20 years ago I bought some grade 12.9 m6 low head cap screws for $5 a pound. Various lengths. I had no use for them and had no earthly clue what I would use them for. I must have wasted $3.
Fast forward a couple decades or so..... the screws in my old HF 5" vise are made of moldy cheese. Won't go in or out and stripped easily. I drill off the head and remove the left over with pliers.
The only screw that replaced those screws perfectly were the 16mm long low head cap screws I wasted money on all those years ago. Ordering new ones on line would have cost a significant percentage of the cost of the vise.
There are zero hardware stores that would have them within 100 miles and then the search would exceed the cost of the vise.
I know I may never use many of the screws I have but having them has been exceptionally helpful so often and I don't even think about it much of the time.
Fast forward a couple decades or so..... the screws in my old HF 5" vise are made of moldy cheese. Won't go in or out and stripped easily. I drill off the head and remove the left over with pliers.
The only screw that replaced those screws perfectly were the 16mm long low head cap screws I wasted money on all those years ago. Ordering new ones on line would have cost a significant percentage of the cost of the vise.
There are zero hardware stores that would have them within 100 miles and then the search would exceed the cost of the vise.
I know I may never use many of the screws I have but having them has been exceptionally helpful so often and I don't even think about it much of the time.
Beats burying them or running them to the scrapper .