"TT" wrote in message
news:rv1ae.4851$H53.335@lakeread05...
So I pulled a stainless drum out of my old dead washing machine. I'm
planning on turning it into a firepit but need to know whether or not the
stainless will be able to handle the heat and not deform. It's not
extremely
thick, perhaps a hair more than 1mm. Any thoughts?

Thanks

-Tom



Metallurgically speaking, stainless steel has a different coefficient of
linear expansion than regular steel.

That means that if you heated a three foot piece of stainless bar, and a
three foot piece of regular steel bar, and measured the changes in both of
them, it would be more for the stainless. The stainless piece would "grow"
more with the heat. Also, after the piece is heated, depending on the
amount of heat applied, it may have a different rate of returning to its
original size and shape. The higher the heat, the more the deformation and
the less chance of returning to the original shape, and that's pretty common
with any metal.

Long story short, go for it. As others suggested, support it evenly on
bottom, and blaze away. It is a throwaway item anyway. What can happen?

Steve