Finishes
Seven finishes, and where each one is allowed to go.
Every item in the catalog carries one of these. The useful part of knowing which is not metallurgy — it is knowing what survives outdoors, what must never be bolted to what, and the one thing that will destroy it. All of that is below, per finish.
Black Phosphate
A conversion coating over hardened steel. It holds lubricant well and takes paint without a primer, and it is a mild sacrificial coating rather than a barrier one — indoors and in dry structure it lasts indefinitely, exposed to weather it will bloom orange within a season. Interior use only, and that is not a defect but the specification.
3 items in this finish — Bracken Structural Screw 6 × 80, Bracken Structural Screw 8 × 140, Site Fixing Kit.
- Exposure
- Dry interior only
- Pairing
- Not against treated or green timber
- Service life
- Indefinite indoors
- What destroys it
- Weather. It is a sacrificial coating, not a barrier — outdoors it blooms orange within a season and keeps going
Hot-Dip Galvanised
Steel dipped in molten zinc, giving a thick barrier coat that keeps working after it is scratched because the zinc corrodes in preference to the steel. The coating is visibly uneven — runs, spangle and matte grey patches are normal and are how you tell hot-dip from a thin electroplate.
1 item in this finish — Thorn Coach Screw 10 × 100.
- Exposure
- Exterior, inland
- Pairing
- Never with stainless in a wet joint
- Service life
- Decades in ordinary weather
- What destroys it
- Chlorides. Within a mile of salt water it is merely adequate, and road salt will find the thin spots
Zinc Plated
A thin bright electroplate, clear-passivated. It is a dry-interior finish with a fraction of the coating thickness of hot-dip, chosen where the appearance matters and the environment is controlled. Do not substitute it outdoors because it looks similar in the box.
11 items in this finish — Gant Sleeve Anchor M10 × 90, Hollin Cavity Toggle 5 mm, Kiln Injection Resin 300 ml, Byre Bar Clamp 600, Byre F-Clamp 300, Byre Spring Clamp Set, Marl Construction Adhesive 290 ml, Marl Polyurethane Wood Glue 500 ml, Marl Neutral-Cure Sealant 300 ml, Kiln Abrasive Pack, Gant Fastener Case.
- Exposure
- Dry interior only
- Pairing
- Not with galvanised in a wet joint
- Service life
- Indefinite indoors
- What destroys it
- Being mistaken for hot-dip. The coating is a fraction of the thickness and it looks almost identical in the box
A2 Stainless
304-grade austenitic stainless. Corrosion-resistant in ordinary damp and outdoors inland, non-magnetic, and softer than plated carbon steel — an A2 screw will cam out or snap at a torque that a hardened screw takes without complaint. Drill and pilot accordingly.
- Exposure
- Damp and exterior, inland
- Pairing
- Anti-seize against other stainless
- Service life
- Indefinite away from chlorides
- What destroys it
- Torque. It is softer than plated carbon steel and will cam out or snap where a hardened screw would not notice
A4 Stainless
316-grade with molybdenum, which is what buys resistance to chlorides — coastal air, pool rooms, road salt. It is the finish to use where A2 will eventually pit, it costs roughly twice as much, and outside those environments the extra buys nothing.
1 item in this finish — Fell Marine Bolt Set M8 × 80.
- Exposure
- Coastal, pool rooms, road salt
- Pairing
- Anti-seize against other stainless
- Service life
- Indefinite, rinsed
- What destroys it
- Being run down with an impact driver. Stainless galls under speed and heat, and a galled nut never comes off
Hardened Carbon Steel
Through-hardened and tempered carbon steel, ground and honed, left unplated on the working faces. It takes and keeps an edge far better than stainless, and in exchange it will spot with rust if it is put away wet. Wipe it dry and it outlasts you.
5 items in this finish — Rowan Bench Chisel 25 mm, Rowan Marking Knife, Slate Pry Bar 380, Slate Claw Hammer 20 oz, Bench Starter Kit.
- Exposure
- Interior, wiped dry
- Pairing
- Not struck against hardened steel
- Service life
- Decades, oiled
- What destroys it
- Being put away wet, and levering. It is hardened for an edge, which means it chips rather than bends
Waxed Canvas
Heavy cotton duck, paraffin-waxed for water resistance, with riveted stress points. It marks and creases readily and the wax will transfer onto a light surface in heat — that patina is the material behaving normally, not wearing out.
1 item in this finish — Fell Tool Roll.
- Exposure
- Showers, not sustained rain
- Pairing
- Not against light-coloured surfaces in heat
- Service life
- Years, re-waxed
- What destroys it
- A machine wash. It strips the wax out completely and it cannot be put back
The one that catches people out
Never put zinc and stainless in the same wet joint. A bright zinc washer under an A4 bolt looks completely ordinary and is a galvanic cell: the zinc is the less noble metal, so it corrodes preferentially and it does so fast, and in eighteen months the joint is loose with no visible reason. The same rule kills the reverse substitution — a stainless screw through galvanised sheet eats the sheet around it. If a joint can get wet, keep it to one metal family. If you remember one thing from this page, that is the one.
How the load figures behind each finish were arrived at is on the load ratings page, and the full specification is on every product page. Questions: help@livwellhardware.com.