Coastal Bronze H-Hinge Bolt 20-500 Heavy Duty Solid Bronze Removable Pin (2 1/2" Square Head Fastener)

What is Bronze? Bronze is an alloy that contains, in its purest form, 90% copper and 10% tin. Coastal Bronze, for all of its products, consistently pours only pure bronze. Bronze's introduction over 5,000 years ago revolutionized metal work and launched the Bronze Age. By adding tin to copper, workers created a metal that was very strong and impervious to corrosion. Bronze artifacts have been found dating from as early as 3,500 BC. How is Bronze hardware different from Brass hardware? Brass is also an alloy of copper, but differs from bronze in that its primary additive is zinc instead of tin. Brass is similar to bronze in hardness but suffers from the process of dezincification. Dezincification of brass is a form of selective corrosion that happens when zinc is leached out of the alloy leaving a weakened porous copper fitting. This process begins upon exposure to heat or humidity. As the zinc migrates from the copper it leaves a porous structure susceptible to cracking and corrosion. As a result, brass hardware may eventually exhibit persistent red spots (zinc oxide) and become more brittle and crack with age. Brass is commonly used for door hardware because the melting temperature is lower than bronze making it easier to cast in an automated production. The high melting point of bronze necessitates casting in sand (a more difficult process) since the metal molds used in brass production would melt. A new sand mold is created for every individual casted part for Coastal Bronze. Once installed outside, Bronze hardware will weather gracefully, darkening from bronze to brown and eventually to a blue/green 'verde' color. These colors compliment the browns and greens in nature and do not distract from the natural beauty of the landscape. Be an informed consumer, when shopping for bronze hardware make sure you are purchasing a solid metal that contains 90% copper and 10% tin. If the metal is Copper and Zinc. then it is not bronze, but in fact brass.

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