Need To Cut A Bolt That's Too Long? This Drill Hack Makes It Easy

Bolts come in all lengths and widths to serve different purposes. The bolt you may need to secure a small light fixture will be different from the bolt you'll need to join two load-bearing timbers. If you're like many people, your work bench probably isn't very organized. Maybe you have a coffee tin full of nails, another filled with screws, and an old beer stein stuffed with miscellaneous junk like old key chains and washers. So, unless you've invested in a quality find to organize your small nuts and bolts, you might just go with the first one you grab. There's nothing wrong with that, as long as you know how to cut bolts to the proper length using a hacksaw (an essential part of a basic, low-cost household tool kit).

This project will only take you a few minutes and involves tools that most homeowners either have or will easily find at a nearby hardware store. The goal is to cut your screw so the end won't stick out once you bolt it to a piece of wood. This easy trick will improve the aesthetics of whatever project you're working on, and it will also mitigate safety risks. When a bolt sticks out more than an inch or two, it could catch someone as they walk by or disrupt the function of nearby mechanisms. Using a power drill, a hacksaw, a Sharpie, a couple nuts, and a wrench sized for the nuts, you can solve this issue right away. Just make sure to employ this hack before you put the bolt in place.

If you have an electric hacksaw, you can use that to trim the bolt. But if don't have one, this trick will save you some effort sawing back and forth by hand. Before you start, make sure to wear gloves and goggles, because there may be flying sparks and bits of sharp metal. The first thing to do is measure the beam you are bolting into to get a sense of how much you need to trim from your bolt. Use a tape measure to get the exact measurement, because if you cut too much off, the bolt won't be useful.

Start by marking the spot where you want to trim the bolt with your Sharpie. Then, put two nuts on the bolt just below the spot you marked. Next, loosen the chuck (the part that holds the bit) at the end of the drill, place the bolt into it (tip-first), and tighten the chuck so it holds the bolt firmly. The head of the bolt should stick out. The last step is to cut the bolt by running the drill and holding the blade of your saw against the mark on the bolt. Since hacksaws cut on the push stroke, rotate your drill against the blade toward the saw handle. Once the bolt is cut, remove the nuts from the bolt with your wrench. Doing so will help correct the threading that may have been damaged from cutting the bolt. You can also choose a metal file to smooth the sharp end of the bolt you just cut and get it ready for your next job.