Question for UK based Members: Stainless scrubbers

[Uisge_a_Ghlinne]

Good day folks, could anybody UK based point me in the direction of any company that sell genuine stainless steel and also copper scrubbers, please? I have bought from two companies now and in both instances the scrubbers were steel and rusted immediately after a primary clean. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

[Swedish Pride]

Lidl is where I got mine (in Ireland) no issues after a few years

[Uisge_a_Ghlinne]

Lidl is where I got mine (in Ireland) no issues after a few years

Thank you very much. Will have a look next time I venture onto the mainland.

[Salt Must Flow]

Can you find copper mesh in UK? I did a quick search and saw some on Amazon.

[Reefer1]

These are ones i use they are loosely wound and do not discolour, i have tried the asda copper pan scrubbers and they went a horrible black colour after 1 use, tried citric acid soak just made em worse.
I got these SS ones on amazon.
Regarding the copper mesh i got several rolls off ebay some arrived course mesh and my next order came very fine mesh, i think most is from China though.

[jef]

TLDR; no immediate answer, but some observations, maybe B&M stores

A bit late to respond, but in case it’s still useful… I recently purchased 3 different lots of steel scrubbers, from B&M stores. A pack of 6 (£1.50) and another pack of 8 (£1), both described as stainless steel. Both are fairly strongly magnetic (you can lift them with a magnet). I soaked both for a week half submerged, let dry, no corrosion evident. I sat one in weak (3%) nitric acid, the next morning there was brown gunk in the acid mix, but having washed and dried the scrubber there is still no corrosion evident.

Unsure I then bought a few packs from Asda as these have been suggested as a good source elsewhere on the forum. These are described as 'rust resistant steel' (no mention of stainless). Equally magnetic, sat these in water for a week and air dried, no corrosion evident.

Having purchased 20+ scrubbers that didn’t seem to fit the bill, but haven’t corroded, and thinking thinking I might as well see what happens, I stuck them in a 1m boka column, cleaned and ran a strip and a spirit run. Having read these posts I have just extracted them all and found no corrosion, yet. See image below, none seems to have discoloured at all, though one scrubber is slightly brighter than the others (top row, 3rd from right, it does not show well in the image). I wonder if that is the one that was soaked in nitric - to what benefit or detriment I do not know.

scrubbers of dubious content

So, I have no good source of known stainless steel scrubbers in the UK, but those that I have got have not corroded or discoloured after initial tests. It may be that the large stores regularly change supplier on these low value items hence Reefer1 has an issue with the Asda ones when I have not (yet)?

[kennstminet]

If you put a magnet to your stainless steel kitchen knifes, you will notice that they are magnetic.
My SS scrubbies are magnetic as well.
There are magnetic types of SS and there are nonmagnetic types of SS.

[Yummyrum]

If you put a magnet to your stainless steel kitchen knifes, you will notice that they are magnetic.
My SS scrubbies are magnetic as well.
There are magnetic types of SS and there are nonmagnetic types of SS.

+1

The magnet test means little .

If your scrubbers can survive a Nitric soak …. All hail them .
Stop over thinking it . Pack your column and make some Neutral .

[kennstminet]

Some details here
https://www.eclipsemagnetics.com/resour ... -magnetic/

[AlZilla]

Maybe a restaurant supply house?

In the US, I'd use a site like webstaurantstore.com, for instance:
https://www.webstaurantstore.com/3m-84c ... 984CC.html

Which the specsheet tells me is 400 series stainless. A little ways down, on the right side.

Eliminate the question altogether.

[MooseMan]

Good day folks, could anybody UK based point me in the direction of any company that sell genuine stainless steel and also copper scrubbers, please? I have bought from two companies now and in both instances the scrubbers were steel and rusted immediately after a primary clean. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Get copper mesh from somewhere like here if your want to be super sure, the purity is guaranteed.

https://themeshcompany.com/shop/rodent- ... _oQAvD_BwE

Or if you look around you'll find cheaper from Amazon/eBay/AliExpress/Temu etc.
No guarantee of purity with this, but fine copper mesh can't really not be copper.

[Uisge_a_Ghlinne]

Thank you all for the suggestions. Been rather busy with the bees lately but I shall now spend some more cash and see if I have better luck. Cheers.