I run 1” Allen on all my setups. Sometimes I run 1/8” risers and sometimes i don’t. Works well with both and no need to change bolts when adding or removing risers. Changing bolts to a different brand with a different head on a deck is horrible. That’s why I always try to donate the bolts and nuts if I have a board I don’t get along with and give it away.
I prefer Shorty’s and Thunder cuz they have smaller heads. Dunno which other ones have those. Tried Ace non-hollow recently and got rid of those fast as I hated the huge heads.
Worst bolts I’ve ever had were Independent combi bolts. Never stripped another bolt but those stripped way too easy. Also fuck Philips head. That’s some toy store complete shit.
I’ve never lost a nut skating but I have way more bolts than nuts in my skate stuff box. I do throw away nuts that start looking like prolapsed anuses and I guess that happens quite often then. Wouldn’t mind having some of those better nuts that were talked about here earlier on, with purple nyloc or what it was. Not easy to find those in hardware stores in Finland as we’re not using inch hardware over here.
I don’t care about colors or them wearing off too much. I like my shit to look beat up anyway. With twin tails I like to have bolts that all look the same so either new ones or old ones that are worn equally. Sometimes I use the green Thunder bolts as indicator bolts but lately I’ve had mainly shaped boards or stuff on my grip, which is why @SneakySecrets doesn't like me.
I don't know how accessible things are in the way of hardware / nuts and bolts wholesalers, but if you never really destroy the normal Shortys or Thunder bolts, you can always buy a pack, or more often a box of nuts to keep you going, which is what I do for the spare parts area of my shop space.
If someone blows out some of the nyloc on the nuts, I just replace the full set and away they go, which should last another dozen or more board changes.
Deck bolts are way harder to find the right size, shape and strength, so I get whatever I prefer in the way of skate brand deck bolts (usually Shortys) and just replace the nuts as needed.
Ebay has them for only a few dollars for enough to make it worthwhile for me, but just so OCD doesn't kick in and make a mess of things, I buy them in lots of 200 = 25 full sets of spare nuts.
Key words that came up with the best listings for me were:
Nyloc Nut 3/16" (10-32) UNF
Some car part suppliers also use those nuts, but they are usually more expensive than the ebay hardware wholesalers.