Is stainless sheet desirable?

Janderso said:
I'm such a doofus. I agree with you by the way.
I had an opportunity to grab a mountain of stainless steel, angle, sheet, square tubing etc. FOR FREE.
My excuse, they were in large sheets-lengths. I had no place to store it.
It was from a local cannery that closed down.
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AYFKM? It was probably 316 too.
You don't need someplace to store stainless, you can just leave it outside.
 
I lucked out years ago. Industrial park down the street has a millwright shop that builds processing equipt and has tons of stainless scrap. From thin gauge to plate flats ,solid, rounds and bars.
While getting some tattoos years ago small talking with the guy I found out his day job is at that millwright shop as a welder. He got me access to the scrap dumpsters what ever I wanted and could carry.
I filled the stud bays around a 2 car garage with stock that would fit. Then the piles behind the garage:rolleyes:. It ends up that a lot of the stuff I build is out of stainless. Like this trailer hitch I just got done doing for my daily driver Volvo s40. All stainless wonder what that would cost can say I’ve never seen one.image.jpg
I stockpile any material I can get my hands on and think it’ll be useful. Storage is the main issue expectially with carbon steel.
 
Any stainless I have is saved . Pulled a nice SS 3 x 4 foot box home last night that was being tossed . I'll have another nice cook stove up in NY now . :encourage:
 
Just to give you a sense of how much effort you should put into this:

Stainless is a hot commodity right now. Major, major shortages. Prices are 3-4x what they were four months ago. Fabricators are making spot buys on large quantities often times 10x what they normally buy - no questions asked.

Scrappers are likely buying that scrap that you spotted at about $0.25/lb for 400 series and $0.60/lb for 300 series. These are NE US prices at least in our area. Your results may vary. Don't expect them to let you walk away with it for free - but you never know unless you ask.

If you can get some nice pieces for free - do it. Your chances of getting the same thing 3 months from now and out will drop off dramatically as time passes.
 
It's a good idea to know what the stainless was used for or going to be used for. There are three main groups of stainless steal with each their own characteristics. There are some stainless that even magnets will be attracted to. If you don't know, you'll just have to treat it like a mystery stainless metal.
 
I've always scooped up any strays I could find. Can't say any of it amounted to much. I did use some for my trailer. It was handy to have something that won't rust holding the running lights on.
 
Yup, I've done many a project from the hoard of stainless I salvaged out of a commercial kitchen tear-out years ago. I love to weld that stuff.
 
If anyone ever desires stainless hitch material , you know who to call . :big grin: I still have my Cub Cadet stash from years ago , not an ounce of rust on it after 15 or so years outside . :encourage:
 
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