chinese stainless steel

Well, beyond the fact that I have little trust for the consumer market fabrication work that comes out of China in general, the reality is, the reality is that not all stainless is truly rust free. There are many grades, some of which, can rust. I tend to try and not buy stuff made in China unless I am very familiar with the manufacturer.

That's why I try to pay the little extra for products Made In USA.

As landarc noted there's a wide variety of stainless. Many, many cheap stainless items, especially silverware and other utensils, are made out of 18/0, while the better stuff is 18/10. The first number is the chromium content by percentage, the second number is the nickel percentage. 18/0 stainless is much more prone to staining than 18/10, but nickel is expensive.

It's not just China that is putting out 18/0 and calling it "stainless", but unless it's marketed heavily as 18/10, it's probably 18/0 (or something less than 18/10).

Yep, I got a "nice" stainless steel colander, that is rusty as chit with a little outdoor use..

Believe me buddy - I bought steel for five years for one of the largest consumers of stainless forging stock in the US, and I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that there are companies ALL OVER THE WORLD (including quite a few right in our own backyard) that produce chit stainless steel.

The error people make is thinking that the term "stainless steel" is going to mean a generally superior rust-free perfect-forever product. Stainless comes in all kinds of different variations, and not one of them is going to last forever. But it is true that some alloys are more durable than others.

Another factor is how the thing it made - it could be cast into a mold, stamped from a sheet, drop-forged from a block, and a hundred variations in-between. All have different pros and cons from price to durability to utility.

Think of it like bread. I can throw a hundred loaves of bread on a rack, call them bread, and they would all, in fact, be bread. But we all know there's going to be a huge variation to taste, texture, size, shape, and enjoyment factor based on what was used to make it, and how it was made.

Read up a little bit on stainless, it's attributes, and what to look for in a quality stainless flatware product, and what attributes mean the most to you, whether it's price, durability, longevity, life of the product, and what maintenance it might take to keep it from rusting away.

Eliminate those factors, and you won't have to worry too much about where it's made.

I wouldn't blame the Chinese, they are only manufacturing to the specs submitted by the US corporation to keep costs low.You get what you pay for.

They make different ss for various job some will show rust,

. What makes stainless steel stainless?
Answer: Stainless steel must contain at least 10.5 % chromium. It is this element that reacts with the oxygen in the air to form a complex chrome-oxide surface layer that is invisible but strong enough to prevent further oxygen from "staining" (rusting) the surface. Higher levels of chromium and the addition of other alloying elements such as nickel and molybdenum enhance this surface layer and improve the corrosion resistance of

no different than anything else from China..........

jestridge said:

. What makes stainless steel stainless?
Answer: Stainless steel must contain at least 10.5 % chromium. It is this element that reacts with the oxygen in the air to form a complex chrome-oxide surface layer that is invisible but strong enough to prevent further oxygen from "staining" (rusting) the surface. Higher levels of chromium and the addition of other alloying elements such as nickel and molybdenum enhance this surface layer and improve the corrosion resistance of

Click to expand...

Well put!! one thing that some folks do not realize is stainless is just that stain LESS. It ain't perfect if you abuse it, and like already mentioned China is going to produce the steel to a spec provided (in this case what is the most inexpensive yet still have some rust resistance) based on the request of the customer. Another thing, just cause the knife might be made in the USA and is the same price as a China made blade does not mean the steel is going to be better. Sometimes, but not all the time.

Now if we were talking about same grades of steel (440C for example) China and USA made, I would go with USA every time.

Here's an interesting rhetorical question. Ever wonder exactly what kind of stainless "surgical stainless steel" really is?

I am more and more making it a practice to buy US materials when available. For the reasons mentioned here as well as the obvious other reasons.

To be clear, I am not blaming China, I am just saying that stainless does not mean rust-free, it all has to do with the alloy process and materials. I have seen bad stainless and good stainless all over the place. Further, high chromium stainless has certain characteristics that makes it better for some things, worse than others.

Further, I am not a fan of stainless for certain things, I prefer blue steel for knives and pans, white steel for cleavers and chisels etc...

It people like WalMart or other stores, their resposbility to buy quality stuff. China just make what they order. they make good stuff if the stores are willing to pay for it.

Also stainless steel can become 'contaminated' by carbon steel - carbon steel can 'rub off' onto the stainless leaving particles embedded in the stainless and that could be what is rusting. I know that wire brushing stainless with a carbon steel wire brush or grinding it with as grinding wheel previously used on carbon steel will leave a surface that will rust. Fabricating the spatula, spoon, etc. on the same equipment previously used for carbon steel will do the same. Clean it good with a stainless scrubber or with an abrasive-type cleaner and maybe it won't come back. I was in the pressure vessel manufacturing industry for many years and this was a big concern...........