Yes you can purchase stainless stock depending on which area of the country you live in and how industrial your city is. In my hometown there are two places within a half-hour drive of me where I can get bar or sheets but I live in a refinery city on the gulf coast so really that isn't surprising. As for treatments, what you will probably get will have a mill finish which is a very very long way from a nice mirror polish. However, with a hand-held belt sander, orbital sander, and polishing wheel it is possible to make a perfectly smooth mirror finish. Just plan on it taking a while. I would typically start with an 80 grit belt and work my way down to a 400 grit disc before taking it to the buffing wheel. If you can get away with it I reccomend bar stock rather than sheet for normal chainplates so you don't have to do any difficult long cuts in the metal. However, bar-stock is frequently slightly cupped from the manufacturing process so will take some more effot with the sanding. Also keep in mind that you are removing metal when sanding so don't start with something too thin to begin with. Some of the last chainplates I made were coated with pickling paste after being polished and then lightly polished again to remove the haze left by the pickling paste. Don't know if that step helped much.
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