# Am I going to have to buy my bolts from china now?



## jumps4 (Sep 9, 2012)

I went to ace hardware to buy 4,   1/4-20x4" socket head bolts today, i thought she was charging me for a box of them!
$9.00 for 4 bolts
ok my rants over
steve


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## Kennyd (Sep 9, 2012)

I but A LOT of bolts for my small business, I use www.boltdepot.com for them.  They have fast shipping and everything is good quality (Made in Taiwan)


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## Gary Max (Sep 9, 2012)

The bad news--------- everything has went through the roof. I ordered belts for my 2 x 48 belt sander-----they went up 40% in the last year. I was so happy that I called the company----- their responce was "have you priced cotton fiber" ??? The part of this that I don't get is if I raised my prices even 10% sales would stop.


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## 8ntsane (Sep 9, 2012)

Bolts seems to be something you walk out the door feeling raped. The purchase of a box of small qauntity is not cheap either. Ive found home depot has socket head cap screws, and sells them in small bags. Cap screws must be concidered odd in those places, and mark up the price big time.


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## swatson144 (Sep 9, 2012)

jumps4 said:


> I went to ace hardware to buy 4,   1/4-20x4" socket head bolts today, i thought she was charging me for a box of them!
> $9.00 for 4 bolts
> ok my rants over
> steve



I am used to those prices. Not happy with them but used to them. It is very aggravating at first, and rubs against the thrift, frugalness and cheapidity of me.

I have 2 mom and pop hardware stores within walking distance (~1 mile), both of which are in opposite directions. I'll gladly pay 9$ for what I need today vice 22$ and $7.50 shipping for 50 of them. It helps keep them in business and isn't really such a bad deal.

I have 30yrs worth of stuff I have bought "so's I'll not ever have to buy them again". The crux of the problem for me is I spend 1/2 hour looking for what I know I have and then jump in the truck and drive to where I should be walking and buy the 4 I need anyway.:banghead:

My thing is that now if I need a few and they are not at hand. I don't even look I just go pay "mom" whatever it costs. If I need 30 pcs I just order them ahead of time. I consider it a perverted savings plan. One of these days, the stores will close and it will be cost effective for me to spend my time organizing what I have. 

I am very thankful of the places that stock stuff just in case I (or you) need it!:thumbsup:

Steve


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## jumps4 (Sep 9, 2012)

I'm stripping the bolts out of everything before i scrap it now
i stock metric and us but only up to 2" in new but
i wont throw used bolts away again
only problem is you never have enough that match each other
steve


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## Old Iron (Sep 9, 2012)

jumps4 said:


> I went to ace hardware to buy 4, 1/4-20x4" socket head bolts today, i thought she was charging me for a box of them!
> $9.00 for 4 bolts
> ok my rants over
> steve




Most Ace Hardware bolts are from China.

Paul


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## roygpa (Sep 9, 2012)

Tractor Supply charges $1.99 per pounds for I think grade 2 nuts and bolts. Decent selection at the store where I shop. Probably Chinese.

Roy


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## jumps4 (Sep 9, 2012)

thanks roy i forgot about them
they are not much further from me
steve


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## jgedde (Sep 9, 2012)

jumps4 said:


> I'm stripping the bolts out of everything before i scrap it now
> i stock metric and us but only up to 2" in new but
> i wont throw used bolts away again
> only problem is you never have enough that match each other
> steve



That's what I do!  I save usable hardware whenever I can.

My mother-in-law's botfriend used to be a Cadillac mechanic.  He gave me boxes of SAE bolts, nuts and washers - like 75 pounds worth!  I sorted 'em out into a big metal drawer cabinet thrown out from work.  Amongst the neighbors I'm now known as the "hardware store" because I always have stuff on hand when I'm helping out.

John


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## jgedde (Sep 9, 2012)

roygpa said:


> Tractor Supply charges $1.99 per pounds for I think grade 2 nuts and bolts. Decent selection at the store where I shop. Probably Chinese.
> 
> Roy



The Tractor Supply hardware is actually quite good even if it is Chinese!  I wish we had them on Long Island.

John


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## Rbeckett (Sep 10, 2012)

I'm kind of partial to my one light towns only Ace Hardware.  They may charge a tiny bit more than HD or Lowes, but they are within 4 miles instead of 34 and usually have everything I need for whatever project I am currently doing.  If I ask them to they will even add stuff to their stock.  Things like bare metal and all thread are new to them, but available from the Ace wharehouse so they stock them for me now.  When I was running my side job shop all nite after work I could get whatever I needed up till 9PM and as early as 630 if I called ahead so they knew it was me.  Works pretty good and supports the mom and pop businesses in my little tiny town too.
Bob


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## November X-ray (Sep 10, 2012)

Gary Max said:


> The bad news--------- everything has went through the roof. I ordered belts for my 2 x 48 belt sander-----they went up 40% in the last year. I was so happy that I called the company----- their responce was "have you priced cotton fiber" ??? The part of this that I don't get is if I raised my prices even 10% sales would stop.



Gary - I must expand on this somewhat, The bad news ---------everything you want to buy has gone thru the roof, everything you are selling or earning seems to not be worth what you have in it!

It sucks being a tax slave!!!


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## AR1911 (Sep 10, 2012)

Try these guys. Great prices, free shipping over $30, good quality, fast & friendly service. 

www.krsupply.com


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## DMS (Sep 10, 2012)

I try to stick with common sizes that I use a lot (1/4-20, 4-40, 4mm, 6mm) and by boxes of various sizes from McMaster. Not good for one offs, or things you need "right now" but definitely much cheaper than the local HW store. For the price of 2 (small) bags of fasteners at the HW store, you can get a box of 100 from McMaster. Oh, you want grade 8? That's about $1 more. You want stainless? About the same difference. Plus they have just about every bolt style you could want. Only problem is storage after you collect a bunch of styles, but I'm managing 

I think the main issue is that most hardware stores are now "Home improvement" stores, and cater to contracters. Bolts (especially exotic things like SHCS, stainless steel, and grad 5/8) are "specialty" items now, and you get charged for them.

I remember a few years ago when OSH in the US had rows and rows of bolts in bulk. They were cheap, and they had every size you needed. Now they have the same bagged stuff everyone else has, and the prices are 2x-4x. Damn I feel old....


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## wawoodman (Sep 10, 2012)

I managed hardware stores for a number of years. Part of the reason we pay so much for bolts now is because the guy before us filled his pockets and walked out. ("Heck, it's only a couple of bolts. They'll never miss 'em.")

I'm lucky here in Seattle. When I go to Online Metals and pick up stock, I go right past Stoneway Hardware on the way home, and they have a really nice selection of bolts, clips, bushings, etc., English and metric. So I can generally get all the project supplies at once.


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## Tony Wells (Sep 10, 2012)

I never buy fasteners from the home centers. I have a couple of industrial fastener houses in town that are full stocking distributors of just about everything in the way of fasteners. If it's a $.05 bolt I need, that's all I pay, or they just give it to me.


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## November X-ray (Sep 10, 2012)

I wonder if there is some hobby machinist in China saying, "these bolts are sure cheap for such good quality, me glad those dumb americans buy all the poor quality ones now for much higher price and leave all the good ones for us!"


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## 7HC (Sep 10, 2012)

November X-ray said:


> I wonder if there is some hobby machinist in China saying, "these bolts are sure cheap for such good quality, me glad those dumb americans buy all the poor quality ones now for much higher price and leave all the good ones for us!"



You'd think exporting worked that way, but not always.

You would not believe how sweet, juicy, and easy to peel the Florida Oranges and Grapefruit are in the UK.
By comparison, here in Florida we get the dregs.  
It appears that the best go for export, second quality go for juice, and what's left are sold in the produce section at twice the price that they are three thousand miles away!  :angry:

That Chinese guy is probably cursing the damn Yankees for buying up the good stuff while he has to use bolts that twist like taffy.  


M


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## TRX (Sep 15, 2012)

Tony Wells said:


> I have a couple of industrial fastener houses in town that are full stocking distributors of just about everything in the way of fasteners



 There are a couple a few towns over.  I used to give them a fair amount of business, until they decided it wasn't worth their time for one of their salesmen to turn away from the company TV set long enough to sell a couple of dollars' worth of fasteners, so one went to a $15 minimum order, the other wants $20.  

 They're probably the same people who wonder why "the internet" is killing their business.  I order online and wait now.


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## Tony Wells (Sep 15, 2012)

Once upon a time, I worked two jobs, and the day job was actually in an industrial fastener distributor named Screw Products, Inc. (please insert all jokes here). I started in the warehouse and worked various positions while there. This went on for about 4 years. I worked the counter for a bit also. Ironically, we were directly across the street from Payless Cashways, an early chain lumber/hardware/farm supply. 

The crotchety old guy (loved him) that was teaching me always enjoyed sending people "up on the hill" to them when he really didn't want to service them. We had everything, but he was mean. We didn't have any minimum charge for cash sales at the time, so it was whatever we wanted to charge, if anything, to cash customers who wanted a single washer or whatever and no ticket. Often we just made up a figure for a handful of stuff and made no ticket. It messed up our till reconciliation when we did that, but all we did was make up a single ticket for "misc" for whatever the overage was at the ed of the day. 

Then the owner out of Dallas decided that he wanted to discourage small sales like that, figuring we didn't have time to waste on those $.50 customers. We hung a sign on the till that said $5.00 min sale. I can't tell you how many people just turned around and went back out the door, or how many seemed to ignore it as though it didn't apply to them. Some of the time, the customers would just keep buying to get to $5.00......"Well then, give me $5.00 worth of them then!" But for our regulars, we ignored it and either gave it to them, or started a ticket that stayed open until someone put it over the minimum, then tilled it. Worked fine, for those working the counter that knew about our system. When we went to lunch or whatever and someone else filled in for us, the regulars got pretty upset when they were told they had to spend $5.

Not long after I left there, they closed the Tyler branch and left only 2 fastener houses to buy from. Some of the hands went to one of the two for jobs, got hired, and I still deal with them....at least those still kicking!


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## swatson144 (Sep 15, 2012)

We have a screw products local here. They have gone the way of everyone else it seems and only sell packages. Our local Fastenals went to that policy last spring. Empire machine don't have anything any way. 

I just got back from Bay view HW with 2ea  1/2" bolts, nuts and 4 washers for 3$ and change. Napa auto don't restock their bins in the last 5 yrs The big home centers are 15 miles away, so I am very happy with the mom and pop. Yeah you caught me I drove.

I have no idea why the fastener companies don't just ad 25% to loose fasteners and keep selling them.

Steve


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## pdentrem (Sep 15, 2012)

I have a bucket of salvaged bolts, nuts pins etc. Mostly metric but grade5 or better. Most were from a collection of used punch press die sets that were being scrapped out.

Nuts and bolts are over priced if they are better then the soft stuff.

Have you priced out glass fuses for your old car lately? 2 fuses cost more than a gallon of gas!
Pierre


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## Charles Spencer (Aug 19, 2014)

This is the logical result of sending the manufacture of such items overseas.

We used to have two screw FACTORIES around here with outlet stores.  I now pay four times as much for poor quality as I paid for American made - even adjusted for inflation.

Charles

PS I believe that the day is coming when China will eliminate ALL the middle men.  We will have Chinese run and financed stores and distributors.  Don't worry though - they'll have Americans cleaning the toilets and working the cash registers.


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## SEK_22Hornet (Aug 20, 2014)

The local Fastenal sells some hardware by the piece and some in full packages only - I can go online and search for a fastener and see what they have in stock locally - usually they have some of each size listed by the pkg and some by the piece, some imported and some US made - they have even ordered in one or two pieces of the by the piece stuff for me and had it the next day (at their own suggestion). Needless to say they have me spoiled and are my first choice for things like socket head fasteners and metric hardware. I also hit the Tractor Supply and Orscheln farm stores when I need common nuts and bolts - hard to beat $1.99 to $3.99 per pound for Grade 2 and Grade 5 nuts, bolts, and washers. Some stores carry some metric hardware in bulk now, too.


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## mattthemuppet2 (Aug 20, 2014)

I can never find exactly what I want at HD, so I just buy online. Zorotools isn't bad for harder to find items, but I recently got some bolts from Albanycountyfasteners http://www.ebay.com/usr/albanycountyfasteners-ny?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2754, 25 5/16x 1 1/4in 18tpi for $4 shipped. Although I'm a complete pack rat and strip fasteners from anything I can find I don't always have the exact bolt I want or the right number, so this worked out really well.


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## pineyfolks (Aug 20, 2014)

The thing to watch for with offshore bolts is that they sometimes have standard threads but metric heads :nuts:


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## GarageGuy (Aug 20, 2014)

My bolt supply was just about gone in the most popular sizes, and I was kind of watching for a good price.  Menards has bags of bolts for a very good price.  The number of bolts per bag varies by size.  They were almost as cheap as buying a whole box, and WAY cheaper than buying onesy-twosies at Ace Hardware.  In all fairness though, Ace has had most of the uncommon bolts I need in stock.  I'm continually impressed when I walk in with something odd and they have one on the shelf.  Menards has improved a lot in this area, and they have a pretty good selection now too.

GG


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## middle.road (Aug 20, 2014)

We have a really neat Ma & Pa fastener store here in town. But suck on some oxygen before you go in to buy.
I went and picked up (4) m6 SHCS for the Birmingham - $6.00  - takes your breath away. 
However they do have decent quality and they have the oddballs.


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## xalky (Aug 20, 2014)

Fastenal is my go to place for all types of fasteners. Most of the time you can buy by the piece. Some of the more common stuff, they'll only sell by the box, but the prices for full boxes are very reasonable. They also have an online store. Amazon.com has a lot of stuff, cheap too, if you can wait.


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## frbutts (Aug 21, 2014)

sucks being a tax slave!!![/QUOTE] tax slave I think you mean surf to the .1%


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