Archives trouble? and plate screws

[JIMRPT@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 1/11/2000 10:04:33 AM, Jon wrote:

<<"I replace all plate screws, having broken enough
old ones to have learned my lesson. Old screws in a new block are
inconveniences">>

This kinda falls under the 'lessons learned' category :-)
 I have only broken one plate screw/bolt when re-using the original fasteners 
in all the time I have done rebuilds...........now that I have said this I 
will break gazillions of the thingees for sure, for sure.  :-) Trying to get 
them out without some breaking/stripping the heads is a different matter. I 
have broken my share trying to remove them from their 'final resting place'.
 On nickle plated items I tend to use new screws but am lucky enough to have 
a plating source here in town who does excellent work at a reasonable fee for 
the plate 'bolts' and other misc. items.
 Any fasteners that are alright, appearance wise, get reused and any that 
fail the appearance test get canned/recycled as initial thread cutters in new 
blocks. I never use the 'new' screws to cut threads in a new block. I 'try' 
to always fit my new blocks before refinishing the plate so that all 
scratches/dings are taken care of at one time during the refinishing.
  New fasteners are not that great of an expense, but are not usually 
needfull from a structural point of view, in my opinion.  Whether or not 
cleaning/polishing/buffing old fasteners is an economical thing to do 
time/dollar wise is a totally different consideration though, huh?
My view.
Jim Bryant (FL)