It depends on the grade of the steel alloy. They might be a vanadium/carbon steel, or another type of stainless steel alloyed as tool steel, literally they could be anything with nickel/chromium and be called stainless as there are many different grades, some special exotic alloys are use so that cutting with a torch for example is extremely difficult.
First, you should find out which grade of steel it is. I recently bought a steel anvil and wanted to make sure I was buying an anvil I could forge steel with, without causing damage to the face of the anvil. You might be surprised how many different grades of steel and iron are used in the construction of just an anvil. I ended up settling on an anvil made from S-7 grade tool steel because of it's incredible hardness once it has been properly tempered.
Second, you might serve your purpose well by checking to see what these doors originally were made for, since they are new, there might be an application you could sell them for. Meaning, instead of scrapping them, think outside the scrapper box. Most people think in one direction, which leaves all other doors closed. Thinking only in the scrapping box will cause you to only consider ways of scrapping material. But often, and I know this for a fact because I have come across many scrappers whom I have purchased equipment from and then built out or altered for my own use, equipment might be useful to someone else if only you can make that connection.
Re-marketers are a good place to start, as they have a lot of experience purchasing equipment and re-selling it to someone who will put it to work. You could also contact the original company that made the doors as it seems they would have the ability to disassemble these doors and perhaps put them to use in the construction of new doors. Or contact the company that created the original semi-finished produce, meaning the sheets or blocks of metal that were used in the doors construction. Many times, companies that make things out of stainless steel, most times in fact, are purchasing a semi-finished product from a metal producer. These companies will already have the equipment in place to re-purpose or de-manufacture the metal in such a way that it might be worth more to them than what you could get for at
scrap prices.
Part of doing business is researching, in this case you should be able to find out where the doors came from, by contacting that company and speaking with their asset recovery department if it exists (and if you do ask them if they have any other assets for sale as well) or their buying/sourcing department and find out where the metal was originally purchased from. With that information in hand, you can contact the company that made the semi-finished product and speak with their asset recovery/sales/purchasing department (always, when speaking with these companies, ask what they buy and sell you might be surprised that there could be other business opportunities for you to exploit).
In short, you most likely didn't make a mistake in purchasing the doors, only in how you might best serve your bottom line, and in researching. Although you seem to be on the right track, asking questions here, if I were you I would think about the potential value in different ways, you stand to make substantially more profit if you do so.
Scott
Originally Posted by NobleMetalWorks
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