edelson@mhuxh.UUCP (09/07/83)
The name "stainless" is applied to a wide variety of steel alloys which contain chromium, chromium and nickel, and other metals to impart corrosion resistance, hardness, etc. The corrosion resistance is mainly a function of the nickel content. Stainless steels which have low nickel or none do indeed rust. However, high nickel makes lousy knives, so you will find that stainless knives of good quality do corrode unless you take very good care of them. In general, the better flatware will have high nickel content and will last a long time. We have a set (made by Gorham) which cost us about $100 20 years ago and is still in almost new condition. Hint: when shopping for stainless flatware, take a magnet along. The high nickel stuff is non-magnetic (except for the knife blades) while the cheap stuff (e.g. restaurant quality) will be magnetic.