Coffin Hardware Materials Compared

A coffin fitting has to do three things at once: carry a load, hold fine ornament detail, and take a finish that still looks right after months in a warehouse. No single material does all three equally well, which is why our catalogue runs across zinc alloy, steel, stainless steel, brass, aluminium alloy, ABS and PP rather than settling on one.

The short version: zamak for detail, steel for load, stainless and brass for outdoors, ABS and PP for cost and weight.

Zamak #3 is the material behind most of what we make. It is die cast, which means the molten alloy is forced into a steel die under pressure, so it picks up ornament detail that would be impossible to stamp and reproduces that detail consistently across a long run.

After casting, parts are hand polished and then electroplated. The plating is what you actually see, but plating cannot hide a poorly polished casting, which is why the polishing bench matters as much as the casting cell.

• Best for: handles, claws, arms, end caps, crucifix, cross, corner castings, ornament
• Strong point: fine detail, dimensional stability, takes electroplating well
• Weak point: heavier than plastic, and not the material for a piece that will live outdoors for years
• Typical finishes: gold, nickel, antique brass, antique copper, chrome

Where a handle has a long bar, that bar is usually steel or stainless steel rather than cast metal. A 19mm to 25mm steel tube or round bar carries the bearing load across the full length of a coffin side without adding the weight a cast bar would.

Stainless steel 304 and 316 come into their own on pieces that live outdoors. A cross or crucifix fixed to a tombstone is exposed to weather permanently, so corrosion resistance matters more than casting detail. We can produce some articles in steel, stainless steel 304 or 316, or aluminium alloy.

• Steel: handle bars, reinforcing cores inside plastic mouldings, stamped fittings
• Stainless 304 and 316: outdoor crosses, monument fittings, pieces handled repeatedly
• Aluminium alloy: lighter cast parts where weight matters more than detail

Injection moulded ABS and PP exist in this catalogue for one reason: a coffin that will be cremated within days does not need cast metal fittings, and the freight cost of metal across a full container is real money.

The trick is that a moulded part does not have to look plastic. After moulding, the part is vacuum metallized, which deposits a genuine metal layer, then colour coated to gold, silver, copper or bronze. Some ABS parts can also be finished in antique brass or antique copper tones, which is what lets a plastic ornament sit next to a plated metal handle without clashing.

For load, a plain moulding is decoration. A reinforced moulding with a steel bar or steel wire inside is a working handle, and that is the version to specify when the piece has to be lifted.

• ABS: better surface, takes metallizing and antique tones well, used for ornament and handles
• PP: lower cost, tougher, often used with a steel bar or steel wire for cremation handles
• Both: light, low unit cost, no plating line involved

If you are not sure which route a particular design should take, send us a photograph. The answer usually depends on whether the piece carries weight and whether it will ever be outdoors.