Know Your Bolts
Impress new friends at your next dinner party!
When you stumble upon a casual conversation about hardware (and who hasn’t?), it helps to enlighten listeners with some basic knowledge of fasteners.
Today we’ll explore the difference between a carriage bolt and a hex-head bolt (also called a hex-head cap screw). Both are fasteners that can join two objects, and both are secured in place with a nut. The difference, as you can see, is the head. The carriage bolt has a dome-shaped head, which gives a smooth profile when two objects are joined. The head on a hex bolt has six sides (ergo “hex”), a shape that makes it easy to tighten or remove with pliers and/or a socket wrench.
Each bolt serves a distinct purpose, so please resist any temptation to play favorites in the world of fasteners.