Seriously? Do you need a torque wrench for bolts?

20 kN wrote: I apologize if this breaks rule number one, but bolting is a complicated and advanced task that should only be done by experts. Many people have died unnecessarily as a result of bolt placement failure.

No, you have not broken rule #1. If rule #1 was "don't be a moron," then you would have broken it.

Oh, woops, did I just break #1`?

Breathe...

Somebody needs to make something like these for climbing bolts.
amazon.com/Ritchey-Tool-Tor…

Something cheap and compact. I have a clicker and a spanner torque wrench. From researching torque wrenches on the interwebz, clickers need to be calibrated regularly , and don't like to be banged around. Spanner are pretty foolproof, and easy to calibrate, but can be a pain to use/read when your in an awkward position -- neither of these qualities is great for climbing....

i guess one of my main concerns is that dan states (on page 1) that he is a structural engineer, yet a few posts before states that he doesn't believe there is a correlation between torque and tension in the bolt. really???? also, he states that he tightens the bolts down as hard as he can and doesn't see a preblem with it. he doesn't seem to understand the difference between cranking down a wedge bolt (ie nut) and a 5 piece bolt (ie the head of the bolt). etc, etc, etc. the worst part is that he doesn't seem to care. add on top of that the fact that a person got seriously injured on one of his routes due to his lack of diligence, and he casually dismisses it because the route "wasn't finished".

sorry man, but i gotta call you out. put the drill down and walk away.

Just some of my personal experience and rules of thumb to add to this conversation...

I place 3/8" stainless wedge bolts, mostly in basalt. Before I started my bolting endeavors, I used a torque wrench to calibrate what 25 ft/lbs feels like on a 6" wrench. Recent concerns about the accuracy/proper calibration of torque wrenches lead me to test my tightening "feel" method, the old fashioned way. I secured a 3/8" bolt in a bench vise and attached my wrench (incorporated into my hammer) onto the nut. I suspended 25 lbs (paint in a bucket) from a string tied off 12" from the head of the wrench. I tightened the nut until it would no longer rotate with the weight suspended (with the wrench horizontal). This should be the definition of 25 ft/lbs.
My previous rule of thumb for tightening to this torque, was to pull down with three fingers, from 6", as hard as I could with my arm isolated (no opposition or body weight). I attempted this on the nut that I had just torqued with the weight, and could not get it to turn any further. Working backwards with a torque wrench from this point, revealed that my "feel" method was able to generate about 23 ft/lbs. In placing bolts at the crag, I have found that this equates to just past 3 turns of the nut past finger tight with a new drill bit, and down to 2 turns with a worn bit (the bolt is quite difficult to hammer in at this point).

This is an area where you should be serious, if not ridiculous about it. If you have a proper feel for what 12-or-25 ft/lbs feels like (based on experience) with a standard socket wrench, you're probably good. But if it's your first time bolting something, a $50 (or hell, maybe $20) beam-style torque wrench will only make tightening easier and give you confidence that you did it right. If you want to be fancy, for $100 you can get a torque-limiting coupler for your wrench that slips at +-5% of desired set torque. There is a reason this shite matters when you're talking about untouched/unmaintained fasteners expected to survive several thousand loading cycles and thermal cycling, which people trust without thinking at all about them at a glance. Personally, I don't see carrying a torque wrench any more inconvenient than a 1/2" drive socket wrench, when also rappelling in with a Bosch hammer drill. Do it right, and guarantee it lasts.