Fasteners are an important part of almost all DIY projects. Pay attention to them, everything you build and fix will be better because of your extra effort. Living on my homestead for nearly 20 years has taught me that successful construction and maintenance require more types of nails, rivets, screws, nuts, and bolts than I thought. I use them to build new buildings, repair old buildings, build furniture, repair machinery, and complete handicrafts with my children.

There are hundreds of different fasteners to choose from, and you don't need most of them. But the most popular here are divided into four categories: screws; nails; bolts; nuts and washers; and specialty. You might also want to check out this chart that summarizes common fasteners. 

Not long ago, screws were too expensive and cumbersome for outdoor construction projects, so barns and garages were always built with nails. But now, you can easily buy cheap corrosion-resistant screws at any hardware store.

For various projects, deck screws should form the core of your screw series. The best version is highly corrosion resistant. I always have 1 1/2-, 2-, 2 1/2-, 3-, 3 1/2-, and 4-inch length 8 deck screws on hand. It may seem excessive to store so many sizes of screws, but it is important to have many lengths of screws on hand to match any size job. For most applications, the thread should penetrate at least 1 inch through the bottom of the wood, or even more is better. However, if the screw pops out from the back of the wood, then a screw that is too long is a problem.

You will also find pan head screws very useful. Commonly called sheet metal screws, they have a flat dome head and are ideal for connecting thin metal sheets.

If you live in the United States, you may not know the screw head designs that are popular in Canada. Named after their inventor PL Robertson, Robertson screws (see photo, p. 96), also known as square drive screws, have a square groove in the head of the driver to keep them on the tip of the screwdriver and make it easier to drive than Phillips or slotted head screws. Robertson applied for a patent for the sleeve head design in 1909 and has been used in Canadian buildings for decades. The Robertson screw is worth pursuing. One mail order source is McFeely's. 

To drive a screw, you can't beat a cordless impact driver at all. They are faster than ordinary drill bits, they provide greater torque, and the screw drive tip is held in the screw head more reliably. (See Cordless Drills and Drivers.)

Nails are the cheapest and fastest way to connect wood, which is why they are so popular. The two most widely used types are frame nails for building walls and frames, and finishing nails for decorative installation and small woodworking projects.

Frame nails have a thicker shank and a wider head diameter (lengths of 2 inches and 3 1/2 inches are the most useful). The trimmed nails are shorter and thinner, and the head has a smaller diameter relative to the shank (lengths of 1 1/2 inches and 2 1/2 inches are most useful). The small head can be driven into wood and covered with putty to hide them.

Another type of nail is a large nail, which is perfect for large projects such as fences and carpentry (6, 8 and 12 inches are most useful in length).

If a nail is worth driving, it should last a long time once it is in place. This is why I use hot-dip galvanized nails in all external applications. They cost more, but they are definitely worth the extra money, because untreated steel nails can corrode into anything within ten years. Always wear safety glasses when driving nails, especially galvanized ones. The zinc-based treatment to prevent rust also makes the steel more brittle. It is not uncommon for metal fragments to fly out when you strike a galvanized nail.

If you have some hardwood trims that can be installed with finishing nails, then you need to pre-drill holes (called pilot holes) to prevent splitting, or you can use a tool called a nail rotator to speed it up. This small, inexpensive device fits any drill bit and uses nails as your own drill bit. Put a nail into the tip of the spinner, press the nail on the wood, open the drill, and push. After a few seconds, the nail will penetrate into the trim. Pull the drill bit and spinner off the nail, then use a hammer to drive the nail to the rest.

When the strength of the screw is not enough to complete the work, or when there is not enough material to hold the screw firmly, use the bolt.

The carriage bolt has a dome head and is very suitable for outdoor timber projects. Square head bolts (also called square head screws) have threads similar to wood screws and have a hexagonal (hexagonal) head on top. They can be used for wooden anchors or soft metal anchors set in pre-drilled masonry holes. Machine bolts have hexagon heads and threads, and can accept nuts. There are various lengths, diameters from three-sixteenths to three-eighths of an inch, and ordinary nuts and washers of matching sizes. According to the needs of special projects, buy larger bolts.

A threaded rod is essentially a long threaded bolt without a head. I bought a length of 24 to 36 inches and found it to be one of the best ways to connect things that are too wide to span with ordinary bolts, such as basic cribs and large timber connections. For general use, the best size for threaded rods is five-eighths of an inch in diameter. This size is large enough for most projects, it is easy to buy, and you can easily cut it with a hacksaw.

Lock nuts are a useful addition to any series of fasteners. They are screwed on bolts in the same way as ordinary nuts, but they include nylon inserts to prevent the nuts from loosening during vibration, such as those on gas engines.

The metal ring usually located under the bolt head or nut is called a washer. I generally use three types: flat washers, lock washers and cup washers.

The flat washer works in the same way as snowshoes because its wide surface area distributes the holding pressure. This is especially important for cork. If there is no flat washer, ordinary bolts or nuts under pressure can pass directly through the wood.

A common lock washer is a split, spring-loaded ring that exerts a small but steady outward pressure on the nut, which greatly reduces the chance of vibration causing the nut to loosen. Lock washers are usually used to hold machine parts together.

If you see screws in the finished internal work, then you should try to use cup washers (as shown above). These look like tiny metal bagel slices, and they do two important things. In addition to increasing the clamping force of the screws, they also make the head look great. This is why the glass washer is ideal for making furniture and built-in shelves. There is no need to hide the screw heads because the cup washers make them look more attractive.

When screws and nails cannot do the job, you need special fasteners. The three most suitable for me are popular rivets, malleable cast iron rivets and plastic cable ties.

Popular rivets connect metal, leather and fabric in a quick and neat manner. They are ideal for connecting drains and downpipes, assembling waterproof collars around insulated wood stove chimneys, connecting seams of homemade leather tool jackets, and basic body repairs for cars and trucks. The size of the drilled or punched hole can accommodate the handle of the rivet you are using, put the rivet into the mounting gun, slide the rivet into the hole, and then squeeze the handle of the gun until you hear a bang. The noise indicates that the rivet has expanded to full size and the joint is now locked. The process takes only a few seconds. When you attach cloth or leather to metal or plastic, use washers under the rivet heads.

Malleable rivets look like skinny mushrooms. They are larger than popular rivets and can fit into prefabricated holes on leather, sheet metal and machine parts, up to a quarter of an inch thick. To complete the connection, hammer the soft metal handle of the rivet into the dome head.

Cable ties (sometimes called cable ties) are small plastic straps. They have thousands of uses, but I use them for tying multiple wires together, fixing young trees to support stakes, and for maintenance work that requires multiple objects to be tied together in a corrosion-resistant manner. Insert one end of the tie into a slot that only allows one-way movement. You can tighten the cable tie, but it will not loosen. Purchase cable ties that vary in length from 2 to 10 inches.

The mid-1980s was the plywood box period in my life. At that time, I created dozens of pallets, tool boxes, and crates, forming an organizational system for storing the tools I needed for my budding life in the country. One of my favorite designs is a huge bolt and screw tray. I still use it today, despite always smiling. The tray looked big when I made it. Now I see it is very small for all my needs.

Sooner or later you will find that the storage of fasteners is as important as the fasteners themselves. Every time you need a 3 1/2 inch deck screw, can you afford to spend 15 minutes searching if the bottom part falls out of the cardboard box, good organization of the pasture is these when you are in knee-high grass The antidote to headaches.

Different fasteners require different storage systems, and several parachute bags are great options for storing your screw series. Each bag is divided into six parts and comes with a drawstring. You can easily and quickly open the bag and choose any type and size of fasteners you need. I put the frame nails I collected in the old metal paint can. They work well, they are strong, and they are free.

Popular rivets and small bolts are best stored in a flip plastic case, but you should always choose a case design that includes a fixed partition molded into the case or internal tray. Adjustable partitions may seem like a good idea, but small fasteners will find a way under the partitions, and eventually they will be mixed with adjacent sets of screws, nails, and rivets. If you carry a plastic box with you in the truck, there is no doubt that shaking will double the trouble.

When you use screws, nails and other modern fasteners, do you feel like a liar? I used to think that traditional interlocking and weaving joinery is the best method, even to the extent that the all-wood trolley is built and used, the wheels, axles and bearings are all made of wood! But I began to realize that the homestead is not a museum. My homestead can preserve and preserve certain aspects of the past, but the most important thing is that the functions are the most effective, and the tools and construction methods you use must be powerful and reliable. Speaking of the results, we can thank for such an excellent array of fasteners.

Nowadays, pressure-treated ACQ (alkaline copper quaternary) wood sold in home improvement stores is safer than the arsenic-containing version sold a few years ago, but it is also more corrosive, so please pay special attention to the fasteners you use the quality of. Always use screws and nails that are appropriate for the type of wood you will use. No matter what you do, you should avoid using ordinary steel and shiny electroplated fasteners.

Two liquids can make mechanical maintenance easier. The first prevents the bolts from loosening when they should remain tight, and the second allows you to loosen the bolts that are stuck.

Thread locking liquids have different strengths, from mild to strong. Drop a few drops on the threads of the key bolts. Vibration or movement is unlikely to loosen them accidentally.

Anti-seize agent is another essential store product. It ensures that the threads will not corrode and lock onto the bolts that you occasionally need to unscrew or remove. Apply it to the threaded part of the trailer hitch, wheel lugs and adjusting nut, and you will never have to fight with stuck fasteners again.

In the past 15 years, electric nail guns have become much cheaper and more common. These hand-held power tools use compressed air, combustible gas, or the energy of a rechargeable battery pack to drive various nails and staples. Electric nail guns speed up the construction speed, they are easier to use on your arm than a hammer, and the joints can be assembled more easily and accurately. But do they make sense on homesteads? It depends.

If you want to build a house, workshop, barn, or outbuilding, the frame nail gun (approximately $250) is worth considering, especially if you have an air compressor. Even the smallest air compressor can provide enough air to power any nailing machine. If your retrofit plan involves installing new decorations, then a finishing nail gun (approximately $200) is a good idea. Consider 16-gauge finished models instead of 18-gauge models. The thicker size 16 nails are also up to 2 1/2 inches in length, which makes them more versatile than the maximum length of 2 inches in size 18.

For more than two decades, contributing editor Steve Maxwell has been helping people renovate, build and maintain their homes. "Canada's most capable person" is an award-winning home improvement authority and woodworking expert. Contact him by visiting his website and blog Maxwell's House. You can also follow him on Twitter, like him on Facebook and find him on Google+. 

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