[Shop-talk] Nuts and Bolts

[Elton E. (Tony) Clark]

Race car guru and author, Carroll Smith, wrote in his book on hardware
something like:  "Gather up every bolt, nut and washer that is NOT at least
grade 5 and throw them in the trash so you'll never be tempted to use
inferior hardware on your project".

I can't get THAT serious about hardware; I work on race cars but I also
work on the lawn mower now and then  I DO have a bolt bin with about 100
little drawers and I DO occasionally sort out the bucket of used hardware
and put the PERFECT ones back in the bin.
  It doesn't take that much to stock a bolt bin;  Start with the basic
sizes you use most.  I use 1/4, 5/16, 3/8, 7/16 and 1/2 and I separate the
bins of each size into NF and NC threads and "long & short (under and over
1 1/2").  Ten more bins for nuts and washers.  If you find a place that
sells good bolts by the pound and just buy 4 or 5 of each size your
investment will be small and you'll save many a trip to the hardware
store.  So far, all my metrics land in one or two bins and I have to dig
for them.
Tony in Texas






On 18 August 2013 16:46, Jeff Scarbrough <fishplate at gmail.com> wrote:

> Here's a question for discussion...What do you do with all the old
> nuts and bolts you collect?
>
> Do you throw them in one big coffee can?  Sort them somehow? Or
> (gasp!) toss them and buy new whenever you need them?
>
> Been cleaning the shop today, and pondering buying one of those HF
> tumblers and polishing all my old hardware...
>
> Jeff Scarbrough
> Corrosion Acres, Ga.
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