Whether you’re cleaning your kitchen after a big meal or finishing a painting project, it can be tempting to pour just about anything liquid—or sometimes even solids—down the drain.

Unless you are a mechanical engineer, you might not realize there’s a lot of nuances to something even as simple as a nut and bolt. How many threads do you need to engage? Do lock washers work?

Typically, we’ll throw a simple helical spring lock washer on a stud or bolt, torque down the nut nice and snug, and call it a day, feeling like we’ve made a secure joint. But nothing could ...