Powder Coating, High-Heat Paint & Anodising: How We Finish Our Steel and Aluminium

Durban's climate is hard on outdoor metal: sun, salt air, summer rain. The finish on a piece of steel or aluminium is doing more work than most people realise, and we don't use the same finish for everything. Here's what's actually on each type of product, and why.

High-heat fire paint: our steel fire pits

The Fire Pit, Fire Pit XL and Victor Fire Pit are all carbon steel, finished in an industrial-grade, high-heat black/silver fire paint rather than a standard powder coat. Powder coating is excellent for durability, but it isn't rated for the direct, repeated heat a fire pit takes, so a heat-resistant paint is the right tool for the job here. Over time, and depending on how often you light a fire, the paint can wear where it's scratched, and isolated surface rust can appear. It's cosmetic, not structural, doesn't affect how the fire pit performs, and can be lifted with a bit of lemon juice and sealed with natural vegetable oil, more detail in our FAQ.

Anodised aluminium: the Fire Pit Mobile Pro range

The Fire Pit Mobile Pro and Mobile Pro Combo are built from 6mm GR6082 high-strength aluminium, anodised rather than painted. Anodising is an electrochemical process that thickens and hardens the natural oxide layer already on the aluminium's surface, it's part of the metal itself. Because aluminium doesn't contain iron, it doesn't rust the way steel does, full stop, regardless of scratches. That's also why the Mobile Pro range is roughly a third of the weight of our equivalent steel fire pits: aluminium is simply a lighter metal, which is exactly what you want in something you're meant to carry.

Electroplating and powder coating: decor, furniture and planters

Our planters, candle holders, wine racks, shelving, bathroom fixtures and Christmas pieces go through two layers of protection: electroplating, then powder coating on top. This combination is specifically chosen for pieces that live both indoors and outdoors, on a patio one season, a shelf the next, and need to resist corrosion in both environments without the heat-resistance requirement a fire pit has. As with any coated steel, a deep scratch or chip can eventually expose the base metal to light surface rust, but day to day this is our most weather-resistant finish for décor.

Stainless steel: grills and skillets

Our grills and grill-skillets are stainless steel, which is corrosion-resistant by nature thanks to the chromium in the alloy, so it doesn't need a paint or powder coat at all. That's also why they're dishwasher safe, something none of our painted or powder-coated pieces are.

Matching the finish to the job

None of these finishes is objectively "better" than another, each is matched to what the product actually has to survive: direct flame, constant handling and transport, mixed indoor/outdoor life, or food contact. If you're ever unsure which finish is on a specific piece, it's listed on the product page, or just ask us directly.