I sell dish wash chemical systems to restaurants, hospitals, schools etc.
We do not add salt to the dish machine water. It would interfere with the
sensors that we use to monitor the detergent levels in the wash water. I
have never heard of salt having an effect on the glassware.


"Doug Miller" wrote in message
t...
In article , "Eddie"
wrote:
I don't know about what you Americans and Canadians do but in Europe we
have
to add salt to the dishwasher! they do have tablets now with the salt
already added to the formula, something to do with stopping the glass ware
going dull? so my wife tells me ;-)

Never heard that before...

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

On Dec 22, 7:30 am, Mapdude wrote:
My wife tells me that it is more about the handles than the blades.

A bosun I worked for always shaved with cold water. He insisted the
blades stayed sharp longer than if he were to use hot water.

He did not sleep under a pyramid or wear a tinfoil hat. He did walk
down the gangplank backwards for some rerason.

Eddie wrote:
I don't know about what you Americans and Canadians do but in Europe we have
to add salt to the dishwasher! they do have tablets now with the salt
already added to the formula, something to do with stopping the glass ware
going dull? so my wife tells me ;-)
Eddie.

Sounds as if you have (mineralized) 'hard water'.

We use a rinse agent in ours, as well. It makes the water more wet
(honest!) and it slides on off, taking the minerals with it.

Bill


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Mike Marlow wrote:
A special rack to enclose the blade so the
user does not cut themselves while unloading... sounds more like they're
selling dishwashers to users that should not have any sharp objects around.



What company is that? I suspect that they are going to do very well and
I'd like to buy some stock if there's any to be had! There's a fine line
between those with no sense and those with no sense AND no money. The
former buy a lot of stuff that the latter would turn their nose up at. ;-)

Bill
--

Make yourself an honest man, and then you may be sure that there is one
rascal less in the world.
Thomas Carlyle (1795 - 1881)


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"Bill in Detroit" wrote in message
...



What company is that? I suspect that they are going to do very well and
I'd like to buy some stock if there's any to be had! There's a fine line
between those with no sense and those with no sense AND no money. The
former buy a lot of stuff that the latter would turn their nose up at. ;-)


Perhaps, but I doubt your investment will be very richly returned. I'd find
it hard to believe that would be much of a real selling feature. Now - if
someone sold a dishwasher that had a built in knife sharpener that
automatically refreshed the edge on the knives when the wife just throws
them in with all the other silverware...

--

-Mike-

"Mike Marlow" wrote in message

Now - if
someone sold a dishwasher that had a built in knife sharpener that
automatically refreshed the edge on the knives when the wife just throws
them in with all the other silverware...

I'd bet 80% of the households have no idea what a sharp knife is like.

Mike Marlow wrote:


Perhaps, but I doubt your investment will be very richly returned.
I'd find
it hard to believe that would be much of a real selling feature. Now
- if
someone sold a dishwasher that had a built in knife sharpener that
automatically refreshed the edge on the knives when the wife just throws
them in with all the other silverware...


Keep your knives in a wooden rack, then a few strokes with a steel prior
to each use, knives stay sharp.

Lew

Mike Marlow wrote:
Perhaps, but I doubt your investment will be very richly returned. I'd find
it hard to believe that would be much of a real selling feature. Now - if
someone sold a dishwasher that had a built in knife sharpener that
automatically refreshed the edge on the knives when the wife just throws
them in with all the other silverware...
Wife-dishwasher? No chance I look after loading ours, and the eldest
unloads it, loading needs forethought otherwise nothing fits in, SWTSMBO
is just to impatient to do it properly without breakages, though it does
mean I can wash things I want without complaint!

"Bill in Detroit" wrote in message
...
Mike Marlow wrote:
A special rack to enclose the blade so the
user does not cut themselves while unloading... sounds more like they're
selling dishwashers to users that should not have any sharp objects
around.



What company is that?

I would think many of them by now. We built our house in 1997 and the
machine we installed had such a rack (Kitchenaid). I noticed our Son's new
dishwasher had a similar rack when he built his home this fall.

From the posts above, I suspect a lot of folks have a grander idea of what
this rack is than its reality. At one end of our door-mounted silverware
rack is a filp-up rack with slots to accommodate 6 or 8 knife blades. If
you use it, it keeps blades pointed down, not up. And despite some opinions
above, it is very easy to put a knife in a washer rack blade up, when you
are accustomed to putting spoons, forks and dinner knives in that way.

RonB

wrote:

Just bought the wife a nice set of Kitchen knives for Christmas,
and had heard the advise to hand wash them only, I suppose
because the granular dishwasher detergent might dull them.

Truth or wives tale??????

I'm going with Truth - at least for good knives.

Carbon steel will take a better edge than SS or HSS.
Won't hold it as long, but it can be made sharper.

Sharp carbon steel edges don't dull faster if you take
care of them. When they "dull" it's because the edge
has been rolled - think Cabinet Scraper. If you use
a "steel" on them you straighten the edge back up.
Think of the "steel" as a cabinet scraper burnisher.
If you don't "steel" the edge when needed, the rolled
edge breaks off. THEN you've actually dulled the edge
and you have to sharpen it - ie - selectively remove
metal.

Now if you've ever "burned" an edge while sharpening,
you know that by the time you can see "color" it's
too late. You actually lost the temper on the edge
BEFORE the temper killing heat's color indicator was
visible. Remember, at the actual cutting edge there's
not much metal so it heats up fast.

Heat is the enemy of a really sharp edge on carbon steel.

Most new dishwashers have a water heater in the
inlet path that kicks it up to 160 degrees or more
AND some have heating elements to dry the dishes
(and the chemicals that are in "hard" water). Doesn't
take a lot of heat to affect the temper of a fine
edge on a carbon steel knife, or chisel or plane iron.

Now add a fairly concentrated base (soap as opposed
to an acid) and you're begging for a chemical reaction
with the carbon steel - and one that ain't good for a
fine cutting edge.

Just for fun, put your next razor blade in the dishwasher,
run through it's cycles and THEN shave with it.

Oh, BTW, cutting edges hitting anything metal isn't
good for them either - even just a little contact is
BAD.

charlie b

occassional user and caretaker of some Chicago
Cutlery carbon steel knives - with wood handles,
not polished, not coated with poly or plastic or
varnish, just oiled when they look like they need \
it.

RonB wrote:And despite some opinions
above, it is very easy to put a knife in a washer rack blade up, when you
are accustomed to putting spoons, forks and dinner knives in that way.

RonB

All the directions I've ever seen for loading a dishwasher say to put
the working end of tableware down. That said, I put our sharp knives in
the top rack laying flat.

Bill


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On Sun, 24 Dec 2006 14:12:58 -0500, Bill in Detroit
wrote:

RonB wrote:And despite some opinions
above, it is very easy to put a knife in a washer rack blade up, when you
are accustomed to putting spoons, forks and dinner knives in that way.

RonB

All the directions I've ever seen for loading a dishwasher say to put
the working end of tableware down.

Models from Kitchen Aid and Maytag have instructions to alternate the
tableware (up/down) in the basket thingie. 'Course, that's from NET 2
years ago, somaybe nowdays things are different.

Renata

That said, I put our sharp knives in
the top rack laying flat.

Bill


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