# Paint Chipping Off Kitchen Knife - Should I Be Worried? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 23, 2015, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-chipping-off-kitchen-knife-should-i-be-worried/718346 "2015-04-23T09:21:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-chipping-off-kitchen-knife-should-i-be-worried/718346/1 "2015-04-23T09:21:12Z")
I have A Mircoban kitchen knife, and it was sold with a pink paint layer. This layer has started to chip, and I’m having trouble figuring out how worried I should be about this. I’m finding paint chips after slicing stuff with it, and I’m wondering if I should throw the knife out, if this is a health hazard, etc. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-chipping-off-kitchen-knife-should-i-be-worried/718346/2 "2015-04-23T09:49:47Z")
I don’t think that’s paint. I think that’s supposed to be a nonstick coating. Just like nonstick cookware, you should probably stop using it once it’s scratched or chipped. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-chipping-off-kitchen-knife-should-i-be-worried/718346/3 "2015-04-23T09:54:44Z")
Obviously you are worried about it, or you wouldn’t have posted this question. I wouldn’t use any kitchen tools that flaked off in my food. I would contact the manufacturer for a refund or an upgrade. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-chipping-off-kitchen-knife-should-i-be-worried/718346/4 "2015-04-23T11:05:54Z")
Paint or non-stick, the stuff is pretty inert. Having said that, there’s a fear-based marketing effort now for all sorts of Scary Acronym-free (“SAF” :)) cookware. if it worries you, replace it. If not, not. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-chipping-off-kitchen-knife-should-i-be-worried/718346/5 "2015-04-23T13:14:32Z")
Depending on where you got it, you could try taking it back to the store. I wouldn’t use any tool that left chips of matter (of any kind) in my food. Wait … the \*\*\*blade \*\*\*was painted? Am I understanding right? If so, is it some sort of ceramic coating maybe? ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-chipping-off-kitchen-knife-should-i-be-worried/718346/6 "2015-04-23T21:56:42Z")
If the store you bought it from won’t take it back, contact the maker. With any luck, there’s some “lifetime” warranty on that coating. Not that I’d be likely to buy knives with any sort of coating or colors on the blade, but is the Microban on the blade or the handle? Either way, the pink stuff pretty much has to be food-safe and edible, even if not intended to be eaten. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-chipping-off-kitchen-knife-should-i-be-worried/718346/7 "2015-04-23T22:15:42Z")
I have [this pink knife](http://housewares.kaiusaltd.com/images/uploads/products/26142/pure_komachi_2_8-in._chefs_knife_sheath_(1)__1020x400.jpg) in my kitchen, and it’s maybe going on 10 years old. I don’t know the source of the color, and at the point, it is fading. I just assume that it must be safe, because I’m naiive that way. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2022, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-chipping-off-kitchen-knife-should-i-be-worried/718346/8 "2022-05-10T20:20:51Z")
I just got a notification that my link was popular. I just now clicked the link, and it doesn’t show what it used to. Sorry to anyone who clicked it recently and did not see the pink knife. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2022, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-chipping-off-kitchen-knife-should-i-be-worried/718346/9 "2022-05-13T07:54:00Z")
Is this the knife? [![](https://i.imgur.com/mMdkFHI.png) ](https://i.imgur.com/mMdkFHI.png) ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2022, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-chipping-off-kitchen-knife-should-i-be-worried/718346/10 "2022-05-13T08:51:47Z")
That’s the one. I have a new photo of mine, but no photo hosting site membership this morning. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2022, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-chipping-off-kitchen-knife-should-i-be-worried/718346/11 "2022-05-13T09:05:08Z")
I don’t remember exactly when I got mine, but it’s at least 10 years old, maybe closer to 15. No fading, and just one small chip where I must have dinged it on something. Not really in heavy use, though. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2022, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-chipping-off-kitchen-knife-should-i-be-worried/718346/12 "2022-05-13T12:45:26Z")
Just a comment on paint safety: paint got a very bad name because of older interior house paints that used a lead compound as part of the opaque base. There was a lot of this compound in the paint, as a fraction of the total. When it began flaking off the walls, small children discovered its sweet taste and began eating it habitually. This gave them a big dose of paint with a high concentration of lead, and terrible developmental problems ensued. That’s not what you’re dealing with here. You’re getting little flakes of paint that surely wouldn’t have any lead component. By all means, make the scoundrels replace or refund your knife, but if anyone is at all worried about that lead paint disaster, anticipate that this isn’t anywhere near it.