Shop products
Everything that does not stand on a foundation: barbecues and stoves, stainless for kitchens and food plants, furniture on a steel frame, tanks and pipework. What they share is that they arrive finished rather than being assembled on site.
Barbecues, grills and stoves
Here everything comes down to wall thickness. The rest — lid, flue, worktop, air feed — affects convenience; the life of the thing is set by the steel: 2 mm burns through in a couple of seasons, 3–4 mm lasts years.
A knock-down barbecue is a season and a car boot. A fixed one with a lid is already something that stays in one place and outlives its owner. A barbecue complex with a flue takes the smoke away from the table; a smoker is a separate cabinet with a door and a smoke generator, and it is not combined with a barbecue in one body.
Stainless for kitchens and food plants
Food production means AISI 304 — not caution but a condition of acceptance. Grade 201 looks identical and costs less, but under constant damp it comes out in rust staining and has to be replaced.
The decisive detail of a work table is not the top but how the sink is made. A welded-in bowl gives a continuous surface with no joint round the rim: one wipe cleans it. A drop-in bowl with a flange saves an hour of work and creates a seam that collects everything.
Furniture on a steel frame
The frame is welded from 40×40 or 50×25 tube. The usual mistake is saving on the diagonal brace: a rectangular frame without one folds into a rhombus under a sideways push, and the table starts to rock however thick the tube wall is.
A table base on its own is a common order: the customer buys the top and gets a ready base made to its size. It costs less than a complete table and lets you have oak or stone from someone who does that for a living.
Tanks, vessels and pipework
A rectangular tank is made to fit: for a cellar or boiler room where a round vessel will not go through the door. A horizontal vessel on saddles and a vertical tank are factory geometry, but the manways, nozzles and pipework for a particular boiler room are still welded to order.
A word on pressure. Anything working under internal pressure is a different job, with a qualified procedure and documentation. A tank for water, fuel or rainwater needs none of that.
Where to go next
If the item already exists and has failed, see repairs and rebuilding. The weldability of stainless itself, the filler and root shielding are covered in welding stainless steel. Price and lead time are in how ordering works.
Frequently asked questions
How thick does barbecue steel need to be?
3 mm and up, and 4 is better. A 2 mm wall burns through in a couple of seasons: the steel does not so much burn as oxidise and thin with every firing. Four millimetres last years and hold heat more evenly — a thick wall works as a heat store.
Which stainless grade for a kitchen?
AISI 304. Grade 201 is about a third cheaper, but it has less nickel and shows rust staining wherever it stays wet, within the first year. For a food plant that is a question of acceptance, not appearance.
What is a table frame welded from?
From 40×40 or 50×25 tube with a 2 mm wall. Thinner, and the table starts to move under your elbows, and no worktop will fix that. A diagonal brace between the legs does more than wall thickness ever will.
Can you weld a pressure vessel?
That is a different job. A pressure vessel needs a qualified welding procedure, a qualified welder and documentation for the item. An ordinary tank for water or fuel, working without internal pressure, is made without any of that.
Updated: