What we buy
- Door hardware — hinges, closers, handles, locks, cylinders, panic bars, floor springs.
- Cabinet hardware — concealed hinges, drawer runners, lift systems, handles, knobs.
- Structural fixings — anchors, bolts, brackets, channel, screws, in stainless and zinc-plated.
- Sliding systems — tracks, rollers, soft-close mechanisms for doors and partitions.
- Glass hardware — spigots, clamps, patch fittings, spider fittings.
- Finishes — PVD, powder coat, anodised, brushed and mirror stainless, satin brass.
What "grade 304" usually means
Most of the hardware on the market is described as 304 stainless. Some of it is. A meaningful share is 201, or a 304 with a thinner wall than the drawing, or a zamak casting with a stainless look.
None of this fails on installation. It fails two winters later, inland from a coastline, when the hinges on forty doors have all spotted at once — and the replacement cost is ten times the saving on the original order.
How we handle it
Where the specification names a material, we ask for the mill certificate for the actual heat, and check the grade and thickness against the order. Where there is no certificate, we either test or we decline to call it 304.
Salt spray performance is the other number worth having in writing. A stated hour count to a named standard, from a report that names the product — not a generic sheet covering the factory's whole catalogue.
For visible hardware, finish consistency across the order matters as much as the finish itself. We check a spread of pieces from first, middle and last cartons, because a batch that shifts colour halfway through is not visible on a single sample.
Questions specific to this line
How do I know I am actually getting 304?
+Three levels of proof, in increasing cost: a mill certificate for the heat (cheap, sometimes borrowed), a chemical spot test on a production sample (fast, catches 201 substituted for 304), and a full lab spectrum analysis (slower, definitive). For architectural projects we usually do the spot test on a sample from each batch and keep the certificate on file.
What salt spray rating should I specify?
+It depends on the exposure: inland interior, coastal exterior, or a bathroom are three different requirements. Specify hours to a named standard (ASTM B117 or GB/T 10125) and state the environment. Beware of a figure quoted with no test method — 500 hours means nothing without knowing what was tested and how it was judged.
Branded hardware is expensive. Is Chinese hardware a false economy?
+Sometimes it is, sometimes the branded item is made in the same town. The difference is usually consistency: a brand protects its name across batches, a small factory may not. If you are specifying 400 doors, the discipline of checking certificates and testing each batch is what makes unbranded viable. If you cannot inspect, buy the brand.
Can you match a finish from an existing project?
+Send a physical sample of the existing piece, not a photo. We will get finish plates made and send them for comparison, then seal the approved one. Matching a five-year-old weathered finish exactly is usually impossible — expect a close match and plan for it.