Stains on stainless steel?

Hamotron

Tue, Sep 08 2020, 1:37 pm

A friend of ours toveled a set of stainless steel pots, stainless steel knives, and stainless steel cutlery for us recently. When we got them back they were all covered in brown stains of varying size. It comes off the cutlery with a lot of soaking and scrubbing, but we cannot get it off the knives and pots. I tried baking soda but no luck- our baking soda doesn't bubble though, so it could just be inactive (it's brand new, but it's that sort of week). The dishwasher didn't touch it. This is obviously extremely upsetting since this is hundreds of dollars of brand new keilim. Any advice?

ra_mom

Tue, Sep 08 2020, 2:17 pm

Hamotron wrote:

If it's pure stainless steel you'll be able to get it out with Bar Keepers Friend and a lot of scrubbing. I like the liquid soft cleanser but it also comes in powder format. Follow the directions on the bottle.

(The stains likely developed from water stains- toiveled and put in a bag wet instead of drying it with a towel or laying it out to drop dry.)

challahchallah

Tue, Sep 08 2020, 2:54 pm

Another vote for bar keepers friend! I’ve always had great luck with the powder form, but I haven’t tried the other to know if it’s better.

zaq

Tue, Sep 08 2020, 3:13 pm

If your keilim mikvah is chlorinated, the spots may be damage from residual chlorine if the utensils were left wet after toveling instead of being dried off. In that case, the the marks may be permanent.

Shadow

Tue, Sep 08 2020, 3:24 pm

It could be that the mikva has chemicals that caused it to get stained... once toiveled pots in an old open mikvah and didnt dry the items right away.. unfortunately thats the way they stayed:(

Hamotron

Tue, Sep 08 2020, 4:08 pm

Thanks everyone! I'm going to try the Barkeeper's and focus on the fact that my friend was trying to do us a favor. I'm hopeful it's not permanent because it does come off the cutlery pretty easily.