[TheForge] Do you feel secure?

[Andy Gladish]

You guys might enjoy this one- I made a lovely Damascus chef knife for my 
niece, who went through cooking school, and brought it to the Midwest when 
we came for her wedding.
When I finally unwrapped it after a few days to show the family, I noticed a 
stain on the cutting edge- first thought was, Did they use it to cut their 
sandwiches? I knew it had been inspected because TSA had tucked a notice 
under the strap holding the case...
A closer look showed that it was blood. Now, the concept of "sharp" has a 
different meaning for me than for most people- it's either as sharp as a 
knife of any given kind can be (and that varies a lot) or it's not Sharp. 
Need I say how sharp a fine high carbon chef's knife should be? "Razor" 
doesn't even begin to describe it, now that a straight razor is something 
you only see in an antique store.
At least they didn't bleed all over the case, huh?
...which leads to a question- after the Ferric etch, no matter how I scrub 
with soap and water, a coating of oil seems to bring out black staining- I 
know that's not going to go over well with a pro chef- what do you think 
might clean that up without affecting the etch?

Andy G.