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It’s been just more than a month since my backside found its way back into an editorial chair here at Popular Woodworking Magazine. We are about to wrap up the first issue since my return. That means the articles are in our binder and we read everything one additional time to make sure there are as few mistakes as possible before it goes to press then to you for your reading pleasure. (It’s your duty to find the one mistake we left in the magazine and that can only be accomplished if your read the entire issue from front to back.)
Reading binder is totally different for me this time around. My duties and responsibilities are different. But there are things that stay the same. As we read, we also discuss any concerns we find. Yesterday there were a few discussions, but the one that fascinated me the most was about hardware for a portable workbench top.
In the article text, the author, Christopher Schwarz, writes that the above-picture hardware is a hex-head bolt. Of course, with each round that label is challenged. We all call it a lag screw. Bob Lang and I say a bolt has a nut involved to make a connection and that a lag screw is what was used.
Via e-mail, Chris again defended his label and directed us to a home center to confirm – he used the term by which the piece was listed at the store at which he bought it. (The goal is to make it easy for readers to find the exact piece – be it screws, nails or drawer pulls – used in the article.) So check we did. Do you think you know the answer? Be careful.
Online at one store we found the terms “hex-head screw” and “lag screw” intermixed. At a second store, we found similar terminology and we found the hardware item pictured below.
Chris wasn’t wrong in how he listed the piece.
Is this what happens when store inventory is labeled by folks who don’t really know what the item is called? Or is this known as a hex-head bolt? Are the terms hex-head and lag, and bolt and screw interchangeable? Comments are open. Let’s hear your thoughts.
If you want to read about Chris’ portable benchtop, or try to find the one mistake we left in the magazine (ha), sign up now to make sure you get the upcoming issue in your mailbox (click here) or sent to your mobile device (click here). If you’re in Canada, click here. If you’re elsewhere, you need to click here.
