what hardware to stock in a home shop?

[jam0o0]

do any of yall try to keep standard nuts and bolts around for projects? i keep finding myself needing one or two more fasteners on sunday. after looking through my stock of old nuts and bolts for 20 minutes and not finding what i need. i remember that the local place isn't open on sundays. so i end up driving 20 minutes to lowes, 20 minutes in the store, 20 minutes home. that's an hour! for $2-$10 in hardware. that is way too much time lost. sometimes this happens more than once in a weekend.

i'm done with a few buckets of leftover bolts. that system doesn't work for me.

so i've got some good storage bins. near 400 individual labeled spaces. plenty of space to store a silly amount of fasteners. so what should i stock? i started looking around at what i'm building and what i plan to built and i'm thinking:
-no metric.
-no lengths more than 4 inches.
-keeping it to one grade (8) of bolts.
-1/4 through 3/4 would cover everything.

-do i need fine and course?
-length: every inch? every half inch? every 1/4 inch?
-zinc plated?
-should i bother with carage and lag bolts?
-screws?

what do yal do?

[TacoTank]

I'm like you. The bucket is for the birds, especially when it has nails and sheetrock screws.

As far as bolt length, how often is a bolt too long? Maybe you can get a few major sizes. What size material do you use most often?

Here is a little brainstorming on your topic.

Fine threads will be a little stronger and resist loosening more under vibration, but most industrial applications will use coarse unless a specific need is there.
Carriage bolts are fairly speciallized. Maybe 4 medium length, or 2 each for a couple sizes. Regular bolts can sub for them in temporary applications or in wood like a gate, just not as pleasing to the eye.
Lag bolts are more applicable in my mind, but I wouldnt keep all sizes. 4 in each size/length combo you decide for things like securing the gun safe or bolting a hoist crank for a hardtop on the wall.

We have a local fastener company here in Houston. Maybe they have an assortment pack for sale, or better yet, they might be able to tell you their best sellers, hint, hint.

[JTM]

-no metric. Lucky
-no lengths more than 4 inches. I keep up to 2" for bolts 3/8 and smaller and 1" to 3" for 7/16 and larger
-keeping it to one grade (8) of bolts. thats what I do
-1/4 through 3/4 would cover everything. I stock 6-32, 8-32, 1/4 through 9/16

-do i need fine and course? Mostly Course, but some fine threaded
-length: every inch? every half inch? every 1/4 inch? I keep .5, .75, 1, 1.5, 2, & 3"
-zinc plated? yes
-should i bother with carage and lag bolts? I wouldn't
-screws? self taping
what do yal do?

I predominately stock Metric bolts since most of what I own requires metric. Also it should be noted that I have an ACE Hardware less than a mile from my house.

Edit to add:
For the reasons TacoTank mentioned I have fine thread taps and the bolt for those sizes.

[jam0o0]

ordered nyloc nuts for all sizes 1/4 -3/4 UNC grade 8 zinc. and .5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 1/4" 20 grade 8 zinc. from now on what i am gunna do is just by 50 of every size i need. even if i only need 1 or 2 right then. already got a bunch more useful stuff than i thought. i sorted out everything i have into to bins and got a system so that it's easy to see if i have a size or not. my label maker (girl friend) is gunna make some labels for all the bins.

i'm going to live off a few screw assortments for now. one day i will tire of zinc plated screws rusting and will go to stainless machine screws.

if anyone else wants to post what they do please do. more ideas are always good.

[SGT. K]

might as well get a assortment of washers while your at it.

[jam0o0]

might as well get a assortment of washers while your at it.

oopse forgot to say i got nuts and washers.

[jam0o0]

got the last box of bolts in yesterday. i now have at least 4 lengths in 1/2" increments for all sizes 1/4-3/4 UNC in yellow zinc grade 8. putting the lables on this week. should have some nice pictures later this week. some stuff i've been trying to sell for a wile finally left the garage leaving me with the cash to spend on filling my bolt bins.

thanks for the help everyone.