Is it Stainless Steel or Aluminum?

I'm sorting a bunch of kitchen stuff I got a couple weeks ago and got baffled by this. Outward appearance is aluminum. Not magnetic. No sparks. In the picture, you can see how thick it is from where I used a grinder to get the handles off. Most aluminum, I can just twist the handles off by hand - not this one. Can't cut it with good lineman cutters. Took about half a minute to do what you see here with a 7 1/2" grinder. Not stamped as Aluminum. Can't bend it by hand.

It looks like Aluminum but acts like Stainless Steel.
http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...SorALUM002.jpg

did you spark it in the dark? even if it only thows one or two little sparks, its stainless.. its hard to see in the sunlight with the kitchen stainless i have tested. it wouldnt be AL.
pots and pans made of al get dented so easily. im sure you know what im talking about

and it looks like a soup pot off a serving line from a cafateria or similar institution. ive worked in a few serving soup, but thats another story

Stainless

I would say stainless. Try hanging it by a string and giving it a tap with a hammer. It's hard to describe in words, but aluminum and stainless sound different (to me anyway).

You should be able to tell if it is alum or stainless just by how much it weighs.

That looks like a stainless pot to me.

Took Filthy's suggestion and spark-tested it in the dark. Tried it twice on the work bench when it was pretty dark. No sparks. Then moved it to an area of TOTAL darkness - couldn't see it and was working by feel. First pass - no sparks. 2nd pass - no sparks. Just couldn't believe it was actually aluminum so tried a 3rd time and got two tiny, tiny sparks. Made sure I hadn't been hitting the handles.

Never saw anything like it. KeyCityRecycling, part of the reason I couldn't believe it was aluminum was because of the weight relative to other pieces its size.

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Originally Posted by Mick

Took Filthy's suggestion and spark-tested it in the dark. Tried it twice on the work bench when it was pretty dark. No sparks. Then moved it to an area of TOTAL darkness - couldn't see it and was working by feel. First pass - no sparks. 2nd pass - no sparks. Just couldn't believe it was actually aluminum so tried a 3rd time and got two tiny, tiny sparks. Made sure I hadn't been hitting the handles.

Never saw anything like it. KeyCityRecycling, part of the reason I couldn't believe it was aluminum was because of the weight relative to other pieces its size.

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Maybe cast??

I was thinking cast myself. I find a lot of cast items from kitchen and bathroom sinks.

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Originally Posted by Mechanic688

Maybe cast??

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Cast pots heat up uniformly and won't burn the food like cheap thin ones do.

http://catalog.carlislefsp.com/images/290x290/11771.jpg

Marmites, Soup & Sauce Servers | Carlisle FoodService Products

is this what it looked like with the handles? without the frame of course

Close, but this one has handles on the pot, itself.

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Originally Posted by Mick

Close, but this one has handles on the pot, itself.

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This company used to make a thick alum one that had handles on both sides but I can't find an old pic. just the current ones. If I find it I'll update this.
http://www.wearever.com/SiteCollecti...ss_10pcset.jpg

http://www.wearever.com/Mirro/Cookwa...atinGlass.aspx

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mick

I'm sorting a bunch of kitchen stuff I got a couple weeks ago and got baffled by this. Outward appearance is aluminum. Not magnetic. No sparks. In the picture, you can see how thick it is from where I used a grinder to get the handles off. Most aluminum, I can just twist the handles off by hand - not this one. Can't cut it with good lineman cutters. Took about half a minute to do what you see here with a 7 1/2" grinder. Not stamped as Aluminum. Can't bend it by hand.

It looks like Aluminum but acts like Stainless Steel.

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...SorALUM002.jpg

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Usually that pot that you have came from a large kitchen, like a school or some sort, but the pot in question would be stainless and there are some that are aluminum as well, but what you got there is stainless.

Scratch it, aluminum has a white color to it while S/S is more grey.

I don't know what kind or scrapyard is around you, but to definately tell what the material is have zapped by a gun and you will know the exact composition of the material. Xray Spectrometry is what I mean when I say "gun", some scrapyards have them. I would be interested to know.