silverware

Magnetic Fork

A while back, I blogged about a strange phenomenon that I and my co-workers discovered while out at lunch in a restaurant – some of the knives at our table were magnetic. We noticed it a few more times in different restaurants – one or two knives will be magnetic and you can pick up, or at least drag around, other utensils with them.

We had a number of theories about what caused this, but of course we don’t know beans about science, restaurant management, or the production of silverware, so they didn’t go anywhere. I tested all the knives at home, but found nothing.

My friends briefly considered naming their band magnetic knife, but the rejected that (along with “Escalator Accident” – a band name I created a logo for) in favor of something else.
Since then, I’ve always checked for magnetic knives when I go out to eat. Last night, Stephanie and I were discussing the subject at Max and Erma’s and playing with the silverware, when she discovered her fork was magnetic.

Which is really cool – except that all this time, I haven’t been checking the forks!

Damn.

Knife and Fork

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Magnetic Knife

One day I was out to lunch with my co-workers and I picked up my knife to cut something, and the fork stuck to it. The knife was magnetic. But only the table knife, not the fork or the spoon. And my knife was the only one that way, no one else at the table had a magnetic knife. We picked up other utensils, we picked up my keys… it was cool. So of course I stole the knife and took it back to work with me, because it was so strange. A couple of months later Jerrod found another one while out to dinner, and stole it for me, because — cool, two magnetic knives.

And one day a few weeks ago, we were at a steak house and found two magnetic knives at the table. Still no magnetic forks or spoons.

So of course, we’ve been theorizing, what causes the knives to become magnetic? And only the knives? Some unusual dishwasher phenomenon? I tested all the knives at home, and other than the two from the restaurant, none of my other knives are magnetic. And the two we stole from the restaurants still work great; they haven’t lost their magnetism at all.

I’ve tried searching around on the internet, but the only thing I could find with sites selling the magnetic strips that you put your cooking knives on. For a while, that was my theory about how the knives because magnetic, until I asked at one of the restaurants and they said they didn’t store their knives that way, they stored them with all the other silverware in racks.

So color me perplexed.

But I still think “Magnetic Knife” is a great band name.

Knife & Fork

Update:
we recently discovered a magnetic fork, too…
Continue ReadingMagnetic Knife