stainless steel bolts

[Larry Wolff]

How can I tell if these bolts are stainless steel or not?
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All I know is they're heavy feeling - and magnetic.

But how do I know if they're stainless short of purposefully rusting them
by dipping them in acid?

[AMuzi]

Post by Larry Wolff
How can I tell if these bolts are stainless steel or not?
https://i.postimg.cc/8cMgwY4Y/bolts.jpg
All I know is they're heavy feeling - and magnetic.
But how do I know if they're stainless short of purposefully rusting them
by dipping them in acid?

There are a lot of stainless steels. Some are more magnetic
than others, corrosion resistance varies widely. Short
answer = no general answer:

https://www.unifiedalloys.com/blog/stainless-grades-families

Some direction for your analysis:
https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/identification-stainless-steel-d_383.html

[Ed P]

Post by Larry Wolff
How can I tell if these bolts are stainless steel or not?
https://i.postimg.cc/8cMgwY4Y/bolts.jpg
All I know is they're heavy feeling - and magnetic.
But how do I know if they're stainless short of purposefully rusting them
by dipping them in acid?

Can't tell from looking, but they look very shiny, like a plating. I'd
see what a magnet does, though some alloys are somewhat magnetic.

[Frank]

Post by Larry Wolff
How can I tell if these bolts are stainless steel or not?
https://i.postimg.cc/8cMgwY4Y/bolts.jpg
All I know is they're heavy feeling - and magnetic.
But how do I know if they're stainless short of purposefully rusting them
by dipping them in acid?

As others point out some grades of stainless are magnetic.

Looking it up I see there are tests you can run:

https://www.waterbottle.tech/simple-methods-for-identifying-stainless-steel/

Been a long time but I remember running tests on various grades to see
if they would stand up to making polymers under highly acidic
conditions. You might do something similar to see if they will hold up
under the use you are putting them to.

[Paul in Houston TX]

Post by Larry Wolff
How can I tell if these bolts are stainless steel or not?
https://i.postimg.cc/8cMgwY4Y/bolts.jpg
All I know is they're heavy feeling - and magnetic.
But how do I know if they're stainless short of purposefully rusting them
by dipping them in acid?

If the pic is of the actual bolts...
The bolts do not look like stainless - they look like low quality steel
bolts plated with zinc. The manufacturing looks poor.
IMO, they are the 13 cent variety, not the $1.13 variety. Same for the
nuts. They are the 5 cent variety, not the 55 cent variety.
There is low quality stainless but I have never seen that used in nuts
and bolts. Threaded pieces are normally 18-8 or better and have better
machining.