TEAGUE

solid bronze door hardware

Natural Bronze
Our door hardware currently comes with two types of Natural Bronze finishes: light bronze finish and a dark bronze finish. We plan on adding an even lighter finish in the future. Finish plays an important role when selecting solid bronze door hardware. We do not apply a protective coating to the surface of our door hardware, simply because no clear coating lasts as long as the raw bronze. The light and dark colors we offer are created by adding alloys to the ingots during the smelting phase of the hardware's foundry process.

Your Teague door hardware finish will remain relatively unchanged for quite a few decades. If you live near the coast, the aging process speeds up with the combination of salt and moisture. Our natural finish will change over time, just like any other exposed piece of metal, but it changes slowly compared with other hardware finishes.

Click here to read about our finish’s return policy.

Natural Bronze Finish

Other Door Hardware Finishes

Competing door hardware brands offer different lever and knob finishes in other ways.

Living Bronze Finishes
Some door hardware brands, such as Rocky Mountain Door Hardware, put a chemical on their bronze called a patina. Patinas are a chemical that adds color or texture to the bronze by corroding the bronze compound. It makes the bronze finish less consistent over time. Some living finishes look incredible in the showroom, but after four or five months the patina changes colors with weather and human touch. This can cause rapid finish aging in one place and slow aging in other places. So if you have a double front door, the door lever that people turn to open the door will look totally different over time than the inactive lever that no one touches. Teague Products does not use living finishes.

Oil Rubbed Bronze
Despite its name, oil rubbed bronze is actually brass. Teague Products does not sell oil rubbed bronze products. We think it’s ugly, light weight, and cheap. It’s made by taking a brass base and plating it with copper. The copper is then rubbed with an oil finish until it looks like dark chocolate.

Antique Brass Finish
Brass has been a common finish since the nineteenth century. It's considered a high maintenance finish, requiring frequent polishing to keep it shiny and clean. Even with constant polishing, unprotected brass will tarnish (brown spots) in time. For some, the tarnish is desirable. Natural brass is supposed to tarnish so obsessive renovators might prefer unprotected brass. This type of finish was incredibly popular from 1960-1990.

Nickel Brass Finish
Due to its resistance to tarnish, nickel was the preferred finish from the 1880’s up until chrome came onto the scene in the 1930’s. Its popularity waned as chrome became the favorite alternative to brass. However, nickel has experienced a resurgence in recent years. Nickel finishes range from the more chrome-like polished nickel finish to the more stainless steel-like matte nickel finish. Polished nickel is a smooth lustrous finish. It is sometimes brushed to create matte or satin nickel finishes. The brushing highlights the beauty of the nickel and creates a low maintenance finish which hides scratches, fingerprints, and water spots.

Stainless Steel
Stainless steel is a combination of steel alloys and chromium (chrome). It shines like silver when new but its appearance can dull over time.