Home center stainless screw warning

I bought some stainless screws from Home Depot to secure the tap tower to my bar.

It turns out they're only "stainless finish", not actual stainless steel screws. I don't remember how they were packaged, but it certainly wasn't obvious that they weren't stainless.





I had to buy real stainless ones from McMaster-Carr. The difference is obvious.



A little Barkeeper's Friend and a few new screws later, we're back in buisiness.



-Joe

Those screws were sold as stainless? They look like a normal screw to me...you know, the zinc covered ones. That sucks... Which big box was it? I think I want to avoid buying screws there.

Bummer! Those look like zinc plated. Whenever I have been in a pinch stainless hardware from both Lowes and HD have worked out well. They are always packaged in small bags that say stainless and cost 2-3 times the plated hardware prices.

McMaster has both of them beat as far as prices are concerned and their shipping is always extremely cheap.

Sorry you got burned, but looking at threaded section of those old screws it is obvious they weren't stainless steel...

Cheers!

day_trippr said:

Sorry you got burned, but looking at threaded section of those old screws it is obvious they weren't stainless steel...

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They didn't look like that when I installed them a year ago. They looked like stainless.

...

-Joe

TheFlyingBeer said:

They are always packaged in small bags that say stainless and cost 2-3 times the plated hardware prices.

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And yeah, this is what I bought. They were in the little bags above the normal machine screws and said STAINLESS on them.

I had the same problem with a different stainless machine screw I had bought to fix a knob on my wife's slow cooker, but thought maybe I'd grabbed the wrong one.

So either I got two sets of bolts at different times that were bagged wrong, or they're made of the crappiest stainless, ever.

-Joe

if it doesnt say the word "steel" after "stainless", then its not stainless steel. i see products all the time claiming a "stainless" finish, or "color: stainless" - it just means it visually looks like stainless steel, its not at all a warranty against staining and has nothing to do with what its made out of. thats just how they get away with it.

you wont find many actual stainless steel nuts/bolts/hardware at big box stores, its too expensive. the best you will find is stainless steel plated. most things just have a 'stainless' finish (meaning brushed zinc-plated mild steel).

audger said:

you wont find many actual stainless steel nuts/bolts/hardware at big box stores, its too expensive.

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They have stainless steel parts in the pull-out drawers at Lowe's. They are definitely expensive, but they are also definitely stainless steel.

edit: the ones packaged up in little plastic bags or boxes hanging on the wall are just stainless finish.

Walker said:

edit: the ones packaged up in little plastic bags or boxes hanging on the wall are just stainless finish.

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Egg-zactly. Making folks aware of this was my point in creating this thread. The packaging does not make it obvious (if it even says it at all, I'll check next time I'm there), and they certainly looked stainless when I installed them.

-Joe

Holy crap sandwich. I didn't know that. I know I have purchased those before, but now I can't remember where they are... damn it.

Boerderij_Kabouter said:

I know I have purchased those before, but now I can't remember where they are...

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Ditto... I might have used some of these "stainless" washers in my bulkhead fitting for my cooler mash tun...no bueno.

On deck: Zinc-plated GalvanAle. Mmmm...

Stainless steel will rust too.