About two months ago, I asked what you thought about screw and fastener assortments. At the time, I bought a few small socket cap screw assortments “just in case” I needed an unplanned size that I didn’t already have available for a project.
Those screw assortments actually came in handy, but I still had to order some in-between sizes along the way.
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Finally fed up with not the exact fasteners I need on-hand, I ordered about 68 packets and boxes of socket head and button head cap screws from Zoro in #4-40, #6-32, #8-32, #10-24, and #10-32 sizes. Seeing as how 65 were packs of 100 and 3 were packs of 50, that’s 6,650 screws.
~$180 for 6,650 screws and a 68-size/style assortment. This is less than I would have paid for any assortment of this size. Most packs of 100 screws cost under $3 each, but I also bought two 50-count packs of Kerr Lakeside USA-made 1/4″-20 screws ($17 total) that skew the breakdown a bit.
I hadn’t intended on buying so many screws, but I was ordering a few #8-32 screw sizes to replenish my stock and the low prices seemed too good to pass up. I might take 25 screws of each size to fill a few organizers and put the remainder into storage.
These are inexpensive imported alloy steel black oxide-finished screws that should be suitable enough for regular use. If I need stronger screws, I could always order brand-name screws from McMaster, Zoro, or another industrial supplier.
Most of the fasteners I’ve bought and used in the past few years are 1″ in length or shorter, so I stopped there. I figured that, if I ran into an application where I need longer screws, I could buy them as-needed.
Guess what… this week I needed #10-32 x 2-1/4″ screws. $9.56 plus tax and shipping from McMaster for a pack of 25.
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There is no such thing as having a large enough screw assortment. Maybe at the industrial level, but at the DIYer and home hobbyist level? Nope. There’s no escaping it – I’m going to have to keep buying fasteners as-needed for the rest of my life.
jay k.
A little off subject, but this post made me wonder why certain socket sets – skip sizes (particularly in mm). Can you explain?
Stuart
Just to be clear, I’m talking about socket cap screws, which are installed or loosened with hex keys, not sockets.
It seems to me that a set’s sizes depend on the common fastener sizes that a particular brand’s customer base typically come across. It’s about economics and avoiding sizes that most customers might not need. Or at least this is what I think.
Those who want certain skipped sizes can usually buy them separately. Otherwise the price is higher for everyone, which could lose customers to competing brands and sets that do skip sizes.
Dan
With metric generally 8, 10, 13, 17, and 19 are the ones you want, some of the sizes are uncommon, depending on what standard the bolts are made to there can be 3 different head sizes.
Steve
18 is also a must for anyone working on a car, I say include that, and skip the 19 (virtually the same as 3/4 for people with SAE sets).
jay k.
Thanks to all…
Jerry
Don’t forget 12mm. My Honda ATV has oodles of fasteners with a 12mm head.
Josh
I run into this constantly. I’ve been trying to deliberately overbuy fasteners for projects so I’ll have some handy “for the next time”, but somehow whatever I’m working on needs something the next size larger/longer/smaller than what I already have.
Allen
I don’t know how old you are, but I’m 60, and after a lifetime of doing what you say, I am now in a place where I have everything I need.
If I can find it.
Mac
Too funny. Me too. Sigh.
Hang Fire
Me too… in SAE. But now I need Metric more and more often.
don
I agree. I agreed the last time you had a similar post. I’ve accumulated alot of fasteners of all types over the years when they are on sale. Saved me countless headaches. I als9 like to salvage hardware from items past their useful lives. Sometimes thes are hard to find bits in the hardware store.
Joe M
I completely agree! Though, sometimes I have the opposite problem, it is often exactly the same problem as you! I never seem to have the fasteners I want for a given project. My problem, though, is that I often over-buy the fasteners I actually need. I built a coffee table a while back, and I used an old Fouton frame for raw materials. I bought a 350 pack of screws, assuming I would need a few dozen to attach all the slats that would become the table top and shelf. Turns out I needed all of 8 screws to hold the whole thing together due to a tongue-and-groove I didn’t notice when I planned this all out.
Now I have a box of unused screws for other projects. And when I go to do another project? I can never find the fasteners I want or need for it, despite having over-bought other fasteners. Either the project turns out to not need them, or the project requires a different size. Can never have enough fasteners!
Anton
Organizing them into where you can actually find them is a separate issue.
I can see the merit in having screws on hand that you use on a regular basis, but I think stocking the equivalent of variety that surpasses the local hardware store may be too much. How many of those 6650 fasteners will you use in the next year? 5 years?
I suppose distance to a hardware store might be an issue as well. Since I live about a mile from Home Depot and Ace, and about 2 miles from Fastenal, I can grab anything I need in about 20 min. But if that drive was 10mi plus I would approach it differently.
Also I’d rather spend that money on tools now and have the excuse to buy fasteners for each project.
Stuart
I’ll definitely use a good deal if the fastener sizes. Some sizes I might need multiple boxes of, while for others I might only need a few.
A lot of the time I need a size that is not available locally. Other times, I don’t want to pay $1 and change for 2 screws at HD.
Steve
Fastenal, really?! The one in Joliet, IL stocks absolutely zero fasteners in metric sizes, I’m glad yours is better. Since almost everything uses metric fasteners (almost everything on/in your post ’80s car) that’s what you need to be able to get. A 14 x 80mm socket heat cap screw you will not find at Home Depot or Ace, not that you personally will ever need one be sizes like that we often do at our shop.
Hang Fire
Around here Fastenal is useful, while HD has empty or mixed-up drawers “sorry those are maintained by a contractor” which means no joy for the buyer.
tyler
Hey stuart can I get you to do some best price hunting for me on an m18 grease gun with a slim battery and a charger
Stuart
Price across the board for 2646-21CT is $269. Home Depot might have $10 off code around Father’s Day, maybe not. Any of Zoro’s coupon codes should work on it. If you’re in a rush, you can get $15 off easily. If not in a rush, wait for 15% coupon code or battery. If you can snag it with 20% coupon, assuming same $269 price, that would be $215 and change. 25% and 30% off coupon codes are less frequent but would save you more if you’re up to waiting it out.
KL
LOL at Home Depot and Ace. Those are hardware stores and will have the basics but when you’re ordering specialty fasteners (that would only be stocked by a true fastener supplier -and Fastenal rarely counts) I too order larger quantities. Examples might include stainless machine screws in certain sizes, set screws, shouldered and/or fully threaded graded fasteners, tamper-proof Torx etc. Other times what would cost $6 for qty 2 at Ace is $18 for qty 50 thru MSC. I’ll take the 50 please.
I build a lot of stuff w 10-32 so I keep a lot of those on hand. Try to avoid 10-24 though!