Stainless vs Regular Steel?

[Northwoods Guy]

Had a "Why not?" question asked to me the other day by a high school student building a small batch cooker in his High School shop class. I advised that he should use stainless steel for his pan. He said he was planning to weld up his cook pan using "regular" sheet steel as they are not set up to handle stainless in his shop class. He claimed his buddy did the same thing last year and had no problems. In fact, he is duplicating his buddy's project.

I don't want to discourage him, but would really like him to do the right thing.

So, the question for the day is... What is the down side if he uses "regular" sheet steel (not stainless) for his cook pan? Leaching? Taste? Rust? Cleaning? Burn out of the pan? ETC ETC.

Thanks.

[KenWP]

Actually not that much difference. The difference is that regular sheet steel is going to rust easy. If useing just normal metal was a problem cast iron pots would have disappeared eons ago instead of being popular stiff. He just has to clean it well top and bottom and oil it a bit and keep it dry.
On another note if you cook with cast iron it actually gives you enough iron in your diet to not use vitamins they say.
The nitre is going to coat the pan quick anyways an do like it does for old lead soldered pans so any leaching of iron would be stopped anyways.

[red maples]

as long as its not galvanized then your all set. because if I remember correctly when you heat galvanized metal it releases some type of toxic gas. and can leach bad things into what ever your cooking.

[markct]

i have heard it done and worked fine with steel pans, but dont overlook salvage stainless from appliances especialy commercial freezers, my first pan was the skin from a freezer door outa a restraunt. didnt even have a brake then, clamped it over the edge of a steel welding bench and worked it back and forth with a deadblow hammer a little at a time, came out great everyone swore it was done with a brake. then to weld the corners i got a 28 dollar spool of stainless mig wire from tsc and put it in my lincoln 110 mig and had at it, a little touchy to do the thin stuff but came out fine. ground the welds shiny and used it for a year. got addicted to maple, bought used 2 by 8 pans and sold my first one to my neighbor who still makes syrup in it with his kids.

[Haynes Forest Products]

He says that he isnt set up in shop to do SS...........sure he is all he has to do is weld all the SS seams with regular mig welder same wire as he will be using. Yes they will rust but so what if 99% of the pan is SS. He can also get SS wire and still use the gas they have and yes it will rust a little but he is getting closer.

My first batch cooker was a big square dairy clean tank that was 1/8th SS and I welded a arch and legs and handles to it with regular mild steel rod couldnt tell the differance when welding. just rust along the weld.

[Big_Eddy]

Been making light syrup for 20+ years in a mild steel pan. Never a problem. Don't wash it at the end of the season - leave that last coating of syrup on it and hang it up in a dry location and it will never rust. Give it a good wash and wire brushing at the start of the next season and you're good to go.

[Bucket Head]

The first pan we had made was made from 1/8" mild steel. We used it for years on a concrete block arch. There was no rust on it anywhere. We never scrubbed the inside clean of the "buildup" and the soot that covered the outside kept the rust from forming. We hav'nt used that pan in years but it does'nt look any different from the last day we boiled with it.

Steve

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

One advantage is that it would have to boil better than stainless as regular steel is a better conductor of heat than stainless.

[KenWP]

I found a sheet of SS in a old abandon store last week. Just have to figure out how to get it home now. I have no idea why it's sitting there.
Would heavy gauge steel transfer heat as well as light gauge SS or better.