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Changing bolt finish, galvanized to zinc oxide

I need 1/4" by 1.75" long lag bolts that have the gold colored zinc oxide finish. I have been waiting on a supplier to get them from a plating company in Wichita KS for six months. A fellow on the phone at a fastener supply place told me to get some dichromate and I could make them myself out of galvanized bolts. If this is true where do I get the dichromate and where can I find out the process.

James Spence
construction - Manhattan, Kansas, USA
2003

It's about halfway true. I've never heard of a zinc oxide finish and suspect it's somewhat inaccurate slang and what you really want is bolts that are zinc plated and yellow dichromated.

You may not want to do this yourself because dichromate is a hazardous waste and you would need to treat any rinsewater, etc., and be licensed to do so.

What you might really want is simply to find a plating shop. Most any shop that does zinc plating would be happy to gold dichromate the lag bolts for you on a pretty quick turn around. Probably the very fastest way would be to buy boxes of zinc plated lag bolts from Home Depot or another stocking source and have a shop that does barrel zinc plating strip, plate, and dichromate them for you. For a premium I bet they'd do it in 24 hours. Go to our jobshops directory and search for 'barrel zinc'.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2003