The Stainless Steel Screws used in the assembly and construction of our furniture is 18-8 commercial grade stainless steel that has additional "Xylan" protective and cosmetic coating. Although the quality of the hardware has a high level of corrosive resistance, the hardware can show some sign of corrosion in salt air environments. Standard zinc plated bolts, washers and nuts are hardware that have been plated in zinc. The zinc corrodes at a slower rate than the steel, so it is rust resistant. Besides the beautiful look the zinc plated hardware adds to our treated pine products, it also has more practical benefits as well:

•Alkaline zinc-nickel plating was found to be the most salt-spray resistant of the several non-cadmium platings tested.
•Alkaline zinc-nickel plating provides equal or better corrosion resistance as cadmium plating.