Plated Screws

Plated Screws

Selecting the proper finish for your screws is a new experience for many woodworkers. After all, most of the time you don’t have a choice! If you don’t like bright zinc, or it isn’t suitable, it’s just tough luck. We offer a wide variety of plated screws — not to add to the confusion — but to make sure you can have the most appropriate fastener for your task! Click on any picture below to see available screws for each plating.

		Black Oxide is a very popular plating because it has a very uniform black color (perfect for exposed screw heads on “High-Tech” styled products), and it provides just enough corrosion protection to prevent rusting of imported fasteners during their 3-week boat ride. Plated with Black Oxide for purely decorative reasons.
		Statuary Bronze is a decorative finish designed to match the antique appearance of old cabinet hardware. Primarily dark bronze, with highlights of copper. Highlights increase on screws exposed to wear or abrasion.
		Yellow Zinc resembles Bright Brass plating, but appears more iridescent. It offers a modest amount of corrosion resistance (approx. 100 hours’ salt spray to 10% red rust).
		Bright Brass is a purely decorative finish designed to generally match the color of most cabinet hardware. It provides little corrosion resistance, although in highly acidic woods like red oak, it can prevent the dark blue stains that sometimes form around an unplated screw.
		Clear Zinc is another largely decorative plating, although it does offer a salt spray rating to 10% red rust of about 50 hours. A good choice for interior applications when working with acidic woods like red/white oak, or when the screw will be countersunk and plugged. It is a poor choice for most exterior applications.
		NoCoRode PLUS is a steel screw with the most corrosion-resistant plating we offer. In manufacturer conducted salt-spray testing it has exceeded 1,800 hours, making it almost 20 times more corrosion-resistant than standard Yellow Zinc plating. It works well with most outdoor woods, including ACQ pressure-treated, but use caution with Redwood, Western Red Cedar or similarly acidic woods — these tend to stain, sometimes even with stainless! And unlike the plating on hot-dipped galvanized screws, NoCoRode PLUS doesn’t chip and break. This process can have a minor amount of recess fill so we recommend using our NoCoRode Undersized bits. Best of all, the plating is tan colored, so that it “blends” with many pressure-treated materials.

All about Plated Screws & Corrosion Resistance

Actually, this is the (very) condensed version of "all you need to know about plating and corrosion resistance"!
Customers often ask about the strength of our plated versus unplated screws, and the relative corrosion resistance of the various platings. We only send out our standard hardened steel Square Drive screws for plating, so our plated screws have the same dimensional and strength specifications as our unplated screws. The accompanying chart shows the relative corrosion resistance of our screws. Note that application factors, such as proximity to other materials, often have a large impact on corrosion resistance.

More Corrosion Resistance PLUS Camouflage!

Our special NoCoRode PLUS plating process is now more corrosion resistant than ever, especially in ACQ pressure-treated lumber, and the screws are painted to help them blend into the decking material. NoCoRode PLUS is a proprietary plating process designed to provide industry-leading corrosion resistance without the recess buildup that makes installation so frustrating.

NoCoRode PLUS screws are not recommended for boat building. Using these screws with Cedar or Redwood siding generally results in staining; stainless screws are a better choice.