Home Depot 1/4" Lag Screw

[The Daring Dufas]

I use saw wax. Stick a drill bit or screw in it and the little bit of lube will help it do its job. It has many uses.

TDD

[Doug Miller]

Ace. Tru-Value. Do-it-Best. Any hardware store with old wooden floors. The quality of the fasteners is markedly higher at any of those places, and the selection usually much wider, than at any of the big-box stores.

[Ed Pawlowski]

That in and of itself does not mean they are bad. China is very capable of making high quality parts if you are willing to pay for it. McFeelys has been very aware and has better specifications better than other places.

[Existential Angst]

Indeed, the mark of a good hardware store is where you CAN by stuff by the pound.

[Stormin Mormon]

I like my toys. I use cow teat syringes, given me by a farm boy I knew when I was in college.

[evodawg]

You mean like Cylinder Heads?

[evodawg]

Bar soap works well tooooo.

[JoeSpareBedroom]

No. Just being a pain in the neck. :-)

['lektric dan]

I grew up in a small town in Southern Oklahoma. We had a "real" hardware store on Main Street. Locally owned, at least 3 generations. Everybody had gone to school with at least one of the Stolfa kids. Didn't look like much from the front. When you walked in the front door, it had one of those little "tinkle" bells on a spring at the top. Hardwood floors about 100 years old that creaked as you walked across them. You could get help, advise (and you could rely on it being accurate), or just opinions about everything from the wether to the next local or college football game. The smell varied as you walked to different parts of the store; a chemical-fertilizer smell was predominant, with paint and varnish in one corner, a greasy- oily-gasoline smell over by the lawnmowers and garden machinery. They had some of everything, nuts and bolts to gaskets for pressure cookers, I even bought asbestos sheets to fix a space heater. I asked one of the guys once if they had a molasses gate, and without a blink, he asked "what size do you need?".

Then WalMart came to town. The manager complained that the high quality cutlery he carried cost more from his distributor than the most expensive stuff WalMart carried at retail. They just couldn't compete, and when WallyWorld put in a Super Store, it was the final nail in the coffin. I really hated to see them go. This was repeated in several other locally owned businesses, from stationary stores, to small sporting goods, to auto parts. We had a family-owned auto repair shop. We finally closed after almost 20 years. The folks that bought us out made it for another 3 years.

[RicodJour]

It's very odd that you quote some> I tightened up a 1/4" lag screw that I bought from Home Depot earlier thi= s

Isn't that curious? He used a small ratchet, choked up on the handle, and drilled a pilot hole. What are you suggesting he did wrong - forget to pray?

R

[CW]

That varies from store to store. The one closest to me is quite good as for layout. What is a PIA is that parking spaces have been getting smaller and smaller.When you pull in to a parking spot, in a Subaru Impreza, and have to be careful not to hit the car next to you with your door as you get out, it's getting a bit tight. The spacing between rows is getting smaller too. In my F250, I have to park out in "no mans land". I can see the day when it will be impractical to park anything larger than a motorized skateboard.

[notbob]

Hey Range! I didn't know you could drive a nail. ;)

nb

[keithw86]

So who is to "blame"? Walmart or the consumers who demanded a cheaper knife?

[notbob]

All is relative. Grade bolt, pilot hole, lengh of wrench handle, strength of operator, number of beers, etc. Frankly, I was surprised to hear of such a thing as a 1/4" lag bolt.

nb

[Steve B]

New to Usenet, huh?

[Tony]

If I need any quantity of hardware I drive right past Lowes and go 5 miles further to the good old hardware store. I'm not so sure the low grade stuff is any better, but it's surely less expensive! And if I buy the grade 5 or 8 stuff, I know it's also a lot less expensive. Just last week I was buying some 1/2" x 4" bolts and mentioned to the cashier (who is also one of the brothers that own the store) how I passed Lowes to get there. They were $1.18 and he knocked off the 18 cents to make them $1 each. Later stopped at Lowes for something else and checked their bolt prices. The same 1/2" x 4" bolt at Lowes, $2.34.

[keithw86]

That also varies from store to store (they don't always own the buildings or the land). When I lived in VT I rarely went into the WallyWorld because the lot was crazy. HD shared the same lot but that end wasn't as busy so was less of a human obstacle course. Stores in NE OH had no such problems, nor do the ones here in AL.

[Steve B]

Any true craftsman examines the use that the fastener or part will be subjected to, then adjusts the quality or grade of the part. It is common practice in automotive where in some applications, a harder stronger grade of fastener is required.

There is not a thing wrong with the soft steel flimsy stuff they sell at HD. The fault lies in the fact that you used it incorrectly. 1/4" lag bolts have a very low twist off pressure. But now you know that. How is this going to affect your future purchases? How is this going to affect whether or not you drill a pilot hole?

This is YOUR fault, and no one else's. Home Depot sells a lot of crap, but if you know that going in, you don't put a cheater pipe on it during install.

Steve

[Existential Angst]

wow.... they rec a 7/32 pilot hole for hardwood!

The stainless fasteners link seems to have good prices.

[Tony]

I have some (probably smaller) syringes I use for oiling tight spots. Somehow almost every time my mother is visiting she somehow spots the box of new ones and in a quivering voice asks me what they are for. I tell her again and show her the ones that have oil in them already. I think the one time I had actually just given blood so I even had a mark on my arm! Yes, a mother will never stop worrying about her children.