Stainless/Non-stainless: How to Test ?

[doglegg]

did you know pure silver or gold does not tarnish. only the inpureitys they add to it do.

Nothing personal here, but pure silver most certainly tarnishes. Pure gold does not. I make jewelry with .999 pure silver and it most assuredly tarnishes. Also there is no such thing as "pure" stainless steel. All stainless steels are alloys but all must have iron in them to be called steel. There are hundreds of different stainless steel alloys meant for different purposes. Pure chromium has no iron and is not any kind of stainless steel although it does not corrode.

Hey Gunsil, show us some of your silver and gold work on occasion. I would love to see it.

[tongueriver]

did you know pure silver or gold does not tarnish. only the inpureitys they add to it do.

Nothing personal here, but pure silver most certainly tarnishes. Pure gold does not. I make jewelry with .999 pure silver and it most assuredly tarnishes. Also there is no such thing as "pure" stainless steel. All stainless steels are alloys but all must have iron in them to be called steel. There are hundreds of different stainless steel alloys meant for different purposes. Pure chromium has no iron and is not any kind of stainless steel although it does not corrode.

Hey Gunsil, show us some of your silver and gold work on occasion. I would love to see it.

Yes, I would like to see some, Gene! Incidently, I find the tarnish in the interstices of good old silver jewelry, tableware, etc., very aesthetic. When completely removed from the cracks and crannies, it is like seeing BORING stainless steel (Well... maybe not that bad!).

[ea42]

You'll likely never see a stainless knife blade made of 300 series stainless. That's generally reserved for liners and bolster as well as pins. 400 series is the go to for stainless factory blades. These would generally be 420, 440A, and 440C. All of those are magnetic. If you sharpen blades on a belt you'll notice that 1095 produces lots of tiny sparks, like a shower of sparks. The 400 series steels produce far less, almost none in comparison, and those that are produced are larger than what comes off of 1095. I think it's due to 1095's much higher carbon content.

Eric

[Wonderboy]

A steel alloy needs to contain a high percentage of carbon in order to be hardenable. The 300 series of stainless steels are very low in carbon content, while the higher 400 series numbers, such as 440, have enough carbon to permit hardening. As I recall, most 400 series are magnetic, 300 series are not. The 1095 steel alloy contains approximately 1% carbon and of course makes good cutting implements, but it readily rusts or discolors and is highly magnetic. The 440 series of stainless steels also contain about the same amount of carbon, along with a good percentage of chromium and other alloying elements, which makes them hardenable as well as resistant to rust and other forms of corrosion. It would be good to hear what a metallurgist has to say about this subject.

[Gunsil]

Here are some belt buckles I made for some friends who live on Martha's Vineyard. Photos are lousy, sorry, I do better with metal than cameras. The ones with the 18K striped bass were wedding presents for a friend and his wife. All parts cut out by hand and soldered together (high temp silver solder). The yellow parts are 18K gold, rest sterling. The stippled areas on the silver are actually black, making a night sky, did not show up well in pics. Silver stars were bought but the 18K stars, moon, and suns and all other parts are sawn out by hand. They all look better now that they have some age and wear on them, I made them four years ago, these pics are when new and very shiny. The large shape is the island of Martha's Vinyard and very hard to cut from a sheet of sterling with all the large ponds and bays.

[doglegg]

Excellent! Looks like a great bunch of buckles. Kind of a NE take on rodeo buckles or vis a versa. Thanks Gunsil. Wonderful work.

[Gunsil]

This one is my daily wear buckle, sterling, 18K, and Imperial jasper from Mexico. Cal, I like the patina too, to me this looks a lot better with the patina of forty some years of wear without ever cleaning the metal. The pink on the back is paint. I make rings, pendants, bracelets, stick pins, but I like functionality and at least buckles keep your pants up.

[Gunsil]

Thanks dogleg, they are much smaller than rodeo buckles but I always liked those.

[doglegg]

[Steve Warden]

Some great looking buckles, gunsil.

[Gunsil]

This is a reversible necklace pendant, sterling and 18K with an ocean jasper stone I cut and polished myself and an aquamarine which I purchased. Again, all parts made by hand. This was another gift.

[doglegg]

Excellent work Gunsil. I've seen nothing so far that isn't awesome. Thanks.

[bighomer]

This is a reversible necklace pendant, sterling and 18K with an ocean jasper stone I cut and polished myself and an aquamarine which I purchased. Again, all parts made by hand. This was another gift.

DSCN2332.JPGDSCN2333.JPG

Absolutely gorgeous work Gene, Wow x 10. By the way how are you doing health wise with the covid crap. My BIL is still weak but recovering.

[kootenay joe]

I tried to buy some Gun Blue today to test for stainless/non-stainless, but no business around here carries it, not even WalMart. I bet i could find it in most small towns in USA but the border is closed to all except "essential" travel. I will have to wait for border to re-open to do my steel testing.
kj

[just bob]

Roland you can buy most anything on ebay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Formual-44-40- ... m48e4960bb

[cbfd]

Great work, Gene! Very nice.

[Colonel26]

Gene, that is amazing work! Very nice.

[kootenay joe]

Roland you can buy most anything on ebay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Formual-44-40- ... m48e4960bb

Thanks Bob. Shipping is the issue here. I have a P.O. Box in Northport, WA. which i use for ebay items as most USA sellers will not ship to Canada. With the border closed due to Covid i cannot get to the Northport P.O. where i have knives that have been there since early March.
I will message the seller to ask about shipping to Canada just in case they are one of the few who will.
kj

[Old Folder]

Beautiful work Gunsil.
Can't all Stainless Steels rust?
Perhaps that's why they call them stain-less, not stain-free.
The stainless alloys will always have their place in the kitchen, in the factory, in the lab, in the air, and out in the ocean, even outside our atmosphere?

[eveled]

I tried to buy some Gun Blue today to test for stainless/non-stainless, but no business around here carries it, not even WalMart. I bet i could find it in most small towns in USA but the border is closed to all except "essential" travel. I will have to wait for border to re-open to do my steel testing.
kj

You could probably do the same thing with almost anything that will cause a patina on steel. A drop of mustard, a tiny piece of onion etc. I think gun blue is very similar to a patina in that it is not a coating, but a reaction. That’s why it doesn’t completely prevent rust, or chip off.

Another option is to take a sample and put it in a drop of vinegar. A little filing or sanding dust might be easy to get if you are working on the piece anyway.

It would actually be pretty interesting to try it with shaving/filings of known metals to see the different reactions when dropped into drops of vinegar on a plate. Maybe I’ll try that with my kids.

[Gunsil]

This is a reversible necklace pendant, sterling and 18K with an ocean jasper stone I cut and polished myself and an aquamarine which I purchased. Again, all parts made by hand. This was another gift.

DSCN2332.JPGDSCN2333.JPG

Absolutely gorgeous work Gene, Wow x 10. By the way how are you doing health wise with the covid crap. My BIL is still weak but recovering.

Thanks for all your appreciation of my work!! Bighomer, thanks for asking. I am pretty much recovered, was eight weeks to feel somewhat normal again. Now I seem to be having some heart palpitation and high heartbeat troubles which may be lingering effects of the covid. Glad to hear you BIL is doing well, this virus is really tough on some folks including myself, but we already have over 100,000dead in our fine country and it seems some areas are increasing infection so who knows where it will go. Dang glad to be alive, I'll tell you that!!

[cody6268]

I've heard some people say they can tell by smell. I can't. I've only been able to smell the oil I used (especially gun oil--you can clear a room with the Birchwood Casey stuff!) or the wood used as the handle material.

[royal0014]

I've heard some people say they can tell by smell. I can't. I've only been able to smell the oil I used (especially gun oil--you can clear a room with the Birchwood Casey stuff!) or the wood used as the handle material.

I can see that if you're grinding or otherwise heating the metal.
And you can determine some properties of the steel by the sparks it throws while being ground.

[bighomer]

This is a reversible necklace pendant, sterling and 18K with an ocean jasper stone I cut and polished myself and an aquamarine which I purchased. Again, all parts made by hand. This was another gift.

DSCN2332.JPGDSCN2333.JPG

Absolutely gorgeous work Gene, Wow x 10. By the way how are you doing health wise with the covid crap. My BIL is still weak but recovering.

Thanks for all your appreciation of my work!! Bighomer, thanks for asking. I am pretty much recovered, was eight weeks to feel somewhat normal again. Now I seem to be having some heart palpitation and high heartbeat troubles which may be lingering effects of the covid. Glad to hear you BIL is doing well, this virus is really tough on some folks including myself, but we already have over 100,000dead in our fine country and it seems some areas are increasing infection so who knows where it will go. Dang glad to be alive, I'll tell you that!!

Glad to hear you feeling better. Godspeed.

[btrwtr]

304 and 316 steel are not used for knife blades. They can not be hardened by heat treating.

Beautiful work Gene!