[TheForge] Re: Black fasteners (Was: Drawer Pulls...)

[Peter Hirst]

Great story.  thanks for the reply

Keziah
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Spencer" <mspencer at tallships.ca>
To: <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2008 6:07 PM
Subject: [TheForge] Re: Black fasteners (Was: Drawer Pulls...)


>
>> I'd like to broaden the topic a bit and ask about sources for
>> uncoated (I beleive the industry term is "self-colored") hardware in
>> general.
>
> Years ago, maybe late 70s, I went into my favorite, Old Time
> Stocks-Everything industrial supply (now sadly defunct) where the guy
> behind the counter was taking small items out of a bucket one at a
> time, drying them with a rag and dropping them into another bucket.
>
> He said, "Can I [plink] help you? [plink]"
>
> I asked for somethig, he went off to get it and, as soon as he got
> back to the counter, began again: plink....plink....plink.
>
> I now saw that the "small items"  were flathead wood scews, maybe #6x3/4".
> Hadda ask, "Why are you doing that?"
>
> "The Navy Yard [plink] ordered 10 gross [plink] of black screws
> [plink] and the Navy [plink] insists on [plink] getting exactly what
> [plink] thay ask for. We [plink] only had plated screws so [plink] we
> soaked them in muriatic [plink] acid."
>
> I never found out if the Navy's "black" -- probably conceived as
> phosphated black finish -- and Moir's acid-dipped, hand-dried finish
> matched up on delivery. :-)
>
> I can get phosphated black fasteners from a place in Halifax that
> specializes in fasteners only.  When I asked for 10 flathead, 1/2" x
> 1-1/2", UNC, black bolts with a hex-socket head, they fetched them
> from the warehouse promptly and without comment.  Pretty good for a
> place with single orders waiting for the truck that filled a couple of
> pallets.  But they're 75 miles away in the middle of a heavily
> trafficed commercial neighborhood.  My local hardware store has
> plated, hot-dipped and stainless fasteners by the each or by the pound
> (which pretty good, now that I think of it) but no phosphate-black
> ones except carpet tacks.
>
> Maybe you can find a specialty house like that under "fasteners" in
> the yellow pages?
>
>
> - Mike
>
> Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~.
>                                                           /V\
> mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
> http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^
> _______________________________________________
> Manage membership or unsubscribe at:
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
> theforge mail list group photo site is
> http://www.photoaccess.com
> Login:  blacksmithblacksmith at hotmail.com
> password:  anvil
> ___________
>
>
>