This is rather rapidly getting out of hand, gentlemen. I'd like to suggest that you all focus on something constructive. There's plenty of information left to be shared in this thread. It's unfortunate that this has become a debate about personal feelings towards various manufacturers and business practices.

For one thing, I'd like to learn how to read the hardness coding on bolt heads. If I recall it has something to do with small lines, but I'm really quite ignorant about that. Perhaps someone would be willing to help me out with that?

As for the idea of manufacturer bias... I'm not a jet guy. I don't use the products, I don't patronize the companies, and I don't have an particular opinions on any of the companies. In other words, I'm neutral and unbiased. I see no bias here. What I do see is an individual who's mixing his information with bashing, which is why his posts were removed. Please keep your posts civil, respectful of one another, and focused on the topic.