stainless steel

Stainless steel is stainless because it is doped with metals like chromium and vanadium. Chromium and vanadium oxidize quite readily. This oxide forms a stable, airtight seal which protects the inner steel from corrosion. If the oxide layer is scratched, then the chromium and vanadium that are exposed oxidize, in effect resealing the breach.

Ordinary steel is not resistant to corrosion because iron atoms do not pack together as effectively as chromium or vanadium. As a result, oxidation causes distortion and swelling of the steel, which makes it prone to further corrosion. This can be seen when rusty steel rods used in reinforcing concrete will actually split the concrete around them during the rusting process. For stainless steal to resist corrosion, its important for it to have access to oxygen. Underwater, for example, stainless steel will readily corrode without oxygen accesible to react and form the oxide.

Stainless steel was discovered by accident by Harry Brealey in 1913 while he was experimenting with making new alloys for gun barrels. When he found that one particular steel alloy was resistant to corrosion, he marketed the material in cutlery.

Why stainless steel makes lousy cutlery:

Stainless steel is often used in low quality knives marketed for home kitchens. Among the advatages of these knives is the fact that most are durable, dishwasher safe, won't rust and keep an edge for a fairly long time.

The problem arises as the stainless steel used in most knives is very hard. While this tends to allow a knife to keep its edge for a long time it does not keep the knife from losing edge eventually (this, of course doesn't apply to those "ever sharp" serrated blades, which are nice for slicing but rather ineffective when it comes to heavy-duty chopping). Sharpening a stainless steel blade is an exercise in patience (if not outright futility). Most commercial sharpening stones and steels lack the durability to sharpen a stainless steel knife, you will wear through many a stone getting your edge back (slight exagerration, but over the lifetime of the knife you will wear through more stones than with a carbon steel blade). It is far better to buy a knife made of the softer "high carbon stainless steel", for a higher price. These blades keep an edge for a reasonable amount of time, are quite easy to sharpen and are rust-reistant. Fine brands are Henckels or Wusthof-Trident, they are pricey but good knives are an investment.

Stainless steel is a alloy of iron and more than 10% chromium. This means that stainless steel is highly resistant to stains and rust, though fingerprints show fairly clearly against its shiny patina. When making stainless steel, a thin layer of chromium is added to the outside to make it even more stain resistant, though this layer can and will come off over time causing stainless steel to act like regular steel.

Most people have lots of stainless steel around in their houses, since stainless steel is durable, and therefore used to make lots of things. Stainless steel typically gets oily streaks and discoloration, and since it's all over people's houses, here is how to make stainless steel shiny again.

First of all, a great way to remove streaks out of stainless steel is to rub it down with olive oil; this causes the oily streaks to become uniform and shiny again. Club soda can also be used to remove discoloration caused by heat, and streaks. To polish the surface and get it to shine a solution of white vinegar and water can be used.

When taking care of stainless steel it's important to remove salty or acidic grime from off the utensil before washing it, since if it sits around with that on the surface, it could corrode the protective surface. Stainless steel can be washed in a dishwasher, or by hand, but if washing the stainless steel with real silver, make sure they don’t touch because stainless steel can ruin silver. Occasionally, stainless steel will take up a bluish cast, this is easily removed with silver polish. Never use harsh abrasives or steel wool on stainless steel, as this could remove the protective coating. Commercial stainless steel cleaner is also available.

Never boil water in a stainless steel pot to the point that it all boils up, this causes burned discolored spots in your pots. Since stainless steel heats unevenly look for pots that have a copper coating on the bottom that will cook more evenly. If scorched spots do occur, make a paste out of baking soda and water, or ammonia and rotten stone; and scrub lightly with that. Club soda can also be used.

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Infromation from http://doityourself.com/clean/stainlesssteel.htm