Why haven't stainless steel tools caught on??

[Davefr]

Is it a matter of cost or strength?

CM had a line of SS ratchets but it's the only example I've seen for hardline tools.

Just curious.

 

[Stuey]

I would think that it's a matter of cost and market demand.

 

[wafrederick]

Plus have to watch out for Stainless steel and there is easy test with a magnet.There is cheap stainless steel and high grade stainless steel.A magnet won't stick to the high grade stainless steel and will stick to the cheap stainless steel.

 

[APEowner]

As the name implies stainless has excellent corrosion resistant properties but it really doesn't have much else going for it. It tends to be too malleable to make good tools and it's expensive. There's just not much of a market for high priced inferior tools.

 

[kythri]

Plus have to watch out for Stainless steel and there is easy test with a magnet.There is cheap stainless steel and high grade stainless steel.A magnet won't stick to the high grade stainless steel and will stick to the cheap stainless steel.

This is not accurate.

The most common type of stainless steel is non-magnetic, sure, but there are grades/classes of stainless steel that are manufactured to have specific properties and end up being magnetic (increased iron or nickel content?).

This is not indicative of their quality.

 

[Wakefield]

Look at torque specifications for stainless fasteners vs. grade 5 or 7 regular fasteners?
Hard to get stainless as strong as regular tool steel?
lots of different kinds of stainless?
How about stainless steel revolvers as opposed to regular blued ones? (S&W 686 vs. 586?)

 

[GoBlue]

In firearms, rifles in particular stainless is the prefered barrel material as it will give a longer barrel life as it better resists throat errosion. Before anyone chimes in to disagree, i have been a benchrest comp shooter for over 15 years and regularly build benchrest guns. Im not claiming its more acurate, just that it gives a longer barrel life when using barrel buring calibers.

As far as stainless goes in terms of corosion, the name stainless is a bit of a misnomer. Stainles can and will rust given enough neglect and the right conditions (most grades anyways). I currently have a S&W model 60 on my hip that shows a good deal of pitting from rust thanks to the previous owner. I also had the rough blasted finish on the barrel of my Remingon 700 rust last year from moisture on a particularly long camp hunt. Not a lot of rust mind you, but enough that you could cleary see it.

 

[larry_g]

http://www.ssina.com/composition/chemical.html

The materials science of SS is one in itself. Look at the link above.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[91bronc300]

It tends to be too malleable to make good tools a

Stainless is malleable? I though it work-hardened extremely quickly.

 

[Outlawmws]

Craftsman made some SS tools back in the day. It just never caught on. More expensive and minimal improvement of the tool, probably corrosion resistance only. For someone working a lot with acids, it might make some sense. but even for that...


I would buy some old Craftsman SS wrenches If I found them, if only for the novelty.

 

[blackgold]

SS tools would be heavier as well, right?
Brian

 

[Roots]

Stainless tools are usually available for specific industrial applications. They're just not ideal for general use, for many of the reasons listed already.

 

[Outlawmws]

SS tools would be heavier as well, right?
Brian

No real significant difference in weight. The design of the tool would make more difference than weight of material.

 

[shoturtle]

Also stainless will crack under heavy punishment.

 

[APEowner]

Stainless is malleable? I though it work-hardened extremely quickly.

It's weird stuff. It deforms relatively easily until it work hardens and then it cracks. The the term stainless also covers a wide range of materials with a wide range of properties but the bottom line is that unless corrosion resistance in it's un-coated form is the most important property your looking for then stainless is pretty far down on the list of materials for a given product.

In the case of wrenches or sockets you'd end up with an expensive tool that deforms easier than most fasteners. I guess it would cut down on the number of rounded nuts and bolts but.....

 

[RM209]

Craftsman made some SS tools back in the day. It just never caught on. More expensive and minimal improvement of the tool, probably corrosion resistance only. For someone working a lot with acids, it might make some sense. but even for that...


I would buy some old Craftsman SS wrenches If I found them, if only for the novelty.

Yeah, at one time they had a fancy set of stainless combination wrenches that came in a felt-lined wood case. Quite impressive.

RM209

 

[lizardking69]

Wera stainless allen keys are fantastic I work in a very corrosive environment (salt mines) and they stand up to any abuse

 

[woody 73]

Funny thing but when I travel I always stop in hardware stores and look at all the tools for sale. Well one day I stopped into a small hardware store and a large percentage of their tools & hardware were stainless steel in nature.

How odd I thought as I had never seen that much in stainless steel before,when out of the blue a thunderbolt hit me! I was standing at a sea side hardware store where all the boat owners were coming in for tools & hardware that would not rust if they were kept on their boats for any length of time.

I have never seen that again because here in the Midwest we don't have any sea salt coming in; but then again the County puts out enough salt to kill every car on the planet.