Are Stainless steel ways more scratch resistant?

[Bill Luce]

In always assumed that ss ways are harder and more scratch resistant than regular.

I read a post that said that SS ways were actually softer.

Anyone owned both that can offer an opinion on how well ss grabs as compared to regular and if the ss ways are any more scratch resistant than regular?

I am aware that the ss are mainly intended to prevent corrosion. I"ve never seen that as a big deal, but then again I have never owned a lathe with fancy ss ways......

[Ed Morgano]

Bill,
Stainless steel has two things in it to help make it stainless, chrome and nickel. While chrome is hard, nickel is soft. Generally speaking, stainless steel is more prone to gauling and scratching than regular hardened steel or work hardened cast iron. I wouldn't see any advantage in having a lathe made out of SS unless you were planning on keeping it out in the rain or if you lived by the ocean where salt would rust steel. We have a 50 year old metal lathe ( LeBlonde) that has chrome ways (they were industrial hard chrome plated, not decorative chrome) and the ways are still like new.

[Dale Miner]

Bill,

Part of the answer would depend on the grade of stainless steel. If the ways are made of a common 300 series stainless, then my opinion is that they would be more apt to scratch from moving the banjo and tailstock. The common 300 series of stainless steel is non-magnetic, or very very slightly magnetic at best.

As to being softer, again, the grade of the stainless and the grade of the steel would be part of the answer. Cold rolled 1018 steel is usually harder than the common 300 series stainless grades.

How well it grabs? Assuming you mean how well the banjo and tailstock would stay put, I don't have one for that. I think the variables are many, and include any wood dust or sap that would be on the ways and underside of the parts. Some folk use WD 40 on the ways of iron or steel beds, and I would guess that dry stainless ways would grab better than iron and steel that have a slight film of a penetrating oil. I wax my 3520 ways, and a fresh coat of wax does make the banjo more apt to move about. I don't scrub the ways down with WD 40 and a scotchbrite though, so the iron has developed a brown patina that seems to grab the banjo quite well when the wax is not fresh. Poking around on the web in search of coefficients of friction for steel and stainless steel doesn't turn up a definitive answer, but it appears that under moderate pressure, the coefficient for the two materials is pretty much the same.

Check your email.

Later,
Dale M

[Bill Luce]

Dale,

Got your email and followed up on that lead, thanks.

I regularly use wd40 with a pad on my regular ways because I turn some nasty wood (AM chesnut will start to corrode in almost seconds) and it solves he problem for me. Also I turn alot of fir which can be thowing lots of pitch and it works best just to keep after it. I don't really have much of a problem with slipping from it.


I was thinking if stainless ways were somehow super scratch resistant then that might be a good reason for them. I am tough on my lathe, but to me my ways are my altar. I cringe when I see folks setting metal things on their ways like their lathe was a work table......

My first 2436 has seen probably 200,000 lbs of wood and the ways are still in excellent shape. The only ding is an early mistake where I ejected the live center (with the pointed tip on) a bit more forcefully than I expected and it shot onto the ways.

In fact ala Steve Russel I usually have a towel on my ways either below the piece or to the right for me to set tools on. That towels works magic and saves lots of time.


Bill,

Part of the answer would depend on the grade of stainless steel. If the ways are made of a common 300 series stainless, then my opinion is that they would be more apt to scratch from moving the banjo and tailstock. The common 300 series of stainless steel is non-magnetic, or very very slightly magnetic at best.

As to being softer, again, the grade of the stainless and the grade of the steel would be part of the answer. Cold rolled 1018 steel is usually harder than the common 300 series stainless grades.

How well it grabs? Assuming you mean how well the banjo and tailstock would stay put, I don't have one for that. I think the variables are many, and include any wood dust or sap that would be on the ways and underside of the parts. Some folk use WD 40 on the ways of iron or steel beds, and I would guess that dry stainless ways would grab better than iron and steel that have a slight film of a penetrating oil. I wax my 3520 ways, and a fresh coat of wax does make the banjo more apt to move about. I don't scrub the ways down with WD 40 and a scotchbrite though, so the iron has developed a brown patina that seems to grab the banjo quite well when the wax is not fresh. Poking around on the web in search of coefficients of friction for steel and stainless steel doesn't turn up a definitive answer, but it appears that under moderate pressure, the coefficient for the two materials is pretty much the same.

Check your email.

Later,
Dale M