The Bolt Depot Newsletter

Valuable Fastener Tips

These tips on fastener use will help get the job done. If you have a fastener related tip or trick to share, e-mail it to us at newsletter@boltdepot.com.

Driving Wood Screws and Brads

Before driving a wood screw or brad, you can rub a small amount of beeswax on it.  This makes the screw or brad easier to drive.  If you don’t have beeswax on hand, you can run it through your hair.  The screw will pick up some of the natural oils with the same effect. 

Hammering Small Nails

Driving small nails and brads often results in smashed fingers.  To avoid this, you can hold the nail or brad with a set of small pliers.  If you don’t have any pliers on hand, you can wedge it between the teeth of an old comb.

Fixing Loose Screws

Replacing loose wood screws with a lager size isn’t always possible or desirable.  Try removing the screw and putting a wooden match stick or small sliver of wood in the hole.

Strange sizes - 5/16-20 and 1/4-24?!?

It’s happened to the best of us. Your project is in pieces and you need a replacement screw. It looks like a 5/16ths screw but it has 20 threads per inch.  That’s not a standard size and you are starting to wonder if you will ever be able to find a replacement and get your project back together again. Don’t worry, 8mm metric screws are almost indistinguishable from 5/16ths and the standard 1.5 pitch is almost exactly 20 threads per inch. So if it looks like 5/16-20 it’s actually metric 8mm x 1.25.

The same is true for what appears to be 1/4-24 (another non-existent size) which is actually 6mm x 1.0.

By the way, if you find determining bolt sizes and thread pitches are slowing down your project, Bolt Depot’s thread gauges or free printable layover charts can make it easy.

Exclusive Custom Assortment Offer

Just in time to save you from another tie or pair of socks on father’s day, we have an exclusive promotion just for our newsletter subscribers. Place an order over $20 and get a free plastic assortment box. Your choice of 6, 12, or 18 compartments (An $8.19 value).

Place an order over $40 and get two.

Place an order over $60 and get 3!

Perfect for putting together a custom fastener assortment so you never have to hunt for the right fastener again.  Then, keep them all organized in your free boxes.  Now that’s a gift you can use.

To get your free box or boxes enter the following promotional codes during checkout:

6 Compartment Box – FDNL6
12 Compartment Box – FDNL12
18 Compartment Box – FDNL18

If you are eligible for more than one box and would like different layouts, just enter more than one code.  For example, if you are placing an order over $40 and want a 12 compartment box and an 18 compartment box just enter FDNL12, FDNL18 in the promotional code field during checkout.

This offer is only good until June 30th 2006 so make sure you don’t miss out. Limit 1 order per customer (a maximum of 3 free boxes).

New Fasteners at Bolt Depot

Anchoring Products

In response to a number of customer requests, we have recently added a full selection of anchoring products (16 different types, over 260 individual products) to our continuously expanding catalog.

Coming Up Next… What You Want

Many of the fasteners we carry and useful features that make shopping Bolt Depot so easy are the result of suggestions from our customers.  Drop us an email at Newsletter@BoltDepot.com or use our online feedback page at http://www.boltdepot.com/Feedback.aspx and let us know what you want to see.

Have a wonderful summer from the Bolt Depot Staff!

If you have any comments or suggestions for this newsletter please email them to newsletter@boltdepot.com.

View previous issues online here.