For the reference of all of you vintage boat builders and restorers that are looking to identify the vintage fasteners in their project I've purchased, scanned, and uploaded a complete copy of the T.E. Conklin Brass & Copper Co catalog from 1951. Within the catalog you can find many of the items that were used in your vessel, as Conklin was a supplier to Chris Craft, Century Boats, and numerous other boat builders and shipyards from days gone by.

As stated in the catalog, T.E. Conklin was founded in 1860 in the state of New York, and at the time of the catalog's printing they had of 5 million pounds of non-ferrous metals in stock (Fair Wind Fasteners is only slightly under 5 million pounds. Slightly...) As the largest non-ferrous fastener supplier on the Eastern Seaboard, T.E. Conklin supplied the United States Navy, various large shipyards, and small boat builders alike.

With their specialty of non-ferrous metals, and Fair Wind Fastener's specialty of silicon bronze fasteners, we here at Fair Wind can supply many of the items that were popular in their catalog.

When I first came across this old catalog from 1951 I knew I had to have and hold it. Apart from a love of vintage ephemera, I also had a fastener company and knew that many of my customers would be just as interested in what the catalog contains as I am. With an older version of the catalog in the Smithsonian, I really feel like I have something "cool" here. Unfortunately, the scanned version doesn't come with that old paper smell, but you can get a look at what was sold by Conklin nearly 70 years ago and certainly identify some of the vintage fasteners that may be in the boat you're working on. I hope it's not only entertaining, but informative.

 

 

• Download a copy of the 1951 T.E. Conklin Brass & Copper Co Catalog here

 

You'll find lots of items in the catalog that we carry here at Fair Wind Fasteners such as:

Copper Common Nails

While T.E. Conklin is no longer around, we here at Fair Wind Fasteners still carry many of the harder to find fasteners for boat building, restoration, and repair. For example, if you're doing some clinker or lapstrake boat building you'll need solid copper nails to make in to rivets and you won't be able to just walk in to your local Home Depot to get them. The good news is, we have the copper nails you'll need here and they are the of course curated to be the highest quality available.

 

 

Round Head Bronze Wood Screws

The same goes for many of the items in that you'll find in the catalog. Round head bronze wood screws are much harder to find than their flat headed counterparts, and as a matter of fact we actually carry a larger selection of them than T.E. Conklin ever did. They make great accent pieces and are used for their aesthetics when the screw head will be showing, but also can be used when you don't want a countersink underneath the head. You can read all about the difference between round, flat, and oval head wood screws in another one of our articles here.

 

 

Bronze Machine Screws

Technically a bolt, but regardless they are hard to find! Conklin sold bronze machine bolts/screws in round and flat head. but we have machine bolts in round, flat, AND oval head. They're great for all kinds of fastening above and below the waterline, and also work well in electrical applications since bronze is an excellent conductor.

 

Bronze Lag Screws

Here is another item that you won't be able to just walk in to your local Lowes or Home Depot and pull off the shelf. Lag screws are great for fastening large timbers on a boat, but we also sell a lot to custom furniture crafters as well as for architectural uses on high end homes. We currently carry hex head lag screws up to 12" long!