National Hardware Sourcing FAQ: 570 Continuous Hinges, Flare Nut Wrench Sets, Cordless Drills, and Screwdriver Sets

Procurement buyer, nine years handling MRO and gate hardware orders. I've personally made — and documented — eleven significant sourcing mistakes, roughly $4,800 in wasted budget. Now I keep the checklist our team uses before any hardware PO goes out the door.

Below are the questions I get asked most often by junior buyers and by contractors who catch me on the phone. I've answered every one of them the way I'd answer a coworker: straight, and with the mistake that taught me.

1. What should I check before buying National Hardware 570 continuous hinges?

Continuous hinges aren't regular butt hinges. They run the full height of the door or gate, which spreads load across a lot more fasteners. That's a big deal for shed doors, cabinet doors, and any panel that swings heavy. The 570 series is a common pick for those jobs, but the mistake I see most often (because I made it in 2019) is buying by door height alone.

What actually matters: leaf width (has to match door thickness), hole pattern, material, and the hinge grade. Continuous hinges fall under ANSI/BHMA A156.26, which sets cycle-test and load ratings. If a supplier can't tell you which grade they're quoting against, that's a red flag. On my first order I bought 22 hinges by height only, didn't check leaf width, and they didn't fit. That mistake cost about $340 in non-returnable stock (note to self: always get the spec sheet before approving). Galvanized finishes are fine indoors; for outdoor gates, stainless is the safer call if you want 10+ years, not two.

2. Do I really need a flare nut wrench set, or is a regular open-end wrench fine?

Flare nut wrenches (some folks call them line wrenches) grip five or six of the nut's flats instead of two. Regular open-end wrenches round off soft brass fittings — brake lines, fuel lines, hydraulic. This isn't a theoretical thing. I watched a tech round a brake fitting in 2021, cracked the flare, and we scrapped a $180 line assembly. He had a decent open-end set right there. The right tool would've taken 30 seconds.

When you shop for a set, look at: contact points (6-point beats 12-point for flared fittings), size range (a 3/8"–7/8" SAE set covers most automotive work), and tolerances. Cheap sets feel loose on the nut even when they're the right size, which is exactly when they slip. One overlooked thing — mixed SAE/metric kits look like better value but usually create duplicates and gaps. Bottom line: buy the range you actually use, in the drive size you actually reach for.

3. What actually matters in a cordless drill review?

Most cordless drill reviews lead with torque specs. Torque is rarely the bottleneck. What I'd want a review to cover, and what I now check myself, is chuck quality, brake response, and battery platform.

In 2022 I approved a 40-unit drill order based on paper torque numbers. About half died inside of three months — not the motors, the keyed chucks. They slipped under load and ate bits. We replaced chucks on 18 units before giving up and switching models. That was roughly $1,900 in rework plus a month of lost jobsite time. If the drill you're evaluating doesn't have a metal ratcheting chuck, I'd argue you're paying for the motor and losing on the interface. Brushless vs. brushed matters too, but not as much as platform. If your crews already run a battery system, staying inside it is usually worth more than any spec on a review page.

4. Which screwdriver sets deliver optimal value?

Not the cheapest, not the fanciest. The ones that fit the hand that'll hold them. I've bought a $12 32-piece set (five tips stripped within three months) and I've bought an $89 set that our techs hated because the handles were too thin to put torque on. That second one was a bigger waste — $620 sitting in a drawer.

Optimal value usually means: S2 steel tips (not CR-V), tight tip tolerances so they don't cam out, and a handle size that matches your people. Piece count is packaging, not value. A 6-piece set with the right sizes beats a 32-piece set with sixteen sizes nobody uses. Personally, I'd rather have four good screwdrivers and a solid bit set than a 40-piece box that covers everything badly. (I really should write down which sizes our team actually uses — that would've saved us two returns last year.)

5. What is the National Hardware Show logo, and why do buyers get confused by it?

This is the question most people don't think to ask. The National Hardware Show (NHS) is a trade show, not a product line. If you're searching for the logo, you're probably trying to verify whether a supplier is legitimately exhibiting or just name-dropping.

Two things worth knowing. One: exhibiting at NHS doesn't mean a company is affiliated with any brand that happens to use the word "national" in its name. Trade show branding and product branding are separate things. Two: I've seen purchase requests where someone wrote "National Hardware Show approved" as if it were a certification. It isn't. NHS is a place to meet suppliers, not a stamp of quality.

If you're trying to vet a supplier, look at dealer authorization, ANSI/BHMA or equivalent standards compliance, and — the one that actually matters — whether they can give you a real technical contact. Anyone can print a logo on a booth sign.

6. Is a ‘one-stop' hardware supplier always the right call?

In my opinion, no. Consolidation is good up to a point, then it turns into a liability. Last year I watched a supplier fight to keep special-order locks on a mixed order just so they wouldn't lose the whole PO. Pricing looked fine, but lead time slipped three weeks and they couldn't verify test standards. We ended up sourcing the locks from a specialist, paid a rush fee, and ate about $1,100 in extra cost.

Here's the thing — a vendor who says "that's not our strength, here's who does it better" earns my trust for everything else. The way I see it, a supplier who claims to do everything usually does a couple of things well and the rest at 70%. Specialization isn't a weakness, it's information. You just have to be willing to hear it.

7. What's the checklist you actually use before a hardware PO goes out?

Short version:

• Verify sizes against the physical part and the drawing, not the catalog page.
• For load-bearing hardware, get the ANSI/BHMA or equivalent standard cited in writing.
• Ask for the material grade, not just the finish.
• Confirm what's actually in the kit — included items get assumed more often than they get read.
• Ask the supplier what they don't do well. Their answer tells you whether they're a partner or a middleman.

That last one is the one most buyers skip. It's also the one that's saved us the most money.

Prices in this piece come from my own order records between 2022 and 2024. Verify current quotes and lead times before committing — hardware pricing moved a lot in 2023 and again in early 2024.