Tarnish resistant door hardware

I know this, I bought a Kwickset lockset for a new front door, in polished brass, with the elongated handle, "trigger" style latch and a matching deadbolt. It came with a one-year warranty. Within 6 months (there's no storm door) the brass looked like pot metal.

Whatever you decide on, make the purchase on a separate receipt, and save it along with the packing material, instructions, warranty and box.

It seems even well-known, class-A hardware like Baldwin and Shlege get a bad lot every now and then.

Some manufacturers offer a "lifetime" guarantee against brass tarnishing. How they achive that I have no idea since there has to be a coating to prevent tarnishing and coatings wear away.

There is always nickel...

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I'm no metallurgist but it seems to me that brass, copper etc... will tarnish. I suppose there might be stuff that looks like brass, etc...that might not tarnish. The easiest way to keep stuff from tarnishing is to coat it with lacquer. That's pretty much what most hardware mfg's do as far as I know. I actually purposely tarnished some brass hinges for a hutch that I made and then coated them with spray on lacquer. They haven't lost their tarnish and it hasn't gotten worse either. Cheers, cc

There is a new process used by some that bonds the finish at the molecular level and those companies offer a lifetime warranty, usually you get a 1 year or lifetime, the 1 year process is going to fail fast.

Thanks to all for the prompt replies. I'll check carefully before purchase. Again, I appreciate your help.

Phil