An old guy had paid me good money to build a deck for him, but then he insisted on helping to make sure I did it right. At one point, while we were bolting the stair stringers to the posts, I discovered that I had placed a 1/2-in. bolt where it was difficult to reach with an ordinary wrench and a socket. It was down in a crevice between a couple of 2x6s, and neither of us had a long socket extension. We sat and pondered a bit, and then the old guy disappeared. In a few minutes he returned with one of our long 3/8-in. bolts. He had ground the threaded end square so that it fit exactly in a 1/4-in. drive socket (see drawing). As I tightened a nut onto the bolt, I looked back at the old guy. He smiled and gave me a wink.
J. Azevedo, Santa Clara, CA
