Sourcing Note 09 · Dispute Review
The crack starts at the drawing
Hairline cracks at a bend are usually a missing number on the drawing, not a bad grade.
Most stainless claims I am asked to review start at a line that was missing from the drawing.
A Gulf buyer I work with opened a balustrade order and found hairline cracks at the bends after two months on site. The workshop blamed the grade. The grade was fine. The drawing never stated the inside bend radius, so the brake operator ran the tightest setting the tool allowed.
When I source fabricated stainless now, the radius goes in the drawing in millimetres, the grade is named, and the first bend off the machine gets photographed before the rest are cut. A crack is cheaper to stop at the first sample than to argue over after installation.
Send me the drawing from your last fabricated order and I will mark the lines a workshop can argue around.