This post almost began with a different headline: No Matter How Many Screws I have…, because of how I am never done buying screws and fasteners.
Yesterday, I was in the middle of a project when I realized I needed 1/4-20 x 5/8″ socket head cap screws and didn’t have any on hand. Luckily I was able to use hex-head bolts in a pinch, but I need to swap them out if I can. I placed an order with McMaster for what I needed, plus a few other items I was running short on.
Advertisement
Not 10 minutes later I realized I needed 1/4-20 x 3/4″ socket head cap screws for a different project. I ended up ordering a box of screws from Zoro Tools, and a few extra sizes and spares of commonly used fasteners as well. I also ordered two assortments – one with socket head cap screws, and another with button head.
I’m not the type of person that likes to cut longer fasteners down to size. In a pinch, sure, I’ll do this for one or two fasteners. But for any more than that it’s a time consuming hassle. Plus, I usually prefer using the right size and proper style fastener for the task.
I had never wanted to purchase an assortment because 1) you pay a premium for the variety, and 2) you pay for sizes you might not need. Most of the time I can get away with buying boxes of machine screws or construction screws here and there as the need for different sizes or styles becomes apparent.
With my recent Zoro order, I spent $53 on a 170 piece socket head cap screw assortment, and $62 on a 300 piece button head socket head cap screw assortment (before their St. Patrick’s Day discount). I *could* have purchased many more individual 100-count boxes, but it would have cost a lot more in the end and I would be stuck with a lot of fasteners I would never use.
Both assortments only have 12 sizes each, but other suppliers have much larger (and pricier) assortments. Ultimately, I figured the small assortments might come in handy, and if not they would still make for convenient self-contained fastener kits for when I’m mobile.
So what do you think about fastener assortments? Are they worth the money or do you strictly prefer buying boxes of fasteners as-needed as I typically do?
Advertisement
fred
I suspect we all have been guilty of buying fasteners in quantity or assortment based on speculation. Of course, that’s not to say that we ever buy tools this way!
There is some logic to buying in quantity from a reputable supplier – as the cost per item in boxes of 100 and/or assortments can be considerably lower that what you pay for those plastic pouches at HD or Lowes. I grew up in an age when some folks recycled useable hardware (screws, nuts etc.) from things they were discarding – sorting these things out and storing them. I had a great-uncle (born in the 1890’s – who had an entire wall in his basement shop with shelves adorned with glass jars full of such hardware. I took a more pragmatic approach over the years. Growing up in an age where at least one nearby big hardware store seemed to stock every imaginable fastener in their basement – for personal use I’d buy just what I needed with maybe 1 or 2 to spare.
When I got into businesses that relied on having inventory of fasteners – my pragmatism turned to ordering what I was told was running low in the Rotabins and storage drawers/shelves. Once computerized, inventory was much easier to analyze for use/possible theft etc. – and order accordingly. We ultimately espoused just-in-time ordering wherever possible to cut down on the value of inventory we were carrying – allowing our suppliers pay for more of the inventory costs. By seeing the number of contractors that stop at HD, Lowes, ABC, Fastenal etc. on a nearly daily basis – I’m guessing that many other neither have the space or inclination to hold large inventories.
Hang Fire
I have a two-pronged plan. I buy fasteners at flea markets, yard and garage sales, like my grandfather did.
The second part is just-in-time at one of the several local fastener shops. Anyone who lives or works near an airport probably has multiple fastener shops nearby. They tend to be buried in business parks but are happy to serve walk-ins.
Unfortunately HD is not part of my plan. Their drawers are managed by contractors, and no one manages their contractors, so most of the cubbies are empty, the rest have the wrong products in them. I’m not sure if this is a local problem or nationwide, but I’ve stopped wasting my time there. Of course they keep plenty of deck screws in stock.
mike
I try to steer clear of these not because they are expensive or anything like that,but I usually find it easier just to get the amount I need for a project.
Having a big assortment would probably be nice if they were used often,but for me generally not the case,and I can generally get most fasteners I would need from the rack at work.
Dave L
Bought a metric bolt/nut assortment at an auto parts store. With two Japanese cars it’s been a lifesaver when I lost a fastener or wanted to attach something to an existing threaded hole. Even if it was something NEW, I would tap the hole for a metric screw so things would be consistent. The assortment cost maybe $10.
What I WANT is one of those arrays of little drawers full of stuff like you see at hardware stores-in my basement.:) Actually, if you have the money you can do that, where UZI or Fastenal will set you up with a custom assortment and replenish it from time to time.
Yadda
For screws and bolts I have purchased one or two small off brand assortments. They come in handy when you are moving into a new house. Moving seems to loosen every bolt, screw, nut on almost all of your furniture and appliances. Many are lost. Over the years having survived 6 moves the assortments are always handy. In addition, a hanger assortment is also handy when moving into a new home and is still useful regardless of how long you live in the home.
Michael Quinlan
Assortments are great for homeowners, or for getting a quick supply of fasteners you MIGHT need. Being in a field service business, I find it worthwhile to overstock on fasteners I’ll likely need, and maintain assortments of others. Not having the right fastener on a job site can get expensive quickly if you have to make a trip to the nearest hardware store.
Brian
I have amassed quite a collection of fastener assortments over the years that I have put together myself using clear plano storage boxes. I go for the bulk purchase of the specific size I need and I usually try to stock sizes that I am likely to use. When I’m tinkering, I don’t have time to run to the store for a bolt. I seem to stock the assortment along the way; if I’m tossing something in the garbage, I’ll disassemble it first for some of the unique or useful hardware. It boils down to storage space, your organization skills, what you can afford and your “gotta have it” mentally.
Dave L
When you part stuff out, anything with metric fasteners is good to keep.
Joe M
I think I am biased on this one, because I’m a DIYer, not a skilled tradesman, or an industrial pro of any sort. But, that being the case… I think assortments are a great thing, IF, and I stress IF, you have never bought that kind of fastener before. Perhaps you’ve never owned the required socket set, electric screw driver, drill, or impact driver before, and now you own a spiffy new one. That is the time to buy an assortment. Once you get into buying the fasteners you use most often, the assortment box ends up just at-hand storage to throw around, cheaply, to keep fasteners you need at the site you’re working on.
It is important, if you’re going to use fasteners, to not only buy the assortment, but make sure you can source every individual in that assortment for individual purchase later. Once you have the source, and you have the test variety, whatever way you buy the fasteners you need is the best way to do it. If they’re out of stock, or more than you can afford in the box size you have available to you, I suppose an assortment that is cheaper, is a good deal to get the job done. But, ideally, you should have a supply that suits your needs. A box of fasteners that comes in the size you really NEED to keep doing what you’re doing. If the fastener you need only comes in either an Assortment with other sizes and types for $80, or comes in a box of 50,000 for $2000, then it doesn’t help you either way when you really need it.
But, I don’t have the experience with this that most of the rest of you do. It may be different for a pro with better sources.
DaddyO
I am a DIYer and have purchased screws, bolts and such in bulk assortments also. Usually the cost facter is less in bulk assortments, however, as mentioned above there is always the issue of those items you will never use that are included with the assortment. Now that I am in my late 40’s, I look at everything now based not only on how much my time is worth but also the price of gas it takes to do the errand. Usually the gas mileage from my Hemi Powered Dodge Truck makes alot of those decisions easy.
Armored Core
A fastener kit is a lifesaver if you are working on your own car. Think of it as buying an insurance policy against having to go all the way to the store (which may or may not have it in stock) or waiting for days for an online order to arrive.
A few things to note concerning automotive fasteners though:
1. Metric is all you need – unless you’re working on an American car built before 1970.
2. Make sure that you get fasteners strong enough for the application. On interior parts and small fasteners, this is not terribly important, but fastener grade needs to meet specifications for critical areas such as braking and engine hardware. For head bolts and other high stress hardware, ARP is always a safe bet.
3. Get zinc plated or stainless steel hardware if you can. Just be aware that stainless may need a little lube upon installation to prevent galling, and unless it is specifically treated and rated (once again, ARP has special super strong stainless fasteners available) , it will not be as strong as grade 8 hardware.
4. You may not be able to buy all the different bolts you need in one set (due to many varying lengths), but you can get all the nuts you need rather easily, as there are only a handful of sizes used.
5. Japanese cars use a lot of M6 and M8 thread fasteners. They also use M10 x 1.25 (fine) thread hardware, which is far less available than coarse thread M10 x 1.5 hardware.
6. Some fastener assortments are straight-up rip offs. Don’t hesitate to shop around. Amazon and Ebay are good places to start. The assortments at auto parts stores are usually reasonably priced though.
7. Some vendors have vehicle specific fastener “upgrade kits”. These can save you money.
8. Most home improvement stores and even many auto parts stores have a piddly selection of metric fasteners. You may be forced to shop online.
9. Some online racing outlets have created specialty fasteners out of exotic materials like titanium, A4 stainless and even inconel. These may be beneficial in some applications, but aren’t necessary for most.
10. A thread gauge is very useful in sorting through any random fasteners you own and want to hold on to.
11. If you don’t need the fasteners, you might have a buddy who will.
12. Don’t go overboard though. I wouldn’t spend more than $100 to stock up, and $20-40 is probably enough coverage for most folks.
matt
TSC is a decent source for common size fasteners. and you can buy what ever you want by the pound. I would just go there and make your own assortment bins.
Noah
The only assortments I buy regularly are the small ones of finish and trim nails for hanging pictures and such. Otherwise I almost always buy for the task at hand.
Bruce
As the manager of a maint. shop. I find that my guys spend more time digging through bins looking for fasteners that I can possibly justify. I spent several hundred dollars buying assortments in Metric machine, SAE machine, cap bolts and nuts, bit tip sheetmetal, hex head cap screws (SAE), and wood screws that all fit in a common cabinet. I tossed most of the junk accumulation and my guys don’t hunt anymore. They spend way more time actually fixing problems. Of course they live under threat of death if them toss crap in those assortments without sorting…. 🙂
Don
I go for assortments. I don’t limit it to fasteners. I include a myriad of items that as I find them at a good price I get them and have built specific storage for them. They have saved me more than enough times that I have no problem justifying them.
I am also a big fan of harvesting hardware before throwing something away that can’t be fixed. I have my “junk” box that it all goes into and again, saves me over and over.
I have a simple philosophy. If I can justify duct tape that waits on my workbench for a job to do, I can justify the proper hardware to give duct tape a day off.
Jerry
I like assortments. For one thing, they are generally sorted by size already, making it easy to find what you need. The other reason is because I live in the middle of nowhere (45+ minutes to the nearest traffic light) so running to get a couple screws or bolts isn’t something I like to do regularly, with the time and fuel comsideration. Assortments of commonly used items, saves me time in the long run. One thing I learned, is that the box needs to have either a part number, or size chart for every compartment, so you know exactly which items you are running low on.
Steve
I’m the only maintenance guy at my work. We have specialized equipment for retreading truck tires, most of it comes from Italy and some is made in the USA. When I first set up the maintenance room I ordered my own assorted boxes of SAE nuts, flat washers and lock washers in the sizes most common for our use. I didn’t order any bolts or machine screws at all due to the enormous variety of lengths in each size I might encounter, when I need a bolt or machine screw right away, Ace is a couple minutes away and I add it to the Zoro or McMaster list to get a box of them. For metric nuts I did order an assortment which is pretty complete, I’ve supplemented it with lockwashers in the appropriate sizes. Again no machine screws until I need a certain size.
Setscrews are another thing I only order a box of when the need arises, there are just too many threads, lengths and styles to even guess what I might need.
On another note, about 35 years ago I worked at a Vespa dealer. One day a guy comes in from some hardware outfit, it could have been Fastenal, I don’t remember, and wants to sell nuts and bolts. I pulled out the service manuals we had and handed them to him, told him to go through the books and find every size metric fastener in there and come up with an assortment and he would get our business. That was Friday, on Monday afternoon he comes back with bins and fasteners and wanted to know where to set it up. Back then you couldn’t run over to just anyplace and get metric stuff so it was all good.
Steve
So I guess my short answer is no. I don’t like assortments usually. I buy a box of whatever comes up that I need.
joe
In my line of work they come very handy.
With my o-ring assortment I have repaired many things since basically like 90% of equipment out there have o-rings. Of the top of my head…all home faucets do. Air hose connectors do. Most valves have them. Etc.
I bought tool bit assortments to that have come very handy too.
For the screws, I have many boxes of screws that I have saved over the years. From screws that I kept when taking apart things to left over screws from items purchased. I have them separated based on fine thread, coarse, size…etc. when I need a screw 80% probability that I have it in my bins.
As far as how much room they take is very small…so I don’t mind having them in storage.
joe
As an added benefit of having a bunch of different type of screws and what not, gives you more options.
One example that I can remember doing recently…I had to drill holes on an electric fence track. The track was was laid over concrete. The track had lifted in this area. It would create this loud noise when traffic went over it.
Bottom line I had to repair it. The proses require drilling holes on the track. Using my drill bit was not an option. I would have destroyed it on the first hole because it would have hit concrete. The answer to that was to use self-taping screws. i.e. used them as drill bit.
Another example I found, at least here in the USA, the screw that Milwaukee uses for their m18 fuel hook (to be able to hand it on belt) is the same as a screw that holds a wall outlet cover(in threat count).
Another thing that I found too is that the machine screws that hold the cabinet nobs in the kitchen are same count thread for electrical boxes that are in the ceiling for light fixtures…at least in this area where I work.
Thinks like that come very useful when trying to finish the job quick.
george
when I had a repair shop we basically had everything. but for home now I just get what I need and a few extra. soon you will have a good assortment without all the odd ball stuff to mess with. but I always have an assortment of longer bolts just in case I need to cut one down. saves a lot of time and gas.
Kevin
I think a few small assorted sets of, perhaps, stove bolts, screws and smaller nuts and bolts and lock washers, etc. are a smart move. I am using and have almost used the better part of a Sears assortment Dad purchased in the 70s. Of course, occasionally we would still run to the local hardware (whic is now gone).