Stainless Steel Bird Spikes Specifications: What to Put in Your RFQ

A specification for stainless steel bird spikess is only useful if it is unambiguous to someone who cannot see your project. Most disputes on this product do not come from bad manufacturing — they come from a drawing that could reasonably be read two ways, where the supplier read it the cheap way and the buyer read it the expensive way.

This is a practical specification checklist, written around what the standards actually require.

The three specification families you will meet

Suppliers will quote against whichever family your market uses, and the part can usually be built to any of them:

• ISO 4892-2 — accelerated weathering (xenon-arc) for the polycarbonate base.
• ISO 9227 — salt spray exposure for the stainless pins.
• ASTM D638 — tensile properties of the base strip polymer.

The mistake is to specify a standard reference without specifying the class or grade within it. If you write only the standard number, the supplier will quote the lowest class that satisfies it. Write the standard and the level you want.

Dimensional data that has to be on the drawing

For this product the critical dimensions are: strip length 500 mm (19.7 in); pin height 110–150 mm; base width 20–24 mm; 30–60 pins per metre of ledge.

Three rules that prevent most dimensional disputes:

1. Give tolerances on every functional dimension, not just the nominal values. A nominal dimension with no tolerance is legally “as the supplier chooses”.
2. Say which dimensions are functional and which are cosmetic. Suppliers prioritise what you prioritise, and they cannot guess.
3. State the gauge or measuring method where a dimension is critical. Two inspectors with different methods will disagree about the same part.

Material and grade

The base specification is AISI 304 or 316 stainless steel pins in a UV-stabilised polycarbonate base strip. Grades commonly offered include:

• AISI 304 wire pins (standard)
• AISI 316 wire pins (coastal / chemical)
• PC base with UV stabiliser package
• flexible PC base for curved ledges

Ask the supplier to state the grade on the quotation, not on an assumption. Grade substitution is the single most common silent cost reduction, and it is usually invisible in the finished part — a 201 stainless component looks exactly like a 304 one until the second winter.

Surface treatment

The usual finish for this product is pins left bare stainless — never electro-galvanised, which stains masonry; base available in clear or stone grey.

Two points worth writing into the order:

• A measured requirement, not a process name. “Hot-dip galvanised” is a process; “70 µm minimum, tested by coating mass on three parts per batch” is a requirement.
• What happens at cut edges and drilled holes, if any. These are where coatings are habitually broken and where corrosion starts.

Type tests and routine tests

These are different things and are frequently confused in quotations:

• Type tests qualify the design once. On this product: pin pull-off force test (≥ 50 N per pin); base bend test 180° without cracking; salt spray 480 h on 316 pins.
• Routine tests are run on every batch: UV ageing 2000 h on the base with no chalking; count and spacing check per strip.

Specify which type-test reports you want supplied as documents, and which routine test results must accompany each shipment. On a first order, ask for the type-test report before you place it.

The failure modes your specification should be closing

• Pins pulling out of the base — pin holes moulded oversize or pins glued instead of mechanically anchored — fails after the first season of wind flutter
• Base yellowing and brittleness — recycled polycarbonate with no UV stabiliser package; the strip goes chalky within one summer
• Rust streaks on the façade — 304 pins sold as 316, or plain steel wire mixed into the bundle; every rust streak on stone is a claim

Each of these can be turned into one line in the specification. That is the real purpose of writing it out: not bureaucracy, but making the specific failure you are worried about somebody’s explicit responsibility.

A specification skeleton you can reuse

1. Scope: Stainless Steel Bird Spikes to be supplied as bird spikes, anti-bird spikes, bird control spikes, pigeon spikes, bird deterrent spikes.
2. Dimensions and tolerances: strip length 500 mm (19.7 in); pin height 110–150 mm; base width 20–24 mm; 30–60 pins per metre of ledge.
3. Material: AISI 304 or 316 stainless steel pins in a UV-stabilised polycarbonate base strip; grade AISI 304 wire pins (standard) or better.
4. Standard: ISO 4892-2 — accelerated weathering (xenon-arc) for the polycarbonate base; ISO 9227 — salt spray exposure for the stainless pins; ASTM D638 — tensile properties of the base strip polymer.
5. Finish: pins left bare stainless — never electro-galvanised, which stains masonry; base available in clear or stone grey.
6. Tests: pin pull-off force test (≥ 50 N per pin); base bend test 180° without cracking; salt spray 480 h on 316 pins; UV ageing 2000 h on the base with no chalking; count and spacing check per strip.
7. Marking and packing: strips nested 50 per inner box, 500–1,000 m per export carton; stainless grades sealed in poly to avoid tea-staining in transit.
8. Inspection: pre-shipment, against this specification, with photo evidence and test records.

Related: the stainless steel bird spikes quality inspection checklist turns this specification into an inspection plan you can hand to a third-party inspector.