The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed Bolting up bed wood tip

I hear you about balancing the lock washer on top of the socket. I used hex nuts and with the smaller nuts, the lock washer perched precariously on top of the socket (with two nuts in it so the first could start on the carriage bolt.) I dropped the lock washers numerous times, then finally got a piece of tape wrapped around the socket to keep the lock washer from slipping off the side. That worked pretty well.

Your tip about using square nuts is a good idea, so the lock washer fits inside the socket. Not everyone has 8 point sockets, but 12 point sockets should work with square nuts as well.