On Sun, 20 Sep 2009 18:13:22 +0100, Bertie Doe wrote:
As I mentioned earlier, it's mainly the screws and
fixings that are affected.

Just as a word of warning, I bought some 3" c/s pozi wood screws a few
months back - same apparent spec as the brand I normally get, but these
were a bit cheaper (they were just "there" at the store I was in, and it
saved me a trip to the DIY shed - or so I thought at the time).

Got home and realised that yes, they're the same length, and the threads
are the same diameter, and they're (as far as I can tell) the same
material - but the actual shaft was slightly narrower. Presumably someone
had figured out they could save a few pennies per ton that way, or
something. As a result, they're crap - when being driven in, the shafts
have a habit of shearing at 1/2" or so below the head (just before the
threads start).

I'm (very) slowly using them on 'crap' projects where it doesn't matter if
one busts and I have to put another one in right next to it (e.g. in jigs
and formers used for other things and other such temporary stuff).

The upshot of that was that the cheaper product was cheaper for a reason,
and not really up to the job, so beware about automatically going for the
cheapest item when it comes to fastners...

cheers

Jules