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I recently purchased some stainless steel kabob skewers from Amazon, similar to the ones listed here at the Webstaurant Store.

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They look and feel like stainless steel, however they appear to have some kind of coating. The surface of my skewers looks slightly more dull and grey than my stainless steel cookware.

Furthermore, I observed a dark grey residue coming off my skewers under the following circumstances:

  1. Straight out of the box if I rub my fingers across the surface.
  2. After putting them through the dishwasher if I rub my fingers across the surface.
  3. After dishwasher if I rub a white tissue across the surface.

I noticed that there is also a Prop 65 warning listed in the Webstaurant link above, which states:

WARNING: This product can expose you to chemicals including lead, which are known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm. For more information, go to www.p65warnings.ca.gov.

Is it likely that my skewers are indeed coated in something, and if so, what is this coating and why is it possible to contain lead?

N4v
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    Related: https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/75734/dark-grey-residue-from-newly-purchased-stainless-steel-kitchen-items – Cindy Dec 05 '19 at 18:09
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    Related too… assuming you don't fall asleep reading it ;-) https://ofmpub.epa.gov/apex/guideme_ext/f?p=guideme:gd:0::::gd:lead_guidance_3_1 – Tetsujin Dec 05 '19 at 18:28
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    How about a photo of your actual skewers, since apparently you didn't purchase them at webrestaurantstore? – FuzzyChef Dec 05 '19 at 20:06
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    Also: I don't think the Prop 65 warning is meaningful. Looks like they put it on all of their metal utensil listings. – FuzzyChef Dec 05 '19 at 20:08
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    Any chance they're aluminum instead of steel? Because aluminum + dishwasher = ugly grey oxidation/coating that can rub off on your fingers. – Marti Dec 05 '19 at 23:07
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    That coating suggests that they might be zinc galvanized stainless. That'd account for the gray stuff, but lead is sometimes used to make melted zinc more fluid: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot-dip_galvanization – Wayfaring Stranger Dec 06 '19 at 00:43
  • @FuzzyChef, I added a photo and the original purchase link. – N4v Dec 06 '19 at 15:11
  • @Marti, the material is SS according to the original listing, and I'm fairly its weight is that of SS. – N4v Dec 06 '19 at 15:12
  • @WayfaringStranger, thanks, good point. I think this zinc galvanization is a likely candidate, because I don't think it's normal for brand new stainless steel to give off dark grey dust even after washing it. – N4v Dec 06 '19 at 15:15
  • @N4v It's standard for third party sellers on Amazon to lie about their products. The fact that the listing says "stainless steel" does not mean that it's actually stainless steel. Based on the residue, I'm guessing galvanized or aluminized carbon steel. – Sneftel Dec 06 '19 at 16:00
  • Someone wanna put the "lied about metal" as an answer? – FuzzyChef Dec 06 '19 at 19:59
  • @Sneftel , are you aware of anything I can do to test whether my product is indeed stainless steel or some other galvanized or aluminized steel? – N4v Dec 06 '19 at 20:43
  • It's worth noting that California's Prop. 65 regulations are quite strict, which has led to many (sometimes unnecessary) warnings. For example, if these items were manufactured in a place that might also handle lead-based products, and it's *possible* that some lead dust *might* get on them, a manufacturer might slap on a warning like this just in case some test shows up positive. In that case, a simple wash might get rid of residue. I don't know about this specific case, but I'd just note the warning may or may not be meaningful (and may or may not have anything to do with the coating). – Athanasius Dec 06 '19 at 21:18

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Simple enough if it is lead which I greatly doubt : Put the stainless on a grill ( outside) and heat to just dim red ( 1100 to 1200 F) . Any lead will have long since evaporated and the stainless will get a tight grey oxide coating (at most), depending on the time it is hot. Of course anything organic will also be gone.

blacksmith37
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  • Are there any alternatives if one doesn't own a grill? Would an oven suffice? – N4v Dec 06 '19 at 15:17
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    Some hardware stores sell lead test kits that should work on metal: https://www.epa.gov/lead/lead-test-kits – Wayfaring Stranger Dec 06 '19 at 16:21
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    Domestic ovens don't get much above 600 F, not enough to boil lead. Maybe the dark material is a lubricant from the metal forming . – blacksmith37 Dec 06 '19 at 17:07
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    I would think a steel wool scouring pad could take off anything other than electro plating and I never heard of electroplating SS ( with lead, zinc, aluminum, etc). – blacksmith37 Dec 06 '19 at 20:10