Alloy desk
Stainless grades and alloys
304, 316, 430 and the duplex cousins Australian trades actually order — and the magnet test that still fools people on site.
Independent Australian journal
Stainless steel for trades who still have to cut it.
The old alltradestainlesssteel.com.au site was Melbourne’s custom-cut counter: 304 and 316 sheet, folded sections, balustrade tube, kitchen coving. This rebuild keeps that trade and drops the price list. We write long essays on grade, finish, tea staining and hygiene so you specify once.
Photograph: Brushed stainless steel surface by Ahamed Kafir M. Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source file on Wikimedia Commons. Also listed on the image credits and licences page.
What this domain used to be
Archived homepages called the business “Stainless Steel Melbourne Custom Cut.” The promise was blunt: a cut-to-size service from custom-cut stainless and sections, factory pickup in North Melbourne or Dandenong South, and a Melbourne-wide delivery run. Grades on the old catalogue were 304 for benches and food plant, 316 sold as marine grade, and magnetic 430. Finishes ran from mill 2B through brushed No. 4 to No. 8 and bright annealed.
Sister metals — brass, copper, galvanised — appeared as the shop grew. The live merchant later consolidated under Alltrade Aluminium. We are not that counter. We kept the stainless brief because that is what the domain said out loud, and because Australian trades still search the same questions: which alloy at the coast, which finish behind a cooktop, how to stop tea staining after a weld.
Start with stainless grades and alloys if you are choosing metal, or 304 versus 316 stainless steel in Australia if you already have a job on the board. Kitchen work lives under kitchens and hygiene stainless. Coastal posts and pool fences sit in marine, balustrade and outdoors.
Six topic hubs
All stainless steel topic hubsMill floor
Sheet, plate and finishes
2B, No. 4, bright annealed and No. 8 — plus the sheet sizes and millimetre thicknesses Australian trades actually order.
Saw and folder
Custom-cut stainless and sections
The cut-to-size promise the old Melbourne site was built on — sheet blanks, folded angle, channel, Z, flat bar and the tolerance that never is zero.
Shop and site
Fabrication, welding and care
TIG on 304 and 316, tea staining after a coastal month, passivation, chloride cleaning mistakes, and when aluminium or galvanised is the better metal.
Food side
Kitchens and hygiene stainless
Benchtops, commercial canteens, coving, corner guards and outdoor cooking — the food-side of the old custom-cut catalogue.
Salt air
Marine, balustrade and outdoors
316 posts, A4 fasteners, pool fences and the tea-stain season that follows a coastal install.
From the desk
All stainless steel articlescustom cut and sections
Stainless steel square hollow tube in Australia
The old catalogue’s square hollows — posts, frames, furniture and the wall thicknesses that decide whether a gate looks like a rail or a tank.
custom cut and sections
Stainless steel tube versus pipe in Australia
The old Melbourne catalogue sold both round hollows. They are not the same order, and mixing the words is how a handrail becomes a pressure job.
custom cut and sections
Stainless steel round bar in Australia
Solid round is the quiet cousin of sheet — shafts, pins, threaded studs and the grades Australian merchants actually bin.
marine balustrade and outdoors
Pool and marine stainless fittings
Water that works harder than a sea breeze — chlorinated, creviced, and unimpressed by the word marine.
marine balustrade and outdoors
Stainless fasteners A2 vs A4
The bag of bolts that quietly undoes a 316 job — A2 is 304 chemistry, A4 is 316, and the coast can tell the difference.
marine balustrade and outdoors
Coastal stainless steel care
A hose, a schedule, and the humility to admit 316 still needs washing.
Questions people ask
Is this the Alltrade Aluminium shop in Melbourne?
No. The historic alltradestainlesssteel.com.au site sold custom-cut stainless, brass, copper and galvanised steel from North Melbourne and Dandenong South. The live merchant catalogue now sits on alltradealuminium.com.au. This domain is an independent editorial journal about the same trade: grades, finishes, cut-to-size practice, kitchens and coastal work.
Can you cut sheet or quote 304 and 316 for me?
No. We do not hold stock, run a saw, or publish live prices. Use a metals merchant and ask for grade certificates. Our job is to help you specify the right alloy and finish before you pick up the phone.
What did the old site actually sell?
Wayback snapshots from 2018–2020 describe Melbourne custom-cut stainless — sheet, folded angle and channel, flat bar, balustrade tube, coving, corner guards, barbecue lids — in grades 304, 316 and 430, with 2B, No. 4, No. 8 and bright-annealed finishes. That catalogue is the map this journal still follows.
Who is this written for?
Australian fabricators, kitchen installers, builders, maintenance crews and careful homeowners who need to choose stainless without a sales script. The copy is in Australian English and cites public industry sources such as ASSDA.
Independent editorial publication on alltradestainlesssteel.com.au. We are not Alltrade Aluminium, Glass & Stainless Steel and we do not take cut-to-size orders or quote live sheet prices. Trademarks remain with their owners. Read the editorial standards and the about this stainless journal page before you treat a sentence here as a fabrication procedure.