No torque wrench?

For anything #10 and below a torque wrench is rarely worth it — you can't feel the difference and cheap wrenches are inaccurate at the bottom of their range.

Use the hex-key figure above instead. Grip the long arm and pull with roughly that force. If the number says more than about 55 lb, you need a socket wrench, not a key.

Why the number is fuzzy

Torque is a proxy. Most of what you apply is fighting friction under the head and in the threads — only about 10–15% becomes clamp force.

That means even a good torque wrench lands within roughly ±30% of the intended clamp. Treat the figure as a target, not a specification.

Things that catch people out

Nylon lock nuts need extra torque just to turn through the nylon — add the nut's running torque on top.

Stainless galls. Always lubricate stainless on stainless, or it seizes halfway and you snap it.

Don't re-use a screw you've already yielded, or a nyloc that spins on freely.