Pin material ID?

J

JDW

Well-Known Member
I ordered some 416 stainless pin stock, and also some NS pin stock all in the same sizes and quanity. It was shipped all in the same sack, with no ID tags. How do you tell whitch is the stainless and whitch one is NS. I tried grinding each, filing each, and cutting with cutters, all seem soft, I can't tell any difference other than color, half is real shiny silver, the other is more of a tarnished color, I have had NS that looks like each of them, but I have never had Stainless pin stock before, so not sure what to expect from it when received from suppliers. I assume the shiny ones are the stainless, is there any way to tell for sure?
Dale
 
Last edited:
416ss is slightly magnetic. 300 series is not. I'm not sure but I don't think NS is magnetic either.
 
A magnet will stick to the 416 but not the 300 or NS. Take a pair of side cutters and try to cut it to tell the difference between 300 stainless and NS. The 300 will be obviously harder to cut. Plus NS is a different color when you polish it, barely but once you learn what it looks like you can tell by looking.
 
They must all be NS, because a magnet will not attract to any of it. Thanks for the help guys.
Dale
 
Many times the stainless steel will be marked with a little red or green paint on the ends depending on the supplier.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top