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Is it Stainless Steel or Aluminum?

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  1. #1
    Mick started this thread.
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    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.
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    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
    Last edited by Filthy; 08-08-2012 at 03:33 PM.
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    Stainless

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    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).

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    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.

  6. #6
    Mick started this thread.
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    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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    Quote Originally Posted by Mick View Post
    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.
    Maybe cast??
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    I was thinking cast myself. I find a lot of cast items from kitchen and bathroom sinks.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mechanic688 View Post
    Maybe cast??
    Cast pots heat up uniformly and won't burn the food like cheap thin ones do.

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    Filthy's Avatar
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    Marmites, Soup & Sauce Servers | Carlisle FoodService Products

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

  12. #11
    Mick started this thread.
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    Close, but this one has handles on the pot, itself.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mick View Post
    Close, but this one has handles on the pot, itself.
    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/Mirro/Cookwa...atinGlass.aspx

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mick View Post
    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.

    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.

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

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    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.
    Last edited by TrailerScrap; 08-16-2012 at 08:27 AM.


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