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 skchsan wrote:
1. Stainless steel is inherently inert (does not react to environment). Now, despite having "stainless" in it's name, it does not mean it does not discolor. However, what it does not/will not do is corrode and have the resultant 'react' with the paint, let alone the fact that paints are not some sort of fine-tuned chemical product that needs careful monitoring at its molecular level. If the above were not true, we would not be using stainless steel in construction. TLDR: stainless steel do same job as glass beads, unless you get cheap metal balls that are not in fact SST. The "SST" balls that chip and peel are likely nickel-plated, and not actually SST.

Late to this, but there are different grades of stainless steel. Stainless steel is just steel with enough chromium and nickel content to be corrosion resistant. How resistant it actually is in practice depends on the grade and what it's exposed to. If you're ordering mystery meat ball bearings, you may not know what grade it is- or if a grade is stated, there is no guarantee the batch you got actually meets it, because Chinese manufacture is like that sometimes. Or you just get nickel-plated steel like you said.

Most importantly, no stainless steel is corrosion-proof. I've carded plenty of rust off of stainless steel equipment exposed to the elements; an aqueous environment with unknown pigment composition is a real roll of the dice.

All this to say that given that glass beads work just as well for agitation, I see no compelling reason to use stainless steel. It may not be likely that it contaminates the paint, but I have personally seen it happen and it's well known online, so why take unnecessary risk?

 catbarf wrote:

 skchsan wrote:
1. Stainless steel is inherently inert (does not react to environment). Now, despite having "stainless" in it's name, it does not mean it does not discolor. However, what it does not/will not do is corrode and have the resultant 'react' with the paint, let alone the fact that paints are not some sort of fine-tuned chemical product that needs careful monitoring at its molecular level. If the above were not true, we would not be using stainless steel in construction. TLDR: stainless steel do same job as glass beads, unless you get cheap metal balls that are not in fact SST. The "SST" balls that chip and peel are likely nickel-plated, and not actually SST.

Late to this, but there are different grades of stainless steel. Stainless steel is just steel with enough chromium and nickel content to be corrosion resistant. How resistant it actually is in practice depends on the grade and what it's exposed to. If you're ordering mystery meat ball bearings, you may not know what grade it is- or if a grade is stated, there is no guarantee the batch you got actually meets it, because Chinese manufacture is like that sometimes. Or you just get nickel-plated steel like you said.

Most importantly, no stainless steel is corrosion-proof. I've carded plenty of rust off of stainless steel equipment exposed to the elements; an aqueous environment with unknown pigment composition is a real roll of the dice.

All this to say that given that glass beads work just as well for agitation, I see no compelling reason to use stainless steel. It may not be likely that it contaminates the paint, but I have personally seen it happen and it's well known online, so why take unnecessary risk?

*shrug* I've had stainless steel ball bearings soaking in Citadel for 10 years now, and vallejo for 5. No problems so far. But that may just be me.

Also, while I'm not actually arguing against, a six post thread on Reaper's forum from three years ago isn't exactly 'well known online'. That's like me marketing myself as 'world famous author' because three guys in Japan have read something of mine.

Finding out that there are different grades of stainless steel changed my life.

 catbarf wrote:
Most importantly, no stainless steel is corrosion-proof. I've carded plenty of rust off of stainless steel equipment exposed to the elements; an aqueous environment with unknown pigment composition is a real roll of the dice.

I would be more inclined to support your stance if you can provide one commercially available product that actually comes with glass bead agitators instead of SST. There really isn't any reason to demonize SST the way some of the posters here are making it out to be.

Matter of fact is, SST is corrosion proof by design. That isn't to say it will NEVER corrode, just like how products labeled "waterproof" can't retain such properties under all conditions. Under extreme conditions, mainly in the coastal (salt water) or highly polluted regions (acid rain), SST do corrode and need proper maintenance.

For our purposes, paints are nowhere near harsh enough to actually corrode the SST.

So a minor update:

Managed to transfer 1 paint to a dropper bottle. Took a lot longer than I would have liked, definitely need a proper flow aid instead of water. That being said it was nice to not have to thin the paint when I went to put some highlights on.

Glass beads are on the way.

Would appreciate if someone could recommend a Canadian distributor for Vallejo paint so I can get a medium or thinner. I've also only ever used water to thin paints. I went into a Michaels to see if they had a thinner but all the had were mediums, don't know if that's the same or if that's what people are referring to when they say thinner. Much appreciated

 fraser1191 wrote:
So a minor update:

Managed to transfer 1 paint to a dropper bottle. Took a lot longer than I would have liked, definitely need a proper flow aid instead of water. That being said it was nice to not have to thin the paint when I went to put some highlights on.

Glass beads are on the way.

Would appreciate if someone could recommend a Canadian distributor for Vallejo paint so I can get a medium or thinner. I've also only ever used water to thin paints. I went into a Michaels to see if they had a thinner but all the had were mediums, don't know if that's the same or if that's what people are referring to when they say thinner. Much appreciated

Tistaminis is in Canada and they sell Vallejo products...i don't know what their stock is like, Vallejo seems to be hit and miss lately (more miss than hit)

 fraser1191 wrote:
So a minor update:

Managed to transfer 1 paint to a dropper bottle. Took a lot longer than I would have liked, definitely need a proper flow aid instead of water. That being said it was nice to not have to thin the paint when I went to put some highlights on.

Glass beads are on the way.

Would appreciate if someone could recommend a Canadian distributor for Vallejo paint so I can get a medium or thinner. I've also only ever used water to thin paints. I went into a Michaels to see if they had a thinner but all the had were mediums, don't know if that's the same or if that's what people are referring to when they say thinner. Much appreciated

Acrylic mediums are fine for reconstituting the paint consistency, but because it runs thicker than flow aids you may find it slightly more difficult to transfer into dropper bottles.

Alternatively, you can try using a pipette or measuring syringe as an option, but you do lose a fair bit of paint this way. Not sure if it works the same in Canada but I can go to any pharmacy and ask for measuring syringe for free.