Stainless steel?

I recently bought a manual tranny steering column for the 'liner. Thanks to Greg Cook for the heads up about being able to remove the linkage bar and have just one single column. Anyway, I start sanding on this puppy today to get it ready for paint and low and behold I think this thing's stainless steel!! The more I sanded, the more shiney it got! I'll post some pics tomorrow, but It appears to be made out of a sheet of steel that's been rolled into the tube shape as it has a very small seam the length of the bottom. Anybody know if it may be stainless for sure? I thought about gettin' one the "Ididit" polished columns, but if this thing keeps turnin' out like it is, who needs to spend megabucks on sumthin like that?[img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_tup.gif[/img]
[addsig]

Some stainless alloys are only mildly magnetic while others are not magnetic at all. Maybe this will answer your question.
Kywookie

If it is stainless, it is an austenitic stainless, more than likely. Austenitics (like the 300 series) are non-magnetic. Put the magnet to it as your first check.
The only other way to tell is to corrosion test it. Sand it then wet it (or leave it out in the rain). If it doesn't turn orange, it's probably stainless.
Either way, if it looks good raw, maybe you should sand it with super-fine paper, then put a clear coat on it.
[addsig]

It's not stainless, flunked the magnet test.[img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_tdown.gif[/img] On the positive side, I've got it ready for paint!![img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_lol.gif[/img]
[addsig]