Hi All, Seems like an age since I last wrote to this post. I've got a lot of American white oak to fix; skirtings, steps, and some furniture. Obviously I don 't want to use steel screws because of the staining risk, but am wondering if the plating on quicksilver screws (zinc plated) or goldscrews (passivated) is enough to avoid staining. Alternatively is it OK to use stainless screws with oak. I'd rather avoid brass screws where I can cause of cost and slot head., Advice much appreciated. Thanks.
I can probably say without contradiction, that the quicksilver or golscrews will be no good. I've also seen some brass ones stain oak(maybe brass alloy-cheap). Stainless would probably be what most here would recommend(even then, you should check quality). There is another sort of metal but I just cannot remember what it is. I'm sure someone will bring it up. Mr. HandyAndy - Really
as ha says you need no ferrous metal[brass phospher bronze] or a good electoplated coating like stainless throw a few "coated" screws in salt water for a few days and see them rust ????if they dont if not you may be ok but they may come back to bite you in the bum
Brass screws are available with pz heads but not sure what quality would be like for this job. Better safe than sorry, go for stainless steel.