In my previous posts I showed you the little antique dresser I was working on. When I took the replacement hardware off I came across an odd screw and nut. As I unscrewed it I was surprised that the nut was just soldered wire. How ingenious if you didn’t have a nut to fit. It was very strong, too, and it screwed on and off just like a nut. It looks a bit crude but works great. If you wrapped the wire around the threads a bit more carefully, it would be a great way to make a nut to fit any size screw (in this case it didn’t matter, it worked great even messy.) I suppose you’d wrap the copper around the threads tightly and then unscrew it carefully and wipe with flux and solder it while it was off of the screw threads. I’m not sure if the solder would bond to the screw if you soldered it in place while it was on the screw or not (depends on the metal I think.)

I can think of many times I could have saved myself a trip to the hardware store looking for an odd-sized nut I didn’t have on hand because I do have copper wire and soldering tools. I wouldn’t use it for anything that would carry weight or could be dangerous in case of failure, but for furniture hardware and the like it is a great idea I think.