Comments on Profile Post by Lyander

Extensive renovations still ongoing (ugh), gonna be working on this soonish. Some asshats have been stabbing dogs' faces with sticks and they should be thankful I haven't seen their faces. Also usual concerns about break-ins and the like.

Bit of a wild guess, but I would have thought that the treatment of the steel (i.e. galvanising) is more important than the type of steel.

Aluminium wouldn't have the same corrosion issues, but it's quite soft and trickier to weld.

Sorry, was unclear. Meant to ask about what specific treatment of steel (or any other metal) would be best for stupid climates like I have and is good for potential break-ins, haha. I don't know a lot about metallurgy but know enough about knives and nibs that I'm trying to find a good balance. Been reading up a bit but it's all pretty vague so far. Maybe I'm just overthinking and should use random rebar.

Random steel + rustguard paint should do the trick.

Thanks! That's been my fallback but I'm worried about finding something that's rigid enough to stand on its own but has enough give to withstand impact. Have had a couple cars run into the old one, never mind the abuse the dogs give it, haha. Thanks!

There a lot of stuff you can do, but simple is probably best.

Cerakote for example is an awesome finish and good enough for guns, but nothing lasts forever, all needs maintenance, so in the end something you can fix yourself with some sandpaper and a paintbrush wins.

Start with the most corrosion resistant stainless you can get for real cheap, it's all the same unless you can harden it for intrusion protection.

POR15 car coating is anti-rust as it gets.

Looking into those, thanks! Kinda just gave up and decided "eh, go with whatever steel", haha. The coating suggestions are a big help.

Steel codes are kind of a mess but stainless has at least one thing going for it, if you can get 2 of the same number but one ends in 'L' thats low carbon, which is usually easier to weld and higher corrosion resistance.

Yup! It's the "easier to weld" part that sold me on it, haha. It's not like I'll be doing the whole thing, we're getting help, but I imagine getting any material easier to work with will be a worthwhile investment.