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The following fastener fell out of a breakfast bar stool. It came loose from the area shown below, where the hole is.

I have never seen a bolt like that, and Google Lens is not much help-- what is it? And can this stool be easily repaired?

Note: I am helping an elderly, internet challenged relative troubleshoot this remotely. I can ask questions and ask for more pictures (within reason, given limitations on mobility), but I can't put my own hands or eyes on it directly until Christmas, when I will be physically present. It is at that time I hope to fix it. If I can figure out how, and what I might need to bring with me.

Bolt, View 1 Bolt, View 2 Stool

Reader
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2 Answers2

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The male threaded part is a bolt or machine screw, and the thing with teeth is a T-nut, which has teeth that hold it against turning in the wood while providing female metal threads in the hole in the wood that it fits into.

As already noted in a comment, the picture of them assembled is assembled backwards - the teeth point towards the head of the screw so that the tightening of the screw drives and/or holds the teeth of the T-nut into the wood. Thus, it goes into the side of the wood away from where the head of the screw is. There should be significant holes in the wood for the teeth there, since it has been assembled before.

You might need to take the seat off to gain access to where the T-nut fits, but the fact that it fell out suggests that the seat is not firmly held against it, so you may be able to simply push the bottom of the seat away from the wood and slip the nut into place, teeth towards wood. In that case the only tool you need is a hex or Allen key the correct size for the screw. A few drops from a container of threadlocker might prevent it from unscrewing again, since the lockwasher clearly didn't.

Ecnerwal
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To me your middle photo looks like a properly assembled leveler meant for the bottom of furniture legs, and the last photo looks like someone tried to used it in a spot it wasn't designed for. Search for "furniture leveler" for common examples.

furniture leveler

joe
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