I Ordered R4 Screws Without Checking the National Hardware Catalog PDF. Big Mistake.

I was at a friend’s barn on a Saturday in August 2023 when the gate hinge pulled out of the steel frame. He looked at me and asked, “Does an angle grinder cut metal?” I laughed. “Yeah, that’s exactly what it’s for.” I was less sure about the screws I’d thrown in my bag, but I didn’t admit that until later.

I’ve worked on the procurement side of National Hardware for seven years. I order fasteners, door hardware, and tools all day. I’ve also made some expensive mistakes—roughly $4,000 worth—and I keep a checklist now so the people I train don’t repeat them. That Saturday, I broke my own rule.

The R4 Screw I Thought I Knew

The broken bracket needed to be fastened to a 5mm steel plate. I had a box of R4 screws I’d bought from a reseller a few months earlier because they were on clearance. I didn’t see the original package. There was no National Hardware logo on the box, no data sheet, no point chart. But I was in a hurry, and I thought, “What are the odds? R4 is R4.”

Here’s the part that trips a lot of people up. The name “R4 screw” isn’t a complete description. In our catalog, the R4 designation is a self-drilling point code. It means the screw has a drill point rated for steel up to about 4mm thick. The length, thread, head, and coating are all separate specs. If you only say “R4 screw,” you’re asking for one specific part, but you’re not naming the whole system.

It’s tempting to think all self-tapping screws are basically the same. That simplification is what got me. An R4 point and an R5 point look almost identical from the outside. The difference is the length and geometry of the drill tip, and that difference determines whether the screw will make its own hole or just spin in place.

A Deck Screw Gun Is Not a Metal Screw Gun

My friend grabbed his deck screw gun. “This’ll make quick work of it.”

A deck screw gun is a collated auto-feed driver. It’s built for wood decking: a specific strip of collated deck screws, a specific depth nose, and a clutch tuned for soft material. The R4 screws I had were loose, with no collating strip, so the deck screw gun couldn’t feed them. We spent twenty minutes trying to force it. When I tried to drive them manually with an impact driver, the first two went in partway, and then the point stalled. The 5mm steel was too thick for the 4mm-rated R4 point.

I should have known that. The deck screw gun was just a distraction, but it was also a clue: I was using the wrong tool for the fastener, and I was using the wrong fastener for the steel. At least, that’s been my experience with the R4 and R5 codes in our catalog; other brands might use a different system.

Searching the Catalog PDF With the Logo on It

Back at my desk that evening, I opened the National Hardware catalog PDF. It’s the latest edition, and I accessed it in April 2026. I searched for “R4 screw” and landed on the self-drilling screw chart. There it was: R4 point, 4mm steel capacity. The gate plate was 5mm. I needed an R5 point, not an R4.

What stuck with me was the National Hardware logo at the top of the page. I’d downloaded the PDF from the company’s site, so I knew the spec table hadn’t been re-typed by a marketplace seller. The logo doesn’t make the metal cut itself, but it does tell me I’m looking at the actual manufacturer data instead of a memory or a photo. I now check that logo before I trust any product detail.

The right R5 screws arrived in two days. Total damage: about $14 for the wrong R4 screws, $47 for the expedited R5 order, and one wasted Saturday. The actual price difference between the two screw types was maybe $9. I saved pennies on the wrong part and paid dollars for my hurry.

So, Does an Angle Grinder Cut Metal?

Let me answer the easy one directly: yes, an angle grinder cuts metal. We used a 4-1/2-inch grinder with a thin cutoff wheel to remove the old bracket and cut a steel strap. It took maybe a minute. The important detail is the disc. A cutoff wheel is made for cutting. A grinding wheel is made for removing material at a lower angle. A flap disc is for smoothing and blending. If you put a grinding wheel on and try to slice through steel, you’ll be there all day.

So the angle grinder worked. What failed was my assumption that “R4 screw” meant “the right screw.” It did not. I want to say the plate was 5mm, though I’m not great at guessing steel thickness by eye; the tape measure confirmed it later.

I’ve told this story at work, and now it’s part of our new-hire checklist:

• Search the National Hardware catalog PDF before you order, not after. The fasteners chart is searchable if you have the digital version.
• Check the point code against the steel thickness. R4 is rated for about 4mm steel; R5 is rated for about 5mm steel.
• Look for the National Hardware logo on the product packaging or the spec page. If it’s missing, ask for a data sheet.
• Don’t assume a deck screw gun is the same as a steel screw gun. A deck screw gun runs collated wood screws; use the tool that matches the fastener.

That checklist has caught 47 potential errors in the eighteen months since. Not all of those were fastener issues, by the way. A missed hinge size, an incorrect latch finish, a wrong drill point—they all show up in the same way if you don’t verify: small differences, big consequences.

The Two-Minute Rule

The National Hardware logo and the catalog PDF seem like small things, but they’re the two details I check now on every new product. Two minutes of searching beats two days of returning the wrong part. For the record, the angle grinder did cut metal, the deck screw gun did not help, and the R4 screw was exactly the wrong screw. I’m not saying I’ll never make a mistake again. I’m just saying I don’t have to miss the same one twice.