...and thinks its completely OK to use. he's a welder and is convinced there's no harm in this. now I didn't have a proper reason but I know it can't be good for you. could someone shed some light on this?
Personally, its glass or nothing. Stainless steel does put off fumes which can be detrimental to your health.
A LHS was selling stainless steal nails near me. They said as long as its medical grade its fine. I have no idea if that is true or not. I figure it id better to be safe then sorry.
There are certain types of medical grade stainless that do not give off fumes. If it isnt one of those high grades of steel though it will give off toxic fumes like chromium i believe.
Just like titanium, there are a number of grades of stainless steel. Its my understanding that food grade stainless steel (grades 306 and 314), are inert up to 800 degrees F. It may be interesting to know that the Vapor Genie uses grade 306 stainless as the metal surrounding their ceramic heating element. However, most stainless steel contains high levels of nickel and chromium(up to 30% chromium according to wikipedia). These chemicals can be leached as toxic vapors once heated sufficiently, and may even leech out when exposed to concentrates. So I would recommend if your friend is at all not sure of the composition of the stainless steel used, that you do him a favor by making sure he never sees it again. And if it IS 100% food grade, then you better make damn sure he knows what hes doing so it doesn't get overheated (since any torch worth its salt produces a flame of at least ~2500 degrees)
is 800 degrees even high enough? my vector nitro that i heat my Ti nail with lists its operating temps between 1300 and 2400 degrees. i know the nail likely would not hold a temp that high, but a 1500+ degree flame heating it may knock it over 800 at some point when heating.
hot knives are the equivalent of a tin foil pipe. cheap walmart knives might be worse, who knows what that junk is made of. people spend hundreds to thousands on glass for a reason lol.
before u drop 60 or 70 bucks on one, consider how you feel about it oxidizing first. my buddy does not mind, but im paranoid and clean and scrape my Ti nail almost every week, yet im picking up the glass nail now to dab... (until it shatters) Ti nails oxidize over time, and its about as cheap to just buy replacement glass or quarts nails. im buying a quartz next, but iv heard it has a taste difference. ill see when i pick one up.