Carriage Bolts: The Most Common Kind Of Bolt

In construction, one of the most indispensable implements are bolts. Together with these kinds of screws, you use nuts and some even come with washers. Under bolts, you have three specific types like the stove bolts, carriage bolts and machine bolts. Although these three are the main kinds, you can also find bolts like expansion bolts, toggle bolts and the like. For the most part, if we talk about carriage bolts, you'll have bolts that are coarse threaded. Going up to sizes like 10 inches long, it's your best bet for large and sturdy projects.

Carriage bolts are mostly used in furniture. If you have wooden furniture at home, you can see that different parts of it are connected together through these bolts. Essentially, you'll only be seeing the round head of the it but it will have a square collar that's driven into the wood. On the other end of it, you'll have a short protrusion that's secured by a nut. The reason for its sturdiness is that the square collar fits into the hole in the wood keeping the whole bolt from turning around as it is being tightened with a wrench.

Wood is the main application for these special bolts but there are some designed for fastening metal components. As such, these types of bolts are the most common bolts. If you find yourself in a hardware store and you get to the section where the bolts are displayed, it's highly likely that these bolts you see are of the carriage type. In size like 3/16 to 3/4 inch in diameter and 1/2 inch to 10 inches, you can see that you have a wide variety of sizes to go with but they're still the bolts that are referred to as coach bolts or plow bolts.

If you have children and you've purchased a wooden outdoor play set for your child, the bolts you use for fastening the parts up together would be carriage bolts. If you have yourself a decking project, you'll be going to the hardware store and stocking up on carriage bolts and deck screws. Besides the strength and sturdiness that they provide for structures and wooden projects, you can also rely on the make of these bolts. For the most part, even if used in outdoor applications, they'll be able to withstand rust and corrosion. The key however is to find one that's designed for outdoor use.

When you have a project for making furniture that wouldn't be placed outdoors, you can purchase some that will be cheaper when you get one that isn't treated to fight corrosion and the harsh effects of the elements. You can go with the best regardless of the project by getting bolts that are treated with zinc and other rust resistant materials. That way, you can easily bring furniture in and out of doors without having to worry that your hardware will give up on you. For added strength and a snug fit for the parts of your wooden project, these are the bolts you should use.