waxman Posted September 29, 2010 Report Share Posted September 29, 2010 i have been trying to find some copper staples to attach a bronze insect screen to some 3/8 thick frames i made for a screen door.I can not find any so i guess i maybe some small copper brads would work. Wanting something that wont cause corrosion between the two.This is my first screen door and i built it like the old time craftsman,1 and 1/8 quarter sawn white oak with full mortise and tenon and it is a round top ,,, much more work then i thought it would be, Hats off to the trim carpenters that built some of these screen doors in the late 1920 s.I just want it to last because the the bronze screen and bronze diagonal mesh i used in the panels cost me a crazy 370.00 bucks.Any suggestions appreciated,Thank you. joe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawrence Brown Posted September 30, 2010 Report Share Posted September 30, 2010 First- you probably want bronze, not copper, fasteners. There are a lot of different alloys of brass and bronze nowadays, but they are basically similar enough that they will work together as far as corrosion goes. If you go to copper, it will patina differently, and copper is also too soft to make a decent fastener, at least in the long-term. Second- the bad news is that if you want to find brass or bronze staples, they don't appear to exist any longer unless you get a manufacturing company to specially stamp them out for you. There a lot of boat builders and restorers looking for them because they used to be quite common in boatwork. Unfortunately, everyone's gone to stainless steel because it's cheaper. Doesn't look nearly as good, in my opinion. However, if you want bronze nails or tacks (bronze is basically just a harder formulation of brass), those can still be found, though it will still take a bit of searching. Your best bet is, again, boat building supply places. Don't know where you live, but if there is one near you, talk to them. They probably won't have anything in stock, but they may know where to send you. The one link I found in a search of some of the boat forums is these guys: R.J. Leahy From what I could tell, they also may or may not have what you are looking for, or may just not be listing it, but from the posts I've read, they seem to do big volumes of brass fastener trade, so it might be worth contacting them to see what they say. Hmm, maybe I should go into the hand-crafted bronze staple business... Anyway, hope that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulMarcel Posted September 30, 2010 Report Share Posted September 30, 2010 JamestownDistributors.com has bronze staples. They are for mounting electrical wire on a boat and have a small piece of plastic sheathing on the underside of the staple, but you could easily slide it off. Search for 'bronze staples'. They also have a number of copper nails, tacks, and roves (turns a nail into a tack in a way). Search for 'copper nails'. Coincidentally, I was flipping through their catalog over lunch for the past couple days. I don't build boats, but there are a lot of things in that catalog I could find useful Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawrence Brown Posted September 30, 2010 Report Share Posted September 30, 2010 Well, there ya go The forums I was reading said "I looked all over Jamestown distributors and couldn't find anything", so I passed that one by. I'll have to keep that link for when I start the next sailboat. Oh, and for those that are lazy and want the direct link: Bronze staples Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulMarcel Posted September 30, 2010 Report Share Posted September 30, 2010 M, you need a copy of their catalog. Go order a paper version and flip through it. I learn stuff reading their catalog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechwood Chip Posted September 30, 2010 Report Share Posted September 30, 2010 I went to McMaster-Carr, selected "nails", selected "material: brass", and found about 20 choices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulMarcel Posted September 30, 2010 Report Share Posted September 30, 2010 Dang, that's my new favorite site for the past couple months and I completely forgot to give it a looksy. I love copper so when I saw the selection at JD, I stowed it in my memory. McMaster's ships fast, too, outta California. I will say, though, that it bugs me to order stuff, pay for it, but not really know the final price since they add the shipping when they pop it in the mail. For reference, a box of 1/4"-24 2.5" brass screws (25 ct) was $5 S&H; likely that's the minimum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Z. Posted September 30, 2010 Report Share Posted September 30, 2010 Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. In the boat world, especially in the salt water boat world, brass is not used, due to the dangers of electrolytic corrosion. Based on your description, I'd use monel staples... Jamestown has them. In fact, I once found them at my local Home Depot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted September 30, 2010 Report Share Posted September 30, 2010 Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. Exactly! Bronze and brass will both darken with age. Both look like brass when new or polished. If you want to keep the shinny new look spray with lacquer. Personally i like the aged look. We just made some bronze rail for project here at work (steel fab). The architect just called for a matte finish. I'm arguing with him right now that the rail is made from bronze as he called for not brass. All he sees is the fake dark bronze colors in the home depot and that's what he thought he was getting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawrence Brown Posted September 30, 2010 Report Share Posted September 30, 2010 I went to McMaster-Carr, selected "nails", selected "material: brass", and found about 20 choices. Cool. Great link. I'll keep that for other stuff. yeah, you can still find lots of choices for nails, but as for staples, there weren't any listings for brass or bronze, though They did list copper coated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawrence Brown Posted September 30, 2010 Report Share Posted September 30, 2010 Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. In the boat world, especially in the salt water boat world, brass is not used, due to the dangers of electrolytic corrosion. Based on your description, I'd use monel staples... Jamestown has them. In fact, I once found them at my local Home Depot. Interesting. The more I research brass and bronze, the more confused I get. I was just thinking of the asthetics; the brass or bronze would probably patina closer to the bronze screen than straight copper. If electrolysis is an issue, then from what I've read, your suggestion of monel would probably be better. I've never used the stuff, will it patina the same, or is it more silvery? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dryhter Posted October 1, 2010 Report Share Posted October 1, 2010 My link i have been trying to find some copper staples to attach a bronze insect screen to some 3/8 thick frames i made for a screen door.I can not find any so i guess i maybe some small copper brads would work. Wanting something that wont cause corrosion between the two.This is my first screen door and i built it like the old time craftsman,1 and 1/8 quarter sawn white oak with full mortise and tenon and it is a round top ,,, much more work then i thought it would be, Hats off to the trim carpenters that built some of these screen doors in the late 1920 s.I just want it to last because the the bronze screen and bronze diagonal mesh i used in the panels cost me a crazy 370.00 bucks.Any suggestions appreciated,Thank you. joe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waxman Posted October 1, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2010 i have been trying to find some copper staples to attach a bronze insect screen to some 3/8 thick frames i made for a screen door.I can not find any so i guess i maybe some small copper brads would work. Wanting something that wont cause corrosion between the two.This is my first screen door and i built it like the old time craftsman,1 and 1/8 quarter sawn white oak with full mortise and tenon and it is a round top ,,, much more work then i thought it would be, Hats off to the trim carpenters that built some of these screen doors in the late 1920 s.I just want it to last because the the bronze screen and bronze diagonal mesh i used in the panels cost me a crazy 370.00 bucks.Any suggestions appreciated,Thank you. joe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waxman Posted October 1, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2010 thanks for all the help.i found some monel staples.are these stainlees steel? if so will they cause a problem with bronze?Here is a not so good picture of my door,no screen in yet of course. hope to stain it this week. joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.