Hi fellows:
I`m a new member to this great site.It`s a real joy to run into artwork,faces, and names, and say hey: "I`ve seen this work, or heard that name before somewhere..." and it`s a thrill to see how some of you guys up there give advice to those down here learning and toiling, to some day also be able to handle a bit help too! Recently, I mail a request for advice to a very important consulting authority in the metal industry, I was surprised to receive anwers and referrals from him, and surprisingly we even talk about matter relating to kindness,etc. For lets face it,our careers,whatever they might be are important, but lets not forget an often forgotten human principle in life: love and sharing, with more of that the world would be a better place to live. Slowly but surely, I`m switching from a Plant Science major work, to art. It`s been some time now that I left agriculture and started doing iron and wood work for a living.It ain`t easy, when one doesn`t have a solid academic background in art work.On the other hand,I realice how far a few basic drawing classes, a welding ag class, and a strong commitment to learn and work hard, can take you! Some of you know how time consuming and heart-breaking the trial-and-error method turns out oftentimes. That`s life buddy! Why don`t you stop bla,bla,bla and get to the point man! I say ok buddy... The point is I`m working on a sculpture proyect to be installed 100 yard from seawater, using SS 316L sheet 1 mm thick, heat forged and welded to a basic squeleton structure shaped to a designed figure. A while back I heat forged some SS sheat (don`t know the grade),and with basic brushing the piece looked nice, but the darn thing showed rust weeks later. Holly crap! What happened to my stainless condition? After investigating I learned a couple things; however,I believe there`s nothing like the hands-on experience and advice from you guys. It`s the pitting due to carbide depositing showing as burnt brownish color on it, as well as the loss of corrosion resistance in salty environment that I`m worring about. Will this happen to my SS 316L work? Should I pickle treat afterwards to passivate the steel? What the heck can I do? Or will the 316L withstand all the heat and pounding abuse?
THANKS GUYS FOR YOUR ADVISE!