Quote Originally Posted by Make Things View Post
I actually have those! But they're called "Thread detectives." They were $17 a piece.

I was thinking about your solution using that board...and while it would really be helpful when you're working on a car or other machinery and need to remove the nut/bolt, I still would rather use the board I made if I was sitting in front of a large bucket of nuts and bolts. Having to thread each of those nuts off to check for bolts or bolts to check for nuts would be annoying.

Again, I think yours has its place, but I'm always sorting through nuts and bolts. I mean, literally always. At least...that's the way it feels. Being able to grab a bolt and thread a nut real quick helps to sort my confounded nature quickly.
You don't have to remove all the screws/nuts to check an unknown. Measure the unknown diameter and pick the reference screws/nuts that come close to the matching diameter.

There's another factor at work here too. Like you, I've sorted a lot of screws. I find that I very quickly come to the point where I can identify an unknown by eye. Oh, there may be the occasional confusion (e.g., 8-32 and 8-36), but, having found one of each I lay them out and from then on a visual comparison is all I need.

Nevertheless, each to his own. I wasn't suggesting that my approach should replace yours; merely a variation to be evaluated. In fact, I have several homemade gauges similar to yours but done in all metal.

In planning one's personal approach it helps to see what others have done.