heat rash" or contact dermatitis. Grinding can produce lots of tiny and potentially sharp particulants which could irritate the skin manually. Take steps to protect yourself in the future.
Click to expand...
So in your opinion it’s the metal dust it’s self not what’s actually in the metal? I have worked a fair amount with 01 and have never experience this type of reaction. While working with the 01 I used the same exact PPE I used for the 440c.
 
Sorry, I've never heard of a human being allergic to nickel, or any other metal.

I'd guess you had a reaction to the sanding/grinding dust, somewhat similar to the reaction of the dust you get from sanding fiberglass or carbon fiber.

Did you tape the seams? (shirt sleeves to gloves, for example)

If you were sweating while working, you were hot; Regardless of the ambient temperature.
I know I've gotten hot and sweaty while splitting firewood when the ambient temperature was as much as 50 or 60 degrees or so below freezing, on the Fahrenheit scale.
(or if you prefer, "20 to 30 degrees or so below zero")
 
Just discuss possibility, it can be a mislabeled steel that actually has nickle. If you know you are allergic to nickel, then that possibility increases.
 
AustinS1234 said:
So in your opinion it’s the metal dust it’s self not what’s actually in the metal? I have worked a fair amount with 01 and have never experience this type of reaction. While working with the 01 I used the same exact PPE I used for the 440c.
Click to expand...

It's hard to say for sure. There are too many possibilities to narrow it down. Some good ones so far:

- Mechanical irritation from particulants, either metallic or otherwise
- Actual allergic reaction to metal or something else
- Combination of mechanical and chemical irritation

The last one can be tricky. You might be weakly sensitive or allergic to something and not know it. For instance, one of the materials here or even something as seemingly benign as your fabric softener could be a culprit. Under normal circumstances, you might not get a reaction. Once your skin becomes mildly abraded, that could change. (Note that routine allergy tests involve abrasion to help facilitate reaction.)

Superpog might have a point as well. Steels aren't always labeled correctly. Most reputable companies can be trusted but this is a chronic problem with some less scrupulous overseas manufacturers. It can be a matter of deceitful marketing practices or just a quick supply change that never gets noted.
 
Are you sure that you have allergy to nickel?
Do you react to a 5c coin, zipper, or watch band, which contain nickel?
 
Chronovore said:
It's easy to poke fun but for people experiencing real allergic reactions, it isn't funny at all. Lots of people are allergic to nickel. It might be the most common metal allergy. It usually presents with prolonged skin exposure and can be promoted by sweat.

Nickel is used in several common knife steels including 8Cr13Mov, AUS8, and S35VN. However, it is usually used in low concentrations. For instance, the highest concentration among the three steels mentioned should be around half a percent. For comparison, the 18/10 stainless steel used to make flatware and cookware is 10% nickel. That's generally considered to be safe for cooking and eating but I'm not sure about grinding.

Neither 440C nor S30V have nickel as a listed ingredient. It could be "heat rash" or contact dermatitis. Grinding can produce lots of tiny and potentially sharp particulants which could irritate the skin manually. Take steps to protect yourself in the future.
Click to expand...
Nickel is not added to those steels you listed (apart from 18/10). Some steel specs list a nickel maximum or range because they use recycled steel to make knife steels. I am not aware of any that don't have at least 0.1% nickel. Which is why I said 440C does not have an intentional nickel addition.
 
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