Hillman Fasteners FAQ: Saw Tooth Hangers, SAE Hex Nuts, Set Screws & More

I'm the person who takes the urgent calls at a hardware distribution company — the ones where a job site stalled, a bin is empty, or the deadline is 36 hours out. In the last eight years, I've handled more than 200 rush orders, including same-day turnarounds for contractors and shops that ran out of exactly what they needed. These are the questions I answer most. Straight answers, no polish:

• Is Hillman a good brand?
• How do I pick the right saw tooth picture hanger?
• What are Hillman hex nuts SAE 3/8-24 steel used for?
• What are socket hex drive set screws for?
• What should I look for in a gas air compressor?
• How do I cut metal roofing with a circular saw?
• Why do some suppliers brush off small orders?

1. Is Hillman a good fastener brand — or just what's on the hook?

From the outside, Hillman looks like another name hanging in the big-box fastener aisle. The reality is deeper than that. Hillman has been in business since 1964, and the catalog covers an enormous range of screws, bolts, nuts, washers, anchors, picture hangers, and builder hardware. They also developed proprietary systems — Fas-N-Tite, DuoPower anchors, Durasteel finishes, EZ Anchor — that fill real gaps in the market.

Is Hillman right for every job? No. For heavy structural steel connections I'd reach for products with formal engineering certifications. But for general construction, retail distribution, repair work, and the "I need it by tomorrow" jobs that keep me busy, Hillman is consistent. When I've got hours to find a specific 3/8-24 nut or a picture hanger rated for 120 pounds, their catalog is usually the fastest place to get it.

2. What are Hillman saw tooth picture hangers, and how do I choose one?

Saw tooth hangers are the small metal plates with a zigzag edge that screw into the back of a picture frame. The saw tooth edge rests on a nail or screw head in the wall. Simple concept. But people get it wrong more than you'd expect.

The biggest mistake is grabbing whatever hanger is in the drawer without checking the rating. A small Hillman saw tooth hanger is made for lightweight frames — roughly 10 to 20 pounds. The larger versions carry a lot more, with more teeth to spread the load. But the hanger rating is only half the story. The frame wood has to be solid enough to hold the screws. A 50-pound-rated hanger screwed into split pine doesn't save anything. The wood fails, not the hanger.

My standard advice: pick a hanger rated for at least twice the total frame weight, and use the right gauge screws in the hanger holes. A cracked frame costs more than the ten minutes it takes to check the rating.

3. What are Hillman hex nuts SAE 3/8-24 steel, and when do I use them?

Let me decode the spec. SAE 3/8-24 is a 3/8-inch hex nut with 24 threads per inch. That's a fine thread — not the 16-thread coarse standard. SAE means inch-series, not metric. Steel is the base material, typically plain, zinc-plated, or stainless in Hillman's lineup.

You'll see this size most in automotive and machinery work. Fine threads generate more clamping force for the same torque, and they resist vibration loosening better than coarse threads. That's why 3/8-24 shows up on linkage rods, hold-down bolts, and jam nut assemblies.

The thing I always make customers check is the thread pitch on the bolt itself. I knew I should have verified the bolt's thread count before grabbing a carton of 3/8-24 for a rush job, but I thought "what are the odds?" Well, the odds caught up with me when the bolt turned out to be 3/8-16. A fine-thread nut will not spin onto a coarse-thread bolt, and it makes for a very unproductive afternoon. The thread count matters. Check it twice.

4. What are socket hex drive set screws, and what are they actually for?

Socket hex drive set screws — sometimes called Allen set screws or grub screws — are headless screws with a hex socket on one end. You thread them in until they sit flush with or below the surface, and they lock two parts together by pressure instead of a bolt head sticking out.

They're everywhere: a pulley held onto a motor shaft, a knob locked onto a stem, a gear fixed to a shaft, a collar stopped on a rod. What most people don't think about is the point style. Set screws are not one-size-fits-all.

• Cup point bites into a shaft and resists movement. The default choice for most jobs.
• Cone point seats into a drilled dimple and gives precise positioning.
• Flat point pushes against a flat surface without digging in.
• Dog point drops into a matching hole for positive locking.

For a shop drawer, a multipack of mixed sizes makes sense. For an actual repair against a deadline, get the exact size, thread, and point style. I once sent a customer to the jobsite with the wrong point style — it wouldn't seat, the shaft slipped, and the whole assembly came back the next day. There's no time for a second trip when the deadline is already tight.

5. What should I look for in a gas air compressor for fastener work?

A gas air compressor is a compressor driven by a gasoline engine instead of an electric motor. It's louder, it needs fuel, and it wants more maintenance. But it works where there's no outlet — and on most job sites, that's the point.

If you're buying one to run fastener tools like framing nailers or pin nailers, focus on three things.

CFM at 90 PSI comes first. Not horsepower. Horsepower is a sticker number; CFM is the real measurement of how much air the pump delivers. A framing nailer needs about 2.0 to 2.2 CFM at 90 PSI, so your compressor should deliver that with at least 50% headroom. Look at the spec plate, not the bright label on the tank.

Tank size comes second. Six to eight gallons is fine for trim work and short bursts. Running a framing nailer continuously, or running more than one tool? Go 20 gallons or bigger.

Pump quality comes third. Cast-iron two-stage pumps run cooler and last a lot longer than single-stage aluminum pumps. For occasional use, a single-stage is okay — just know what you're buying before you hand over the money.

6. How do I cut metal roofing with a circular saw?

This one comes up a lot. Someone has metal roofing panels to fit and a circular saw in the truck. Yes, it works. But metal cutting punishes shortcuts, so do it right.

Use a carbide-tipped blade made for metal — roughly 4 to 6 teeth per inch, or a blade specifically labeled for non-ferrous cutting. A wood blade grabs, overheats, and throws sparks. Clamp the panel to a stable work surface so it can't vibrate. When practical, cut with the painted side down so the burrs end up on the back and the visible face stays clean.

Wear eye protection and hearing protection. Metal cutting is loud, and the chips are small, sharp, and fast. Gloves too. The cut edge of roofing steel will slice you without hesitation. I say that from experience.

Then there's the part people don't think about until the panel is already up: the fastener. Use a self-drilling screw with a sealing washer — a TEK-style screw or one with an EPDM washer. The screw drills its own pilot hole and the washer seals it. A plain nail or a standard wood screw through a roof panel will leak. Not necessarily today. Eventually. Match the screw's drill point to the panel and purlin thickness and you'll never have to think about it again.

7. Why do some suppliers brush off small fastener orders — and why shouldn't they?

Look, I've been the guy with a $25 order of picture hangers and a tight deadline. It's tempting for a distributor to ignore small orders, but that thinking is short-sighted. In March 2024, a local shop called needing a small lot of saw tooth hangers and a few boxes of hex nuts for an art exhibit going up the next morning. Not a big order by any measure. We got them what they needed, and that shop is still a regular customer. Today's small order is tomorrow's restocking account.

There's also a practical side. Shipping small quantities can cost more than the parts themselves. Per USPS (usps.com), a First-Class large envelope starts at $1.50 as of January 2025 — but a box of hex nuts weighs too much for an envelope. Once parcel shipping and handling are added, the delivery cost can easily exceed the parts cost. That's why the distributor who treats a small order like a real order is saving the buyer real money and building a longer relationship at the same time.

And on claims, trust wording over promises. Per FTC guidelines (ftc.gov), durability claims have to be substantiated — which is why you see precise finish names like zinc or Durasteel on reputable packaging instead of "guaranteed never to rust." Nothing rust-proof is forever. The finish is what matters for the application, and the right finish will get you far more life than the loudest promise.