Screws for Garden Gate Hinges

[Chud]

OK so I've made a garden gate from materials left over from my decking - the gate itself has been a bit of a challenge as I've done it all with joinery - it's all mortise and tenon, there's not a single bit of metal in it. It's also quite heavy!

However - I've hit a bit of a snag with fitting the hook and band hinges to it - the hinges and frame depth would allow for a 6 x 40mm screw but I cant seem to find anything like this size - they're either too thin (4mm) or too long (the frame material is 45mm thick). Obviously they also need to be suitable for exterior use.

I've currently got the galvanised hinges fitted with 4x40 exterior screws (Turbogold xt) but the countersink is small enough that it's only registering on the hinge by about 1mm so although there'll be a coach bolt going in though the hinge and gate too I'd like to beef them up - or am I going OTT?

So the question is do I leave the current screws in and not worry or where can I get something better?

 

[Mr Chibs]

Would be better to see a pic, but if undersize screws is the issue... why not use coach screws... I used some recently they were 6 x 40mm, sure there were 8 x 40 if you needed something bigger.

 

[Burnerman]

You really need heavier screws than this......Spax have what you need, but you could always bolt through with stainless countersunk as well.
John

 

[rsgaz]

6 x 40mm screw but I cant seem to find anything like this size

If you look for imperial sizes in stainless, you can find Number 14, inch and a half screws are nearly exactly what you're after...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291268378446 (edit: <<< these are 'raised countersunk', that actually might look nicer than regular countersunk.)

After a bit of looking on eBay, unfortunately it seems that most sellers are selling metric equivalents of the imperial sizes, but their opinions seem to differ about what size a No14 is. You can find anything from 5.5mm to 6.3mm.

A number 14 screw is exactly 242 thousands of an inch, which works out to 6.1468mm nominal diameter, so should measure pretty much bang on 6mm in the real world, because the very tip of the thread doesn't come to a perfect razor edged point, but has a rounded crest, like so...

So, maybe message the seller first and ask for the exact major diameter.

Gaz

 

[SammyInnit]

Use stainless coach screws. Guaranteed results.