Comparing Stainless Steel Types and Gauges

A note about Stainless Steel and Type and Gauges.  Comparing Apples to Apples 

We have noticed on many of our competitor’s websites extremely low "teaser" prices for metal corner guards. There are 2 very important things to be aware of when comparing stainless steel, aluminum or diamond plate corner guards. 

•  Gauge         

         i.    The gauge is the thickness of the metal.  Stainless Steel and Steel are measured in gauges.  Aluminum is measured by inch decimals.

        ii.    The higher the gauge the thinner the material.  As an example: 16ga would be the approximate equivalent of 1/16" of an inch.  7ga is approximately 1/4" while 22ga is approximately 1/46".    (With aluminum or diamond plate it is measured by the decimal and therefore is opposite.  The higher the decimal the thicker the material).                  

       iii.    Many competitors will have a "teaser" of 22ga material.  This is usually the same gauge of material that kitchen appliance manufacturers use.  It is almost paper-thin and will dent on the first encounter.         

• Grades of material          

         i.    The second thing to be aware of is what "TYPE" of material you need.  As an aside I would like to talk about stainless steel.  Stainless Steel is not rust proof in general.  There are different grades of stainless steel.  The grades are based on the amount of nickel and molybdenum in the steel. The more nickel and molybdenum the more stainless and rust proof the material is.                         

        ii.    The most common type of stainless steel is Type 304. This is a middle of the road stainless steel and is used for just about anything.  Its rustproof properties are very good.  This is the stainless that TheCornerGuardStore uses in about 80% of the products that we make.                   

       iii.    The "teaser" grade of stainless steel that many of our competitors use is Type 430. This is a substandard material and will exhibit the start of "rusting" almost immediately.

       iv.    When you are using stainless steel in a corrosive environment (e.g. pools with chlorine, outdoors where salt is used in the winter for the roads and anywhere near the ocean) you need to use Type 316 stainless steel. This is the type of stainless steel used by NASA and in medical devices. It is extremely stainless and rustproof. It is also the most of expensive of the 3 grades. Anything less than 316 in any of those environments will result in an very disappointed customer, which is something we bend over backward to avoid.

When you know about both the grades and gauges of stainless steel you are now prepared to compare Apples to Apples.  Once you do, we are convinced that you will not find a better quality, less expensive corner guard.  Toss in our unbeatable lead times and there is no better place to buy your corner guards than TheCornerGuardStore.com