I have never routinely cleaned decks and in 50 years of mowing never had a deck rust problem. Most deck rust through problems are caused by decks that get a build up of dirt and debris on top that never gets cleaned off. Left outside to get wet in the rain they eventually begin to rust. The underside of decks gets blasted when the mower is used and almost never has a rust problem.

I highly recommend the Brother P-touch. I considered the Casio machien that works similarly, but decided against it bcs the tapes aren't as easy to find. You can find the P-touch tapes tons of places. The labels stick through the dishwasher and freezer (and, I read once in Real Simple, in the oven up to 450 or 500 degrees! though I haven't tried it). They go on smooth and stick really well--no corners flipping up, etc. Yet, they peel off well when you need them to. The labels are clean and easy to read, you can print in a few different sizes, and you can buy many colors of tape. You can even get fabric tape the irons on (haven't tried mine yet). The batteries last quite a long time in it. Its only drawback is that the tape is kind of expensive; there's a way to keep the machine from leaving so much blank at the end of every piece, though--if you get that far and can't figure it out, drop me an e-mail and I'll walk you through it. Brother changes the model numbers of its labelers every now and then, so it's hard for me to recommend a specific model right now--they're all good, equal quality (and they all use the same tape, which it easy to find), We have several P-touch labelers at work, purchased as wildly varying times and with different capabilities, and they all worked exactly the same--quite well. it's just that some machines do more than others (more fonts, maybe, or printing on two or three lines). So just look at the features you think you're willing to pay for. Then, round up just one notch. I've found that I've usually wished that I had that one higher feature (of whatever it is I bought), and that I'd have been willing, in retrospect, to pay for it. The two features I wish I'd splurged for are: -the ability to print two lines -having two different FONTS--there are 6 or 8 different type styles on every machine but that just takes the basic sans serif font and enlarges it, stretches it, or squeezes it. A machine at work has a sans serif font AND a serif font, so you can get a slightly more old-fashioned, fancier look w/ the serifs. I would get the 1950 (65 or so) or the 1960--both are less than $100, and I could splurge on the thing (and would, now that I'm used to having one around). Here is a link that might be useful: Brother's Advisor site to help you pick a model

Here's a picture of my knife scratch that I made on the Blanco Silgranit metallic grey earlier this afternoon. This was with a serrated steak knife. I originally did about 15 saws across and then "topped" it off with about 10 more to it before I took the photos. It definitely took some effort to get the indented scratch there. It's noticeable mostly from certain angles, most probably wouldn't really notice it if just looking at the sink. I haven't tried eliminating the scratch yet.

So, party_music 50, didn't folks show you how some of us knife lovers can have opinions and good tips? I found so many good ideas and I too had to waste some money and learn. I've always loved cooking. I have various knives for various tasks, but the one I go to these days for a lot of simple slicing and chopping is the one Sushipup mentioned, the Victorinox Fibrox 8" chef's knife. I have both the 8" and the 6" and bought my cookin' sis the 6". We both love that one. It's sharp, easy to hold, lightweight, easy to clean (just wipe with your soapy dish cloth, rinse, and put away), AND it has a very nice, textured handle that gives a secure grip. I used mine so much I went to a town farm market knife sharping kiosk to get it tweaked. He gave me some tips to refreshing the edge (realigning). I was surprised to find how much I love this little knife. The 8" version is just as nice. I have "too many knives" with some redundancy, for sure. LindaC, I believe I've got the very Chicago Cutlery 6" knife that you have. No longer my favorite for a while, but probably because I let it go dull-ish. I also have some of the older Elephant Sabbatier carbon-steel knives. Just wipe it clean and put away. That one is probably 40 to 50 years old and my father did a "bad bad thing" by trying to sharpen it with one of those electric can opener sharpeners that took a lot of the steel off in a certain area. The 6" knife at the top with the wooden handle is an older Chicago Cutlery forged knife. Above: a Chicago Cutlery 5" parer I bought at Walmart a couple of years ago. Too bad the yellow rubber grip deteriorated. The knife at the bottom with the black handle is the 8" Vitorinox Fibrox. dcarch, I have hung onto the ratty Chi Cut knife thinking that I might fashion a wooden handle for it (it has a sort of long tang). Party, I think people has mentioned this, but don't put kitchen chef's knives into the dishwasher or leave in the sink (one of my siblings does this). I'm with dcarch in thinking that you might want to treat yourself to a nice knife, say that 6" Vitorinox. Than your sister can test it when she visits. I'll have to warn you, however, I was impressed with how sharp they were from the factory. Over the summer, I took my favorite knives to the fellow at our farmers' market and he did a great job. I was going to by one of those pricy but very good Apex sharpening systems, but I decided to take knives to the farmers' market fellow and I will just tweak them sharper as needed on a nice sharpening stone I have for that sort of thing. Ci_lantro, I bet that carbon steel Chinese cleaver is great to use. Photo? I have a few cleavers and a heavy one is good for persuading hard squash to see things my way.