How to tell stainless from chrome steel?

Suppose you have a brushed/unfinished part made out of steel, and you
want to know if it is stainless or not. What would be the easiest
non-destructive (or the least-destructive) way to tell?
~

On 10/18/2010 2:17 PM, DougC wrote:
Suppose you have a brushed/unfinished part made out of steel, and you
want to know if it is stainless or not. What would be the easiest
non-destructive (or the least-destructive) way to tell?
~

....I guess I should have posted "chrome-moly steel" and not "chrome".

I am not talking about chromed parts, but the underlying metal itself....
~

"DougC" wrote in message
...
On 10/18/2010 2:17 PM, DougC wrote:
Suppose you have a brushed/unfinished part made out of steel, and you
want to know if it is stainless or not. What would be the easiest
non-destructive (or the least-destructive) way to tell?
~

...I guess I should have posted "chrome-moly steel" and not "chrome".

I am not talking about chromed parts, but the underlying metal itself....

Stainless is non-magnetic. I'm pretty sure chrome-moly would be magnetic.

On Oct 18, 3:21*pm, "MikeWhy" wrote:
"DougC" wrote in message

...

On 10/18/2010 2:17 PM, DougC wrote:
Suppose you have a brushed/unfinished part made out of steel, and you
want to know if it is stainless or not. What would be the easiest
non-destructive (or the least-destructive) way to tell?
~

...I guess I should have posted "chrome-moly steel" and not "chrome".

I am not talking about chromed parts, but the underlying metal itself.....

Stainless is non-magnetic. I'm pretty sure chrome-moly would be magnetic.

*Most* stainless is non-magnetic. But CrMo definitely *is* magnetic.
So if a part is not magnetic, it's a fair bet that it's stainless; the
converse is not necessarily true.

nate

DougC wrote:
Suppose you have a brushed/unfinished part made out of steel, and you
want to know if it is stainless or not. What would be the easiest
non-destructive (or the least-destructive) way to tell?

Many stainless alloys are nonmagnetic (or much less magnetic
than a common 1010 steel anyway) so start with a magnet.
(that assumes you can hold this piece separate from other
steel pieces, unlike, say, a lug on a frame)

You could solvent wash it and wipe it with bleach. Results
next morning should be clear. Some stainlesses may show
small florets of corrosion but most steels will just be
brown all over.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Mon, 18 Oct 2010 14:17:26 -0500, DougC
wrote:

Suppose you have a brushed/unfinished part made out of steel, and you
want to know if it is stainless or not. What would be the easiest
non-destructive (or the least-destructive) way to tell?

Semi-destructive? According to my readings in the firearms groups,
their favored distinction is that stainless cannot be room temperature
blued while chrome-moly blues nicely. I've never tried it, but it
might be interesting to see what happens if you smear some gun blue on
the sample.
http://www.vansgunblue.com
I would try it but I don't have any gun bluing handy.

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On Mon, 18 Oct 2010 14:17:26 -0500, DougC
wrote:

Suppose you have a brushed/unfinished part made out of steel, and you
want to know if it is stainless or not. What would be the easiest
non-destructive (or the least-destructive) way to tell?
~

Most stainless is non-magnetic, or only slightly magnetic. Most other
steels are highly magnetic.

Cheers,

John D. Slocomb
(jdslocombatgmail)

In article ,
DougC wrote:

On 10/18/2010 2:17 PM, DougC wrote:
Suppose you have a brushed/unfinished part made out of steel, and you
want to know if it is stainless or not. What would be the easiest
non-destructive (or the least-destructive) way to tell?
~

...I guess I should have posted "chrome-moly steel" and not "chrome".

I am not talking about chromed parts, but the underlying metal itself....
~

Slow neutron spectroscopy.

--
Michael Press

On Oct 18, 3:18*pm, DougC wrote:
On 10/18/2010 2:17 PM, DougC wrote:

Suppose you have a brushed/unfinished part made out of steel, and you
want to know if it is stainless or not. What would be the easiest
non-destructive (or the least-destructive) way to tell?
~

...I guess I should have posted "chrome-moly steel" and not "chrome".

I am not talking about chromed parts, but the underlying metal itself....
~

I'd think a few drops of water would tell you within a day or so. If
it rusts, it's probably not stainless steel. (SS can sometimes show a
little rust if it's been in contact with carbon steel.)

- Frank Krygowski

J. D. Slocomb wrote:
On Mon, 18 Oct 2010 14:17:26 -0500, DougC
wrote:

Suppose you have a brushed/unfinished part made out of steel, and you
want to know if it is stainless or not. What would be the easiest
non-destructive (or the least-destructive) way to tell?
~

Most stainless is non-magnetic, or only slightly magnetic. Most other
steels are highly magnetic.

What other steels are non-magnetic?

I have a cheap dumbell spanner that I'm interested to know what is made of.
It's very light and a magnet is not attracted to it. I hope it's not
aluminium!