Stainless to low carbon, 309 or fab the other part from stainless?

[Paul Moir]

Seems like a lot of work compared to turning down a bit of pipe. Plus turning barbs is kind of fun.
Alternatively back to the fittings, you can get a barb-to-whatever and take off the whatever and weld it on. Same plumbing supply place. (Or some gasket / steam places, and especially oilfield places come to think of it.)

The barb is just a retaining mechanism for the hose. It does nothing for sealing. One should be plenty if you put your hose clamp ahead of it.

[Trip59]

Main concern with evenness of the barb is stress on the hose. It does present little in the way of sealing, but if it protrudes or has pockets, etc. it could contribute to a later failure. Good point on using thicker and turning it down, I'll have to look into that option.