316L Stainless Steel Forged Rappel Ring

In the goal of moving away from welded products, Climbing Taiwan has decided to have their 316L rings manufactured by forging. Welding can include an array of concerns that can affect the corrosion of stainless steel. Addressing these concerns can include using low carbon stainless steel parent & filler material, not welding for too hot & too long, and post-weld solution treatment annealing (however it increases ductility). Climbing Taiwan's 304L traceless weld rings underwent these processes.  

The rings went through 2 shot-blasting treatments to work-harden the surface and smooth out sharp edges. Last, they were passivated for additional corrosion resistance.

They have very faint laser markings (seen better in dimmer light) of: CTW 316L FORGED 50kN 0924. Material certificate can be viewed HERE.

Note: Climbing Taiwan went with the essential number of mold stages to get the ring sufficiently round enough, in order to keep costs more economical. Therefore the forged rings will have small surface imperfections that do not affect strength or performance.--- If CTW were to add additional molds in order to acquire precision forging-quality for a more rounder edge, remove even more residual flash, and work out surface imperfections, that in turn would drive up the cost. These extra steps would also have additional labor costs.