# Smells and Stainless Steel

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-and-stainless-steel/148>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [June 22, 1999, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-and-stainless-steel/148 "1999-06-22T20:49:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 1999, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-and-stainless-steel/148/21 "1999-07-08T02:20:00Z")

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Dear Message-Board People,  
I believe I read a post in this thread earlier that claimed sulphur compounds from smelly substances were complexing with metals in “stainless steel.” It might be interesting for you to look at Science 277:653-659, “Iron-Sulfur Clusters: Nature’s Modular, Multipurpose Structures.” Admittedly, these are clusters of Iron with single sulfur atoms or sulfur bound to cysteine, etc., not thiols… but maybe it can lead you somewhere interesting.  
-Alex Kennedy

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 1999, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-and-stainless-steel/148/22 "1999-07-08T11:36:00Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> The piece of stainless steel was a large french chef knife. There was a fair amount of friction between the skin and the knife which leads me to wonder if a pumice stone would work even better.

Donations to The Norman Bates research foundation can be made at…

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 1999, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-and-stainless-steel/148/23 "1999-07-09T10:41:00Z")

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I’m extremely impressed by all the insightful contributions in this thread. Everybody keeps making such interesting comments and observations! Looks like we’ve got a real stumper on our hands that just won’t go away!

Unfortunately, I still haven’t heard anything back from the manufacturer or distributor of the “Odor Steeler” stainless-steel egg that I mentioned earlier. The distributor’s quick response and promise to reply by the 6’th raised my hopes that someone or other had already done some research in this regard, but there’s nothing to show for it yet. I’ll keep you posted while we wait for Xray and her colleagues to get a crack at the GC…

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 1999, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-and-stainless-steel/148/24 "1999-07-22T23:25:00Z")

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From what I remember from Chem 101 (a long time ago), the onion or garlic oils form an ionic bond with your skin. Soap and water will not break this bond but exposure to stainless steel changes the ionization and the bond breaks allowing these oils to be washed away from your skin. So the metal is not masking the odor or causing the odor to disappear but merely allowing the source of the odor to be removed.

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