What is my pizza cutter's handle made from, and how do I stop it from staining everything it touches?

A while back, I bought an ordinary-looking pizza cutter with a dull grey handle. However, I soon found out the hard way that the handle is made from some weird metal or alloy that reacts with water, staining everything it touches black:

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"Water" here includes even slightly moist or sweaty hands, making this a real pain to use. What is this stuff and how do I stop it from staining? And for extra credit, why on earth would you make a hand-held kitchen utensil from it?!

Best Answer

Mystery solved! At Catija's prompting, I managed to dig up the cutter on the website of the shop I bought it from, the Chef's Hat in Melbourne, Australia:

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CUTTER PIZZA W/ALUM HANDLE 95MM S/ST ($6.60)

So turns out the handle is aluminum (aluminium), which can be discolored black if the alloy is not dishwasher-safe, which this clearly wasn't. Time to ask a new question about what, if anything, I can do to fix it!

Pictures about "What is my pizza cutter's handle made from, and how do I stop it from staining everything it touches?"

What is my pizza cutter's handle made from, and how do I stop it from staining everything it touches? - From above unrecognizable women taking slice of pizza with cheese and salami using spatula and cutting with pizza cutter

What is my pizza cutter's handle made from, and how do I stop it from staining everything it touches? - Top view composition of professional planer with wooden handles placed on workbench with set of metal knives in carpentry workshop

What is my pizza cutter's handle made from, and how do I stop it from staining everything it touches? - Low angle of weathered opened rusty door with metal handle of aged house covered with ivy

Can I put pizza cutter in dishwasher?

Many pizza cutters advertise that they are dishwasher safe. However, like other cutlery, we strongly recommend washing your pizza cutter by hand. This is because the banging around during the wash cycle can dull the knife and dishwasher detergent is incredibly abrasive.

How do you clean a pizza wheel?

Place a sponge or folded towel in your sink and hold the pizza cutter at an angle against the sponge or towel so that you can easily scrub the surface without the cutter rotating. Do this to clean both sides of the blade, slowly rotating the back side of the blade to clean the section behind the handle attachment.

How do you use a pizza cutter wheel?

A pizza cutter (also known as a roller blade) is a utensil that is used to cut pizzas.

Drunk guys takes out pizza slicer instead of keys then fell on the floor.

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Images: Polina Tankilevitch, Katerina Holmes, Ono Kosuki, Francesco Ungaro