# zinc alloy or stainless steel?



## BunnyBlaster (Dec 16, 2013)

got 2 dankung/chinese slingshots ,and was wondering how i could tell what there made from,any help?


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## S.S. sLinGeR (Oct 17, 2013)

Buy only the stainless. And only buy directly from dankung or anywhere where you know it's legit. Some of those zinc ones break at the forks. Don't want to see ya get hurt. You should be able to tell the difference in the steels I would think. If not post them on here and maybe we can help.


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## WATERLOGIC (Feb 4, 2014)

BunnyBlaster said:


> got 2 dankung/chinese slingshots ,and was wondering how i could tell what there made from,any help?


Most Zinc alloys are much "softer" than steel .

Take a metal saw or file and try to make a small cut at the lower part of the handle. If it is steel you will sweat a bit more.

Otherwise zinc alloys are per definition more than sufficient for slingshot loads the problems arrive in the casting process - unpurities, wrong temperature etc ...

Also they are much cheaper than medical or food industry grade stainless steel . What you see on ebay under 25$ better stay away from that ...


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## harpersgrace (Jan 28, 2010)

zinc is lighter in weight, usually plated, casting is often rougher at least in the cheaper products. Zinc alloys if done correctly can be fine for slingshots, ie the Killdeer. unfortunately a lot are not done correctly. If you purchase directly from Dankung you can pretty much be sure it's steel...if you buy off of ebay chances are it's not...


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## studer1972 (Mar 17, 2013)

scrape your fork with a metal washer. If it's chrome plated zinc, the chrome coating will scrape off and the steel washer will scratch the zinc. If it's steel, the washer won't scratch it, because they'll be of equal Mohs hardness. (steel=~4, zinc=2.5, higher hardness materials can scratch lower hardness)

I'd also vice test them. Put 'em in a vice and put goodly force on therm. if they don't break, you're good. I bought a dankung knockoff off ebay for 5 bucks. Turned out to be steel and sturdy.


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## NaturalFork (Jan 21, 2010)

The cheap dankung I bought on ebay has proven to be very sturdy. That being said ... i am still sketchy. I buy from dankung.

How to tell ... magnets? Maybe?


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## MiracleWorker (Jan 25, 2014)

Stainless steel is not magnetic, nor is zinc.


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## WATERLOGIC (Feb 4, 2014)

There are actually 3 (THREE) common elements that pull to a magnet, and those are iron, nickel, and cobalt.

&#8230;.things that are not attracted to a magnet can still contain iron, nickel, cobalt, or a combination. Take for example, 304 stainless steel. It contains both iron and nickel and yet, it doesn't attract a magnet!

Type 304, contains approximately 18 percent chromium and 8 percent nickel.

In our case Magnet test will not work for 304 steel is mostly used for slingshots ...

*There are Stainless steel types that would react to a magnet * (... ferritic stainless steels are iron-chromium binary alloys with 13 to 18 percent chromium. These alloys are ferromagnetic at room temperature)

...


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## BunnyBlaster (Dec 16, 2013)

ok cool,thanks guys! i found out which is steel and which is zinc


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