Nicely put Ben, your ESL teacher must be proud.  :)

I'd go for the thickest ones or Terry's 2-piece units....

On Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 2:11 PM, BenT Syncro <syncro@gmail.com> wrote:

> On 7/22/08, Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:
>
>
>    stainless has a lot of properties that make it not as good as steel in
> many applications.
>
> I just want to interject something. Stainless steel is still steel. You
> must
> mean mild or carbon steel.
> As I understand it, stainless steel is nothing more than carbon steel with
> some chromium added to
> mix. As the chromium oxidizes, it forms a protective layer onto
> the iron/steel in the alloy in a similar
> way that zinc coated steel (galvanized) forms a protective layer over the
> steel when the zinc turns
> into zinc oxide. The difference, of course, is the chromium is 'throughout'
> the material. It's in the
> alloy.  My best non-metal comparison I can think of are countertops. In
> Corian (and similar types) the
> coloring is throughout the material vs. laminated tops such as Formica (and
> similar types) which only
> has coloring close to the surface. Corian would be similar in wear
> characteristics as stainless steel.
> Surface wears (chromium turns to chromium oxide) but it's still Corian
> through and through. Formica
> wears out (zinc in galvanized steel turns to zinc oxide) and eventually the
> material of the countertop
> is no longer protected. Same case with the metals. Stainless steel just
> keeps going in going but not
> forever. Eventually the material gets thin enough and as some have pointed
> out - rusts through.
>
> The amount of chromium content will determine at what rate the stainless
> steel will deteriorate. Why not
> dump more chromium in the mix? Well, chromium is not as strong as carbon in
> steel. The more chromium,
> the weaker the material. Like anything else, it's a balancing act of
> anti-corrosive properties vs. strength.
> Which brings me to the Vanagon application. Vendors offer not just
> different
> alloys of stainless steel but
> different gauge as well. Since there is no independent testing of the
> durability of these products, it would
> be good for someone to start tracking how well these commercially available
> systems are holding out. You
> know... more chromium wears longer from a corrosion point of view. But they
> wear faster as in from cracks
> due to metal fatigue, etc.
>
> Aw, what do I know. I'm no metallurgist. English isn't even my first
> language. Steel, steal, sounds the same
> to me.
>
>
>
> BenT  P. Ipez
>

--
Jake
1984 Vanagon GL
1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie"
Crescent Beach, BC
www.crescentbeachguitar.com
http://subyjake.googlepages.com/mydixiedarlin%27