Junk hardware at HD

[Mark & Juanita]

McFeely's is great for most stuff, but if you want real brass screws, with the real look of brass, Jamestown Distributors:

No affiliation, just a satisfied customer

[Jeff P]

I recently bought a box of 2" #8 steel woodscrews, made by Crown*, from HD . About one third of them stripped or broke off at the head when I was driving them into or taking them out of soft pine and 3/4" plywood. The driver bit fit the slots perfectly. I probaly should have pre-drilled the holes, but I thought they would work fine to screw a piece of plywood into a 2x4. Usuall I use drywall screws for that sort of thing, but I thought I'd try the wood screws... What a pain it was.

(*Crown Bolt? Something like that. )

[Greg G.]

The heads on their Chinese carriage bolts pop off with the least bit of tightening. ( < 10ft.lbs ) Had to replace some missing hardware on the garage door, and went through 5 or 6 of these before giving up and digging through the junk drawer. The old, nasty ones worked fine.

Greg G.

[DexAZ]

I've twisted off my share off brass screws. Mostly those little bitty ones used for heirloom tool projects from WOOD mag. The good folks at WOOD must have had feedback from others who were breaking those little suckers off too, as they added a small "side bar" to one of the projects suggesting that one "pre-tap" the holes using a steel screw before installing the brass ones. That ended my problems of broken brass screws. I also, as someone else suggested, use a well fitting screw driver and take a little more time and care as I drive the brass screws home. Buying my screws from ACE Hardware seemed to help too.

DexAZ

[Edwin Pawlowski]

That's a good idea.

As a follow up, I just finished screwing the hinges on. Bought screws from the local hardware store. This time I'm 11 1/2 for 12. I did strip one of the heads driving it, but as long as it never has to come out, I'm OK. None broke using the same pilot holes. Ed [e-mail]

[Ron Magen]

Dex & Ed, Old 'trick' . . . Marine bronze is a bit harder than brass, but still no way as hard as steel.

Another point to consider . . . your use of 'Brass' is not structural, but cosmetic. Get a copy of McFeeley's catalog {a 'good read' in itself}. One of the screw types they offer is a steel screw with a Yellow Zinc finish. This is NOT the usual 'cheap brass paint' but gives what they call a 'modest' amount of resistance to corrosion - 100 hours of salt spray to 10 percent red rust.

I've used some quite long ones to install & frame a new back door {after I raised it 5 inches due to some backyard flooding !!}. That was a couple of years ago, and they still look like new.

Should do quite well for 'home bound' projects.

Regards & Good Luck, Ron Magen backyard Boatshop

[Tim Douglass]

Their lag bolts are total junk. I recently installed a stair rail and

3 of the six 1/4" lag bolts broke when I snugged them up. Went to 3/8" and didn't fare any better, but by that time I had gotten all the brackets on. I do wonder how safe they are if someone grabs the rail .

Tim Douglass