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Most of the nuts came out with minimal force, but the last one just spins in place. I tried rubber gloves, painter's tape, and duct tape to get a better grip. I'd rather not cut a slot in the domed nut if there's another good strategy.
The rest of the restoration underway:
If you're doing this type of stuff, I'm assuming you have some kind of dissolvable glue.
Protein based wood glue stops being glue if you add vinegar for example.
So use wood glue to glue a nut to domed back part of the bolt, or just throw a big glob all over the blot and saw handle.
Obviously make sure youve thrown a bunch of anti-seize on the other side first. This will stop it from spinning, but might not be enough to break it loose.
You could also try rigging something up with clamps and a piece of stuff rubber against the domed bolt to keep it pressed up against the inside of the handle.
But honestly?
Carriage bolts fucking suck, and you can just drill it out and find an era appropriate replacement. I grew up working on classic cars that always used them, and it's worth looking around to see if you can just buy a dozen to keep on hand. Depending on how old the saws are, I doubt they're original anyways.
This man knows how to handle stuck nuts!
I just rewatched Community, so read that comment in Keith David's voice...
No he fucking doesn't
Wood glue isn't going to hold on metal at all.
Anti-seize to stop spinning? What? No. Anti seize is shit you put on threads so that when you come back years later, they still move.
Long acting lubricant.
And drilling out a bolt that's already spinning isn't going to be a fun time
Anti-seize to stop spinning?
You didn't understand the comment
Carriage bolts are the worst, for sure.
I agree, drill it out, keep some replacements on hand, and always reassemble with anti-seize or the weakest loctite (they make some for just this situation, to prevent nuts from seizing but also be easy to remove). Hell, even blue loctite would work, as it breaks down with just a little heat.
Drilling a spinning bolt is Not Easy. Not impossible, bit there's better ways to go about things
It looks like the bolt is perhaps brass? I'm wondering if you can't sand the surface a bit and low-temp solder a nut or something to it to get a better grip. Once you get it off, unsolder it and clean up the leftovers.
Either way, the question I would be asking myself is: is this a tool or a decoration? If it's a tool, it doesn't seem to me like it makes sense to try to preserve the bolt. I'm guessing this is old, and if so, people from long ago would have used whatever bolts and screws they had handy to repair things; you'd be keeping in that spirit by doing the same!
I think you're the only other fucker in this thread who may have used their hands before
Super glue a socket to it, use a ratchet to remove it after the glue dries, then dissolve the glue away with acetone. If you need to you can glue a socket to the other side too to counteract the force of trying to loosen the bolt.
Super glue is super brittle. Will fail at the first bit of force
two-part clear epoxy will give a better hold and still dissolve with acetone
There's no glue or epoxy on earth I'm aware of that will hold on metal well enough to handle the force of unscrewing a bolt.
You might solder nuts to either side, that might hold and be reversible.
The suggestions of drilling it out also won't work well, if it's already spinning in place, it will spin faster.
I know you don't want to, but cutting a slot is your best bet. If you do it clean, it'll just look like a screw. You could replace with a rivet if you really need a non-screw look for the finish
Also, I get it's a restoration project, which are fun and wholesome, but Fuck push saws.
Pull saws are where it is at! Easier to keep on target, less work, and you can't crease the blade on a cut and ruin the whole fucking saw
Though, I've never seen a pull saw you can play with a bow
I have the opposite experience with pull saws.
It might just be that I was trained on western style saws in shop class, I've used them my whole life, and I bought my first Ryoba from Lowe's on impulse this summer. But I just can't get the damn thing to behave.
I also can't find any good videos on how to use them, particularly for ripping. More than once I've ruined a workpiece because the blade was tracking straight on one side and went sidewards on the far side.
Like, do you have any tips? Because if not I think I'm just gonna cut the handle and teeth off and reuse the plate as a card scraper.
Also: Jury's out on backsaws, I haven't tried a dozuki, but I'm not convinced ryobas aren't a scam.
Hold the tip as well as the grip, and take your time. Brace it against a flat piece like you're planing it and use that as a guide.
Stick to Western saws. Got it.
This reply is the closest thing to good advice in this thread.
The only thing that's going to get that out without cutting a slot is a tack weld. Which will likely burn the wood. Just cut a slot. You can find another aged carriage bolt to replace it.
Living in salt country, I've found heat and percussion to be helpful. Hold a soldering iron to the nut for 3-5 minutes, then wail on it with a rubber mallet. Repeat a few times if needed. Usually loosens up the fastener because it dislodges the gunk in the threads.
this for sure first. least destructive and most likely to do anything
A little super glue and a chunk of dowel, maybe?
Super glue is super fragile
My hand plane that was cracked in half that is currently held together via super glue disagrees
Try clamping a piece of wood to the handle on the domed nut side with a bit of neoprene rubber or a ball of duct tape wedged in between. If you need a stronger bond that is still removeable, try something like hot glue, silicone caulk, E6000 glue, or super glue.
The clamping approach worked great!
It's the nut recessed? If not, you can use a splitter on it.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Mutternsprenger_0610.jpg
I'd get a dot of rubber a bit smaller than the nut, and a hammer impact driver on the screw.
https://www.harborfreight.com/heavy-duty-impact-screwdriver-kit-9-piece-58151.html
Turn the saw over and use a nail or drill bit as a makeshift punch and lightly tap it out?
The other side still has the bolt with the slotted head. I can turn it, but the nut and bolt just spin together.
Ahh I get ya now.
In that case I'd do what others have suggested and glue a socket to each side and use ratchets to undo.
Maybe you can clamp it down with something under the domed side so it won't turn when you unscrew the slotted side.
The best way to handle this is by clamping the side that doesn’t take a driver.
Bob Rozaieski used to have a good vid on this, which seems offline now. But here is a similar idea.
How do you clamp a bolt head that's recessed?
I don't know what the other side of this looks like, but if you could drive it with an impact driver on the lowest setting (assuming you used copious amounts of anti seizing spray), the constant hit from the impact driver is great at loosening stuff up. Also, try get painters tape between the wood and the domes head. Then flip it over, apply weight to the domed head by pressing it against your bench top (more tape on the bench top), and that gives a surprising amount of friction.
The hole does go through to the other side, right? So you probably already tried applying force from there? Perhaps you could try cooling it down (so it shrinks a tiny bit and hopefully gets loose)
