I'm ordering a Pair of tongs(a tool used to dig quahogs in bays that scrapes the bottom constantly) and what type of metal would be the best to fabricate it, steel or stainless steel?
Whilst doing a welding course a few years ago the teacher said stainless steel was not its proper name,it is called Heat and Corossion resistant steel,it come in different grades related to its corossion resistance,priced accordingly.Must be welded properly without introduction of carbon to the weld (carbon pickup) or the weld might not be there next time you look dependant on environment.Generally harder to form than mild steel (low carbon steel) so it will tend to be stronger than lcs for the same cross section.steve
Stainless Steel is an allow of Chrome and Steel and several other additives. There are at least 100 types of Stainless.. Most common is 300 Series , that the cheapest and used in household stuff. Then there is the 400 series in that series is a stainless that can be heat treated because it contains sufficient carbon to do so. I would say if its wear you are looking for Stainless is not wear resistant to the extent other steels are. You want a heat treatable oil hardenting steel for that purpose. A good example and an old reliable one is what is called O-1 or oil hardening one. It can be heated with a torch at the wear end and quenched in oil right on the fab site. to a hardness of Rockwell C of about 55 or so and wears well. I suppose the best basket would be a 300 Series stainless to reduce rusting with end pieces that are probably bolted on made of O-1 heat treated to RC of about 55 or so. Of course if you make the wear ends removable with bolts, you can really get some wear steels for those wear parts You can use High Speed Steel RC=95, Drills are high speed steel. and even a material called Hasteloy next to carbide in hardeness. I suspect those baskets are made of Stainless Steel with wear ends of another material as ive discussed above.
S/S. We use clam rakes around here, I think they have a S/S basket with steel teeth to dig into the sand. By the way, I believe S/S is just steel with nickel added, but I could be wrong.
