This is a stainless steel ____________.

[DonaldP]

I would venture to say either a chase, standoff, or a guard of some type. Its pretty heavy stuff for anything that's not going to take some abuse.

Additionally, if it were for light duty, or for a simple guard, there wouldn't be as many holes along the sides to attach it with. There would just be attachment holes on the 4 corners.

This has holes all along its two lower (or upper) surfaces so I would think its something that would be exposed to weight (on either side once its mounted), or to use as a way to hold two sections of some other material together... a mending plate. Ha!!

 

[DonaldP]

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.

What a haul!! Nice find!

 

[dstig1]

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!

And furthermore, the name is Stainless...not Stainfree It can rust depending on grade under a number of different conditions. It just does it "less" than regular steel does... Granted much, much less, but I have certainly seen it happen.

 

[tomplum]

These pieces are 1/8" thick actually. Made a bracket and backing plate today out of some 304. Tried out my roto broaches and some bits. Nice enough to work with.

 

[bmaverick]

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

I work for a global metal extruder company. Stainless is rather cheap in comparison to many of the other metals. Most metals are just alloys as well. Just look up the billet prices in wholesale commodities.

 

[Cougsfan]

It sounds like a 300 series stainless alright. I would bet it is either 304 or 316 stainless as they are by far the most common. It is hard to tell the difference without a lab analysis and there are different levels in each of those (low carbon versions for instance, to enhance weldability.) 316 is more considerably more expensive because of the molybdenum it contains, and 316 has considerably better corrosion resistance. Most other properties are fairly similar. 304 is pretty good stuff though and works fine in most sanitary or corrosive applications.
Iron, chromium and nickel are the primary ingredients for 300 series stainless steels.

 

[ultrarunner]

In college I made extra money turning 316 stainless water pump shafts for antique cars...

My little business shipped worldwide all done on a Southbend Lathe and Bridgeport NC Mill in the garage

 

[Whisperpandy=]

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...View attachment 718107

Looks to me like galvanized, like part of a guardrail system along the highway.

 

[Smokeydog]

The scrap yard where I get most my metal and inspiration have a gun like devise to shoot metal to tell the composition and type. Helps them sort metal and tooling.

 

[Raul-02]

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...View attachment 718107

food service component most likely