The Armour Archive

Good day!
I got my hands on a bit of stainless the other day, and I was thinking of turning it into a set of splinted arms and legs. I was wondering, what are the different characteristics of stainless and non-stainless (term?) steel? Do they work differently? Is there a way to make stainless look more like non-stainless steel?

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Aye, lads & lasses.

Bumpy Bumpy

In order to bring down the luster of stainless I use a brushed finish on most of mine. 3M Scotchbrite works good. I use it as wheels on one of my buffers and the finish is much more accaptable (to me) than the "IceFalcon" glow that is so predominant in the SCA.

Stainless is a bit tougher to work than mild, maybe even twice as hard. As for the finish, on my splinted vambraces, I ran them over the Burking and then took them to the buffing wheel. Putting that deeper grain into the surface will give stainless a look closer to mild steel even when highly polished.