Corrosive Conditions Encountered by Edge Cutlery Available to Purchase

The term edge cutlery as used in this article refers to spring knives (such as pocket knives which include a flat spring and moveable blades), knives without springs (such as table knives, kitchen, butcher, carving and trade blades, etc.), scissors and cut‐throat razors. The British cutlery trade has a normal turnover of the order of several million pounds per year in these and allied edge products, and approximately half of this is accounted for by exports, so that the trade has to cater for varying climatic and use conditions in a large number of countries all over the world. Corrosive conditions can occur in ordinary use and also during transport and storage, and whilst serious corrosion is rare some examples are sufficiently interesting to warrant examination. Today, corrosion problems in British edge cutlery are almost invariably traceable to extraordinary conditions encountered in transit or in use, and over which the manufacturer often has little or no control. The lessons to be learned from investigation of such cases as do occur nearly always require application by the user, and less frequently, by those responsible for transport and storage.