What's happened to my knife?

[Simpo Two]

I have a set of vintage Gense cutlery which is regularly used. Every piece is fine except this knife. I was quite alarmed to see this sudden one day, and it's spreading right across the blade. The pieces do go in a dishwasher every so often, but would hot water and detergent affect stainless steel like this, or is it a manufacturing issue that's taken 65 years to suddenly appear? Some black pitting has appeared too.

[Panamax]

Stainless steel can be susceptible to pitting and/or cracking if exposed to chlorides. Do you put salt in the dishwasher to soften your water? Alternatively it could be just salt staying on the cutlery after meals.

I've never had cracking but one knife blade snapped completely when the knife was dropped on a hard floor.

[Simpo Two]

Panamax said:

Stainless steel can be susceptible to pitting and/or cracking if exposed to chlorides. Do you put salt in the dishwasher to soften your water?

Yes. But all the other pieces are fine...

Could it be repaired by an expert?

Edited by Simpo Two on Sunday 15th September 18:08

[normalbloke]

Simpo Two said:

Panamax said:

Stainless steel can be susceptible to pitting and/or cracking if exposed to chlorides. Do you put salt in the dishwasher to soften your water?

Yes. But all the other pieces are fine...

Could it be repaired by an expert?

Edited by Simpo Two on Sunday 15th September 18:08

It’s metal. It could of course be repaired invisibly, depending on how invested you are in it and what you want to spend.

[Simpo Two]

normalbloke said:

It’s metal. It could of course be repaired invisibly, depending on how invested you are in it and what you want to spend.

They belonged to my parents, possibly purchased by them when they visited Sweden in the 1950s. So yes, worth something to have it fixed, but I have no idea what trade would do it - somewhere between a welder and a jeweller perhaps?

[untakenname]

TIG welder would be the best placed imo, perhaps see if there's any stainless steel exhaust fabricators in the local area?

[Simpo Two]

untakenname said:

TIG welder would be the best placed imo, perhaps see if there's any stainless steel exhaust fabricators in the local area?

Exhausts?! It would have to be an invisible repair, no lines of crud or angle grinder marks!

[normalbloke]

Simpo Two said:

untakenname said:

TIG welder would be the best placed imo, perhaps see if there's any stainless steel exhaust fabricators in the local area?

Exhausts?! It would have to be an invisible repair, no lines of crud or angle grinder marks!

I can TIG weld pretty well, but would be reluctant to take it on with such sentiment attached to it. I’d start at your local friendly ‘decent’ jeweller, who will probably be best advised for a path forward. I very much doubt it’d be the first time they would have needed a stainless repair. Good luck with it btw.

[Simpo Two]

Thanks very much; I'll take it to a jeweller or two next time I'm in town.

[Panamax]

Or just buy a replacement off ebay. Looks as if you can get half a dozen Gense knives for £20,
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145972083641?_skw=ebay+...

[Simpo Two]

Panamax said:

Or just buy a replacement off ebay. Looks as if you can get half a dozen Gense knives for £20

Mine are indeed Facette, but the ones in the advert aren't (or are a more modern take on it). These ones are Facette: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145860809799

I could get some more, but for now I have enough to get by.

[Zad]

Some jewellers have laser welders that work on a very small scale like this. It would need to be annealed to reduce the stresses within the metal before doing any work on it though. A jeweller would do this.

[Simpo Two]

Thanks Zad. It may be that stresses contributed to the problem in the first place, as one side of the crack is higher than the other.

I don't go near any jewellers very often but will certainly visit some when I get the chance.

[GliderRider]

If my eyes aren't deceiving me, that crack extends as a hairline to about 3mm from the cutting edge, visible on both sides.
Any repair is likely to obliterate the writing at the top of the blade so it will be obvious which is the damaged knife. Whilst I appreciate the sentimental value, finding a matching replacement would be my approach.

[Mr Pointy]

Simpo Two said:

Thanks Zad. It may be that stresses contributed to the problem in the first place, as one side of the crack is higher than the other.

I don't go near any jewellers very often but will certainly visit some when I get the chance.

Here you go - the Cutlery Hospital:
https://cutleryhospital.com/

Five stars on Trustpilot:
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/chimodirect.co.uk

[Simpo Two]

GliderRider said:

If my eyes aren't deceiving me, that crack extends as a hairline to about 3mm from the cutting edge, visible on both sides.
Any repair is likely to obliterate the writing at the top of the blade so it will be obvious which is the damaged knife. Whilst I appreciate the sentimental value, finding a matching replacement would be my approach.

Yes, I agree some writing may be lost, though as long as the repair isn't a silly price I'd rather do that than buy a different one. Or I can just keep it at the back of the drawer unused.

Mr Pointy said:

Here you go - the Cutlery Hospital:
https://cutleryhospital.com/

Remarkable! I'll send them the photos and see what they think

[ARFBY]

Mr Pointy said:

Simpo Two said:

Thanks Zad. It may be that stresses contributed to the problem in the first place, as one side of the crack is higher than the other.

I don't go near any jewellers very often but will certainly visit some when I get the chance.

Here you go - the Cutlery Hospital:
https://cutleryhospital.com/

Five stars on Trustpilot:
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/chimodirect.co.uk

I remember as a child on my way to my grandparents, passing a dolls hospital, thinking what a fabulous idea, repairing children's toys.

If would never have considered there would be any such place as a Cutlery Hospital.

I've learned something new today.

[NDA]

I had a ding repaired on a polished stainless steel watch repaired recently... some sort of laser welding was used.

If they're precious to you (which clearly they are) try a decent watch repair business, I suspect they could do it fairly easily.

[Simpo Two]

Mr Pointy said:

Here you go - the Cutlery Hospital:
https://cutleryhospital.com/

Unfortunately: 'Thank you for your email and image of your knife... We cannot repair the blade as it is cracked, so on this occasion we must say sorry we cannot help you.'

Evidently they don't have the laser thingies like the jewellers.

Arse!

[Fatboy]

https://ravenscourtengineering.co.uk/electron-beam...

Electron Beam welding might do the job, extremely precise, not cheap though...