Stainless Steel Flatware - The Basics

I'm willing to bet that greater than 99% of all homes in the US have stainless steel flatware in them. Even my crazy mother-in-law has some, even though she usually just washes her plastic forks and spoons by hand. This paragraph appeared on the home page, but I'll repeat it here in case you skipped over it. While technically incorrect, just about everyone calls this "silverware" even though it doesn't contain any silver. We forgive you. Stainless steel is an alloy, made with raw materials including iron ore, limestone, coke, chromium, and sometimes nickel. The basic setup that everyone should have revolves around the place setting. Just about every pattern available offers the 5-piece Place Setting, shown to the right---> It includes a salad fork, place fork, place knife, soup spoon, and a teaspoon. Sometimes the place fork and place knife are referred to as a dinner fork and dinner knife.   What the heck is 18/8, 18/10, and all that? You'll see those numbers on the box, or even on the flatware itself. Something like "18/8 stainless flatware" or "18/10 premium stainless flatware". Let me first start off by saying that these numbers do not refer to the weight of the stainless. 18/8 and 18/10 refer to the percentages of chromium and nickel in the stainless steel alloy. The "18" refers to the chromium content, which gives flatware its rust-resistant properties, and the "8" or "10" refers to the nickel content, which gives flatware a deeper lustre, or shine. These numbers are merely "nicknames" for the lay person to use, and are only used for marketing efforts by flatware manufacturers. When a manufacturer purchases stainless steel from a steel mill, they all purchase stainless steel Grade 304, which has a range of 18-20% chromium, and 8-10% nickel content. Grade 304 in flatware is usually at the lower end of that range. To keep the cost down, steel manufacturers will make grade 304 with 8.2% nickel, which clears the legal hurdle of calling it 18/10. What does all this mean? It means that there is no difference between 18/8 and 18/10 stainless steel in flatware. The difference between the two is purely a marketing effort. Are you completely bored yet? If enough people ask me, I may include a link to a steel manufacturer's website that explains this even further in soul-crushing, mind-numbingly boring detail. If you want to get stainless flatware that doesn't bend in hard ice cream, you're going to have to either ask the salesperson for that feature, or see it in person to judge for yourself. There is no industry standard number system to help you there. NEXT PAGE --> Why Would I Want Good Stuff? or Return to the Home Page