The main advantages of using stainless steel are cleanliness, corrosion resistance, low maintenance and 100% recyclable.

Commonly available in flat bar, square bar, round bar, plate, sheet, angle, box section and tubing. Also available in the form of channel, T section, I beam, but by special order from overseas stockholders. If it is not available as a Hot Rolled or Cold Rolled stock item, then the sections can be formed by laser welding or folding.

Sheet and Plate material is derived from Hot Rolled (HR) or Cold Rolled (CR) plate. CR plate is rolled when the material is in its cooled down state and generally gives a smoother finish than HR. The most common CR finish would be called 2B. Sheets and plates are commonly available in CR up to 6mm thick, with a special order for 8mm thick. Above 6mm thick, HR is generally used. HR milled finish has a rougher finish, with slight pitting. This rough finish can be polished, to ultimately give the same finish as a polished CR plate. The end result is the same, but it is more costly to polish HR plate.

Tubing and Box are formed by either a seamless process or a seam welded process. Seamless tubing is more costly and is generally used for high pressure applications and also where the internal surface cannot have dirt traps. Seam welded tube and box is very commonly used, and can be finished to a variety of external finishes.