This is a stainless steel ____________.

[tomplum]

Does anyone know what this is used for? Or even likely what grade stainless it could be? I inherited a handful of these shorter pieces and a longer length, that I'm sure is going to be useful for something someday...

 

[spitter]

put a magnet on it lower grade ss is slightly magnetic. higher grade is not magnetic at all.

 

[oosik]

Some type of heavy duty wall panel - ??

 

[square1]

Kind of looks like the wiring chase / guard that goes on the back of appliances. Those are SS material on some commercial units.

 

[ultrarunner]

Stiffener bracket of some sort?

 

[SmallChange]

put a magnet on it lower grade ss is slightly magnetic. higher grade is not magnetic at all.

It depends what you mean by "higher grade". If you consider the 400 series stainlesses, some of them especially strong and often used for knives, to be higher grade than the 300 series, well, some 400s are magnetic, while 316 isn't (304 isn't either unless you cold work it).

 

[Root Cause]

Yep, test the magnet a couple of other things and see if the pull is similar or a lot less.
Cut a small piece and leave it outside to see if it rusts.

 

[tomplum]

No rust what so ever from being outside and non magnetic. When clean, it appears somewhat polished. It's heavy and stiff. My first thought that it was a special raceway to protect something. It wouldn't hold a lot of volume on its own. I thought that maybe someone who worked in an industrial environment may know. Maybe conduit / high pressure hose near a control station?

 

[dstig1]

Probably 300 series then, maybe even 316 if it has been heavily exposed with no rust at all. It isn't some sort of standard product I have ever seen but more likely something someeone had made for a task like others have noted. Stiffener or raceway or the like.

400 series are slightly magnetic and also are considered tool steel. We make a lot of injection molds from 420, and I assure you it is not a "lesser grade" as it is very high strength and hardenable.

 

[Gord Baker]

Perhaps you could form a shield to keep scum from quickly stealing your Cat.

 

[herm0016]

it looks like the stiffener from the bottom of a stainless restaurant prep or equipment table. often they are kind of held in by the rolled edge of the sides.

or a wall bumper from a walk in / commercial kitchen.

 

[SmallChange]

[...] It's heavy and stiff. My first thought that it was a special raceway to protect something. [...] Maybe conduit / high pressure hose near a control station? [...]

I like the way you think. So: picture several of these laid end to end over some hoses or electrical cords that cross the floor. Is it heavy enough to walk on? And, especially, are there wear marks, scuff marks, on the upper corners, as foot traffic walking across a cord cover would cause?

 

[tomplum]

It's heavy ~ 3/16" thick. It could be anything like a stiffener or cord cover. I have a 10' section of it laying below the eaves of my shop that I feed the chickens in. Eventually it will be something, I dunno what yet. It would just be interesting to know its purpose.

This all started when I commented to this lady customer of mine that I was envious of the metal that was up on a rack on the side of her garage. I end up getting free metal every once in a while this way. Her Ex husband had moved out a few years back and she wanted this stuff gone. She said load it up. Except it didn't end there. 95% of the stuff is stainless. A trailer load of everything from tube 1/2 to 12" diameter, round, box, rectangular, and flanges, too. Plus brackets, strut, boxes of stainless and PVC fittings and valves. Cleaned out the side building nicely for her too. He was apparently a welder for a commercial construction company.

 

[rScotty]

No rust what so ever from being outside and non magnetic. When clean, it appears somewhat polished. It's heavy and stiff. My first thought that it was a special raceway to protect something. It wouldn't hold a lot of volume on its own. I thought that maybe someone who worked in an industrial environment may know. Maybe conduit / high pressure hose near a control station?

My guess then is that it is 316. Also, 316 has a dull sheen to it - not the brightness of other grades of SS. That is a nice grade of stainless to work with, and not cheap.
316 does become slightly ferro-magnetic (attracted to a magnet) when it is cold worked. You can check that with a magnet. Judging by the bending, if that piece is alloy 316, it will attract a magnet - but weakly. 316 can be annealed in a furnace to return it to its non-ferromagnetic condition.

 

[dstig1]

Scotty, all of the 300 series can get magnetic when heavily cold worked. Is this enough cold working to do that? Dunno...

 

[Tinhack]

Looks like it would make a good belly pan. But filter and drain access is a must. SS isn't particularly fun to drill. Don't dilly-dally on feed or cutting oil or it will eat drill bits/hole saws like candy.

 

[fishdrivel]

Probably 300 series then, maybe even 316 if it has been heavily exposed with no rust at all. It isn't some sort of standard product I have ever seen but more likely something someeone had made for a task like others have noted. Stiffener or raceway or the like.

400 series are slightly magnetic and also are considered tool steel. We make a lot of injection molds from 420, and I assure you it is not a "lesser grade" as it is very high strength and hardenable.

Very good post. Some have been led to believe that all the different series of stainless is higher or lower grade.
As you know, these steels have been carefully designed for different applications.

I had some fun trying to guess what the panels were and the only thing I could come up with is they were expensive!

 

[tomplum]

Yeah, you look at them and see money. Though there will be a perfect application some a day! Belly pan bling for the little LS, a great idea but probably not. I had fabbed up a plate to protect the hydro filter already.

 

[bmaverick]

What I still don't understand is, SS lends itself to be made cheaper vs. steel with iron.

 

[fishdrivel]

What I still don't understand is, SS lends itself to be made cheaper vs. steel with iron.

All the other alloys involved are more expensive and the alloying process is more expensive