Stainless-steel bars start out as continuous-cast billet or bloom which is then rolled to shape in a bar hot-rolling mill to manufacture a range of dimensions and cross sections such as round, square, rectangular, hexagonal or angle profile. As with other forms of stainless steel, bars need to be annealed and pickled, otherwise corrosion resistance is impaired. An exception is machined round bars which only need annealing. For improved dimensional tolerance, bars can be peeled or ground (rounds) or cold drawn (rounds, squares and hexagons). Stainless bars find application in outdoor structures where painting is difficult or undesirable, and for machine components where some degree of corrosion resistance is required, e.g. pumps.