[TheForge] Brand New Topic-Stainless Pans

[RIES NIEMI]

Sounds like you have a case of architectitis- sometimes also known as
decorator itch. It happens when you get someone who has no idea how things
are made, or what sizes and shapes materials come in, designing something.
Then the poor sucker who actually has to build the thing has to educate the
designer, order the unavailable, and do the impossible, usually on a tight
budget and a short timeline.

I have spent all too much time on such projects, and luckily no longer have
to take them. I have hung 4" channel as baseboards and door trim,
cantelievered heavy tables off walls, made shelves with no visible means of
support, repaired antique light fixtures made from tinfoil, and on and on...

It is so much nicer to work with a designer or architect who will respect
your experience, allow you to collaborate with them to achieve a good
looking design that will actually work, be strong, and can be built without
subcontracting to NASA.

Stainless steel is something that decorators love the looks of. They usually
have no conception of how hard it is to deal with. Figure 5 times the cost
of materials over mild steel, then double or triple the labor, not to
mention the increased wear and expense for sawblades, drill bits, sandpaper,
power hammer tooling, etc. Have to remill the power hammer dies much more
often, resharpen all tools all the time.
Then, when it come time to finish it, you gotta run thru a whole series of
grits of expensive sanding mediums. Mill finish stainless has imperfections
in the surfaces that are DEEP. Lots of grinding and sanding. Alumina
Zirconia abrasives, and then I pay to have it electropolished.

For half domes or pans, rollforming is not the process- you either have them
stamped, or spun. There are a few companies in the thomas register that
stamp tank ends, but they are not gonna be cheap in stainless. Were talking
1000 ton presses here.

Try talking to metal spinners- up to about 1/8" in stainless, depending on
the size of their lathe. They often have whole storerooms of already made
spinning forms, and if you can use one of their stock sizes, Its not to
expensive. You can probably get away with 14 ga for your table base. And a
spun shape is already pretty clean- the spinning itself tends to slightly
polish the material. They could make you cones, too.