Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I was at West Marine buying something (I don't remember what) and I decided to look at their stainless steel screws. 40 cents each! I stopped by Lowes for something else and checked their inventory. Their prices weren't too bad.

When I got home I thought I'd try eBay. There is a guy in FL that is selling variety packs of stainless screws for a really good price. He had a pack of 300 assorted screws for a buy it now of $12.25. I went ahead and bought a couple. I don't know if there is a big difference with all these stainless fasteners, all I know is that there is a big difference in price.

The guy I bought mine had a username of twopalms and has an ebay store. You can probably find it if you search by sellers. I have no affiliation with him: he just treated me right, sent e-mails promptly, and shipped quickly.

Fastenal has them for around $5-6 per hundred if you have one close to you.

Geron

You get the Super Shopper Award for the day!

When they arrive, post pictures and let us know what you think of them.

Having grown up on the Oregon Coast, I discovered that anything with marine (or aircraft for that matter) attached to it will inflate the cost by a magnitute of ten.

Geron wrote:Fastenal has them for around $5-6 per hundred if you have one close to you.

Geron

I just looked and there is a store near me. Not counting shipping, his prices are pretty comparable. He does combine orders for one shipping price. I'll post some pics when I can.

Hi all

do beware that there are stainless screws and stainless screws as I found to my cost.

There are many different grades of stainless steel, I bought a pack of stainless screws for a job (based on price), this particular chassis was to big to be made in my shop (luckily), a few days after fitting the fold out balcony I noticed that the the screws holding the hinges were going orangey brown not at all what you would expect with stainless, I had chance to get the better quality (and more expensive) screws and replaced the lot, it would have been embarrasing if this had been delivered and rusted.

I learned a lesson from my friendly fastener guy, before using take a magnet and check your screws, lower quality Stainless will jump to the magnet and will also rust!, the good quality ones are totally NON magnetic.

GeorgeTelford wrote:Hi all

I learned a lesson from my friendly fastener guy, before using take a magnet and check your screws, lower quality Stainless will jump to the magnet and will also rust!, the good quality ones are totally NON magnetic.

Glad you mentioned that. I wondered why my magnet would not pick mine up. That's how I separated them if they became contaminated. The SS are Non Magnetic.

Geron

Hi Geron

Some SS are magnetic though, poor quality SS, I am not sure how they get away with it but the poor quality ones are still classed as stainless steel.

To anyone contemplating buying stainless screws....you're much better off buying quantities through a fastener distributor, better quality/ grade....I had a bunch left over from the last 2 boats....so used them....buying a hundred or so from the local Ace...will get you about 500 from a distributor...and you can use them on lots of other projects...West Marine typically has a better price over True Value, Ace...etc..at least that is what I found..You are still probably going to have to pick up the odd one here and there, so the local guy will be the best bet...I buy Sharkz, marine rated, 1 inch flat phillips head...they have a double screw to them and are serrated to cut into the wood without predrilling....I use them over and over....as I hold the material in place with them while the epoxy cures...then back them out and put in a plug...then reuse the screw somewhere else, a lot of them do get left in however, especially in structural areas...If working with Oak....I definately would recommend stainless as the tannins in oak will cause a steel screw to rust really quickly...especially in Red Oak....PS....Sharkz screws really go into a tire well!...Just my experience....Doug

I bought mine from Fastenal as well. By the bag of 100. We have several stores in the RTP, NC area and even one way north of Raleigh where I live. They are high quality SS.

If you can't find anybody that sells good quailty screws try http://www.chesfast.com/
Chesapeake Marine Fasteners, Inc.
they will ship and the screws are very strong, they don't deform when your pilot hole is too small.

Dan

OK here are the pics:
My package included 300 total screws 25 of each:
6X1/4 8X1/4 10X1/4
6X1/2 8X1/2 10X1/2
6X3/4 8X3/4 10X3/4
6X1 1/4 8X1 1/4 10X1 1/4

They are all non-magnetic, my winning bid was $10.00



Guess which ones are the regular ones. I ordered oval heads on accident, I didn't need so many. I went ahead and ordered pan heads and flat head sets .

Looks like u got a good deal. For future ref, www.mcfeeleys.com carries square drive screws in 2 grades of stainless, as well as regular and galvanized.