On Jun 1, 8:46*am, woger151 wrote:
I need to attach some wood to a post at the top of my stairs to be
able to mount a baby gate. *I was just going to bolt the wood to the
post.

Problem is that the bolts have to be pretty long. *I bought some hex
bolts that are barely long enough (8"). *I can't find longer bolts
online unless I get a much fatter bolt, which I don't want to do.

I could use the 8" ones, but I was wondering if I could "make my
own." *I bought the hex bolts at HD, but also got 3 feet of "threaded
rod." *I figured I could just put some nuts on the rod and cut it with
a hacksaw. *I'm pretty sure it will be strong enough.

Only complication is that this is for kids (toddlers), and they love
to eat everything. *So I don't want them unscrewing the nut sticking
out of the wood I attach. *Is there an easy way to fix the nut,
essentially making my own bolt? *I was thinking of putting super glue
on the threads and then quickly screwing the nut over that. *(I'm not
so worried about the nut on the other end, which would be free just
like a regular bolt---that end won't be as easily available to them.)

TIA,

S

Use a wood boring bit to "counter sink" the ends of the bolt (or the
one you cut from the threaded rod), so little fingers can't get at
them. It won't do much to impact the strength of the wood itself.

I used this approach for all the bolts on my deck structure so that
bolt ends would not be visible. Works fine and takes only a few
seconds to drill in far enough to hide the bolt ends.