Bending 304 stainless steel

Are you sure you had 304 or 316? I would imagine it would be possible if the stock was heavily cold worked - comparable to SS spring wire - but I've never run across anything like that in either hot or cold finished bars. 303 is not nearly as ductile as 304/316, and some of the 400 series would be prone to cracking if bent too sharply.

Ned Simmons

replying to Ignoramus29180, Handiman1 wrote: I bought some basting brushes at walmart, they were stainless steel 3/16 rod they were getting rid of for 25 cents. I bent the rod in a vice with my hands to a 90 then I went to bend the tip of the rod into a 90 so I could use it for a grate removal tool on my weber. The end was stamped flat from the factory to hold the brush, when I bent it it cracked so the second one I heated it with map gas for 10 seconds and it turned red, I bent it like it was made of lead very easy and then ran it under cold water. It doesn't rust where I used the heat but it is discolored

replying to Ignoramus29180, Handiman1 wrote: I bought some basting brushes at walmart, they were stainless steel 3/16 rod they were getting rid of for 25 cents. I bent the rod in a vice with my hands to a 90 then I went to bend the tip of the rod into a 90 so I could use it for a grate removal tool on my weber. The end was stamped flat from the factory to hold the brush, when I bent it it cracked so the second one I heated it with map gas for 10 seconds and it turned red, I bent it like it was made of lead very easy and then ran it under cold water. It doesn't rust where I used the heat but it is discolored