Screws, bolts, nuts, and fasteners in general, should have a golden hue. I always planned on using a titanium nitride coating for its excellent mechanical durability and lovely golden appearance. Unfortunately, I haven't yet found anyone who can coat screws smaller than M3, so my second choice: real gold.
  I was a bit worried it might scratch or wear off easily, but it seems I needn't have been. The gold is electroplated over a nickel underlayer, as stainless steel can't be plated directly. So now the screws aren't "nickel-free," but on the plus side, the underlayer smooths out and sort of polishes the surface. Parts can be galvanised in bulk in baskets, which is the main advantage over titanium, where ideally each part would need to be on a separate hanger. Nonetheless, I still consider gold a temporary substitute, with the goal being titanium nitride coating. For now, I've got a first test batch of about ten thousand gold-plated screws and nuts, and the quality is good. My only gripe is that they dumped everything into one bag, so I'll be playing Cinderella for a few days.
  I've had another interesting experience with the screws. Somehow, I seem to have bought up all the M2x4 stainless steel screws on the open market. I'd never have thought such a thing was possible, and certainly not that it would only take less than a kilo of screws to do it.

26 July 2015