Rome Fasteners - Hardware Supplier Review

[eby]

So I've been on a quest to use materials and components made in the USA for my projects. It's a point of pride for me, and also a selling point when talking to people about my items. I've been fairly happy with Hermann Oak veg tan, and I've been very happy with Maine Thread's polycord, so those areas are sorted. Finding quality metal hardware has been a real pain, however.

I have a Gold Star press, so I wanted snaps and rivets that fit my existing dies. I have a strong dislike for plated steel, as a lot of my things go outside and will eventually rust here in perpetually soggy Western Oregon. I finally found Dot Fasteners and Rome Fastener Sales. Dot never got back to me regarding samples or country of origin. I called Rome and talked to Georgia, who sent me sample snaps and rapid rivet samples almost immediately. No charge for a handful of each to check on my press. So far so good! The samples appeared to be high quality and did indeed work with my dies, although I had to slightly file down the ligne 20 snap socket die.

Here's where things got strange/frustrating. I emailed the sales email address asking for a quote (there are NO prices anywhere on their website) and got no response. I emailed Georgia, copying sales, asking the same info and got no response. About a month later I called back and was transferred to Robert who apologized and took down all the part numbers and my email to send me a quote. I got nothing. A few weeks later I called again and got Francine, who again took the part numbers and promised to email or call that day or the next with the quote. She called me back a couple hours later with a detailed quote for all the items, which was great. They have a $125 minimum on the full order, no minimums on individual items, and I should email my order with part numbers and quantities to Robert, which I did. I got no response or confirmation and had about totally given up on them, but about a week later Francine called to get my payment info (credit card) and said my order was shipping. I told my wife, "I've never had to work so hard to give a company my money!" Several days later my order arrived (complete and correct, you can bet I checked it...) and I'm pretty pleased with the quality. I ordered ligne 20 & 24 snaps, some small rapid rivets, and some snap hooks all in both solid brass and nickel over brass.

Ligne 20 brass and nickel over brass.

Ligne 24 brass and nickel over brass.

As for a recommendation, I don't quite know what to say. So, here are the bullet points for you to decide if you want to try them...

Service: Obviously getting pricing and ordering is not as easy as it should be. I don't know if my experience was standard, or if I just had some especially bad luck. They were also out of stock on several less common items (nothing that was critical for me to get) and, again, I don't know if that's a normal thing.

Quality: Good, but also a couple of odd inconsistencies. The nickel L20 sockets are stamped "ROME * USA", while the brass ones are stamped "ROME * MILFORD". The nickel L20 eyelets are stamped "ROME * USA" very clearly, while the brass ones are stamped "ROME * ROME" very lightly. I like having them marked, but it's odd that they don't all match. The L24 parts have no markings. The brass parts all appear to have a clear coat protectant on them, which only time will tell if it holds up. The brass is not polished looking, like a plated finish would be. That's fine with me, but some might object.

Selection: Very good. Lots of variations on snap cap or eyelet lengths, lots of rivet cap sizes and post lengths. Really more combinations that I think you can find anywhere else I've seen. They also have a lot of base metal and finishes available. I wonder how hard it would be to order more exotic combinations, given my difficulty in placing a very standard order.

Price: Not bad. More than crappy Chinese steel, certainly, but not terrible. Solid brass small rapid rivets are about $0.25 each. Solid brass L20 snaps are roughly $.29 each. They do charge a few cents more for the nickel plated brass, and I imagine other metals/finishes are priced accordingly. They do offer brass or nickel plated steel for a fair bit less, although I didn't get prices. Again, not exactly cheap, but I think fair for quality brass made in the US of A.

Long review, but I know others are interested in finding quality and/or domestic suppliers. I'll definitely give Rome my business when I'm due for my next resupply and hope that the service issues were an anomaly.

[Wicked Welts]

Thanks for the great review, I think you covered it dern good!

I especially like the details on their service which is the part that has me on the fence with dealing with them directly. Right now I'm trading same-day convenience (guess where) for consistency and it's getting annoying when I have snaps that set perfectly one after the other, after the other, but some will have less than half the holding power of others for no apparent reason. I'm sure it relates to the old 'you get what you pay for' deal but I'd don't think the lousy service you had would overcome that for me. Someday, maybe...grrrrrr.

[Kd Custom]

Awesome review maybe they are a newer company? I'd hope so with that kind of service... Hopefully you can give us an update when you put some through wear and tear!

[eby]

So, one update to my review:

I was contacted through PM by an Ohio Travel Bag rep, who read this post, saying that they (OTB) are a Rome Fastener distributor. I can't figure out from OTB's catalog what they carry of Rome's, so I'll have to give them a phone call and check on pricing and what they carry. If there's not too egregious a markup at OTB it would probably be well worth dealing with them; plus they only have a $30 minimum order, which could help a lot in some cases.

Awesome review maybe they are a newer company? I'd hope so with that kind of service... Hopefully you can give us an update when you put some through wear and tear!

Rome has apparently been around for over 60 years, but I really just get the impression they don't typically deal with (and aren't set up for) small off-the-street customers. The samples I got a couple months ago are holding up well on some daily use items, but, like you, I'm pretty curious to see how they do over the long haul. I just put some brass line 24 snaps on a hatchet sheath that should get banged around pretty good, so that should be one test.

I still think Rome has the potential to be a good supplier for what I do, there just seems to be a little learning curve to dealing with them direct... I'll post updates if I have any.

[Wild Bill46]

I'm sorta interested, By that I mean "you say, ROME" several times and you mention a female name "Georgia"

Coincidentally - I live not far from ROME, GEORGIA. Where is the ROME you mention ? or is that a company name ?

sorta confused --- Wild Bill46

[TinkerTailor]

I'm sorta interested, By that I mean "you say, ROME" several times and you mention a female name "Georgia"

Coincidentally - I live not far from ROME, GEORGIA. Where is the ROME you mention ? or is that a company name ?

sorta confused --- Wild Bill46

http://www.romefast.com/

[Wild Bill46]

Thank You Tinker,

I'll keep this address in Connecticut, New York, NOT Ga for future need, (hohoho)

I thought as much for the address question, when I asked for info, trying to be humorous.

I'll try to keep a check on this thread for further developments.

Again Thanx --- Wild Bill46

[nrk]

So I've been on a quest to use materials and components made in the USA for my projects. It's a point of pride for me, and also a selling point when talking to people about my items. I've been fairly happy with Hermann Oak veg tan, and I've been very happy with Maine Thread's polycord, so those areas are sorted. Finding quality metal hardware has been a real pain, however.

I have a Gold Star press, so I wanted snaps and rivets that fit my existing dies. I have a strong dislike for plated steel, as a lot of my things go outside and will eventually rust here in perpetually soggy Western Oregon. I finally found Dot Fasteners and Rome Fastener Sales. Dot never got back to me regarding samples or country of origin. I called Rome and talked to Georgia, who sent me sample snaps and rapid rivet samples almost immediately. No charge for a handful of each to check on my press. So far so good! The samples appeared to be high quality and did indeed work with my dies, although I had to slightly file down the ligne 20 snap socket die.

Here's where things got strange/frustrating. I emailed the sales email address asking for a quote (there are NO prices anywhere on their website) and got no response. I emailed Georgia, copying sales, asking the same info and got no response. About a month later I called back and was transferred to Robert who apologized and took down all the part numbers and my email to send me a quote. I got nothing. A few weeks later I called again and got Francine, who again took the part numbers and promised to email or call that day or the next with the quote. She called me back a couple hours later with a detailed quote for all the items, which was great. They have a $125 minimum on the full order, no minimums on individual items, and I should email my order with part numbers and quantities to Robert, which I did. I got no response or confirmation and had about totally given up on them, but about a week later Francine called to get my payment info (credit card) and said my order was shipping. I told my wife, "I've never had to work so hard to give a company my money!" Several days later my order arrived (complete and correct, you can bet I checked it...) and I'm pretty pleased with the quality. I ordered ligne 20 & 24 snaps, some small rapid rivets, and some snap hooks all in both solid brass and nickel over brass.

image.jpeg

Ligne 20 brass and nickel over brass.

image2.jpeg

Ligne 24 brass and nickel over brass.

As for a recommendation, I don't quite know what to say. So, here are the bullet points for you to decide if you want to try them...

Service: Obviously getting pricing and ordering is not as easy as it should be. I don't know if my experience was standard, or if I just had some especially bad luck. They were also out of stock on several less common items (nothing that was critical for me to get) and, again, I don't know if that's a normal thing.

Quality: Good, but also a couple of odd inconsistencies. The nickel L20 sockets are stamped "ROME * USA", while the brass ones are stamped "ROME * MILFORD". The nickel L20 eyelets are stamped "ROME * USA" very clearly, while the brass ones are stamped "ROME * ROME" very lightly. I like having them marked, but it's odd that they don't all match. The L24 parts have no markings. The brass parts all appear to have a clear coat protectant on them, which only time will tell if it holds up. The brass is not polished looking, like a plated finish would be. That's fine with me, but some might object.

Selection: Very good. Lots of variations on snap cap or eyelet lengths, lots of rivet cap sizes and post lengths. Really more combinations that I think you can find anywhere else I've seen. They also have a lot of base metal and finishes available. I wonder how hard it would be to order more exotic combinations, given my difficulty in placing a very standard order.

Price: Not bad. More than crappy Chinese steel, certainly, but not terrible. Solid brass small rapid rivets are about $0.25 each. Solid brass L20 snaps are roughly $.29 each. They do charge a few cents more for the nickel plated brass, and I imagine other metals/finishes are priced accordingly. They do offer brass or nickel plated steel for a fair bit less, although I didn't get prices. Again, not exactly cheap, but I think fair for quality brass made in the US of A.

Long review, but I know others are interested in finding quality and/or domestic suppliers. I'll definitely give Rome my business when I'm due for my next resupply and hope that the service issues were an anomaly.

feel for you.

personally, prefer this company - http://www.buckleguy.com/

very, very good quality hardware. I've also spend a lot time figuring out a good supplier.

Decided to go with the mentioned. I just love them, simply love ))

Edited March 16, 2016 by nrk