Note to self... (you dummy)

[Jon McElwain]

So, next time you move and you decide to sell your 15 year old box of nuts and bolts and every imaginable fastener for $5 at a garage sale, slap yourself first....

Man, I've been in the new house for almost a year and I still do not have enough spare fasteners to warrant putting them in a box! I thought I would safe a couple bucks on shipping by not including that box, but I would gladly pay $50 right now to have it back! It used to be that I could pick through that box and find an extra bolt, or some weird spacer or a missing nut almost every time. I think I might have a dozen or so fasteners laying around now. Man I miss that box!

[Neil Brooks]

On a lighter note ... you probably made the buyer very happy :)

[Ben Hatcher]

Time to hit the garage sales. There's got to be another dope out there looking to offload their treasure trove of fasteners;)

I sorted my bolts box earlier this year. I made 7 piles then subdivided into large/small where practical.
-pan head screws
-counter sunk screws
-bolts with nuts
-bolts without nuts
-nuts without bolts
-washers
-everything else

That has worked very well for me. Not only it is much faster to find what I need, I'm actually making some progress to reduce the pile. I must admit, before, if I were at the store and I remembered, I'd buy a new one. If I forgot, I'd go to the pile.

[Steve Kohn]

About 35 years ago I moved into the house my wife's family had lived in since the 1930's. Her dad was a ex-farmer and he bought the house. In the basement was a bunch of cigar boxes worth of hardware. When we moved from that house the cigar boxes moved with us.

Those cigar boxes have been replaced by plastic bins, but I have no intention of of getting rid of them. At least once a year I end up dumping one of the bins out on the table and digging thru the hardware. I usually find something to use.

[Jon McElwain]

There's got to be another dope out there...

Yeah, thanks, I caught that!:p

Garage sale is a good idea though - maybe I'll check the adds on Friday. Come to think of it, I think that is where my first collection of odds and ends came from...

Sorting them though... Might be to hardcore for me! My Dad still has a 30" tool box dedicated to the nuts and bolts and such. It's been in his shop for as long as I can remember - 30+ years!

[Will Overton]

When I moved 5 years ago, every nut and bolt came with me.

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd75/Bill_de/hardware-wall.jpg?t=1289848570

[Dave Houseal]

When I moved 5 years ago, every not and bolt came with me.

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd75/Bill_de/hardware-wall.jpg?t=1289848570

Could somebody please post their picture of a cardboard box full of completely unsorted and disorganized hardware so I don't get a complex after seeing this picture :p

[Belinda Barfield]

Could somebody please post their picture of a cardboard box full of completely unsorted and disorganized hardware so I don't get a complex after seeing this picture :p

If it makes you feel any better I use a pint mason jar to hold miscellaneous nuts, bolts, screws, nails, picture hangers, assorted twist ties and pieces of wire too short for anything else, rubber bands, nearly - but not quite - exhausted Sharpies, odds and ends that at this current time have no apparent use, and hex keys that came with something or other I can't remember. Being female I haven't graduated to a box but when I do it will probably be an old Tupperware container. I live in a condo so I don't have a lot of opportunity to acquire treasures. Oh, and "hex key" probably isn't the proper term but that's what I've always called them. Just for the record my jewelry findings and tools are stored in a tackle box and it's organized so I feel a little better about myself right now.

[Mark Ashmeade]

No need to get a complex.

I too have a rack of little bins like that. And absolutely no idea what is in any of them. I have to go through all of them every time, looking for the right size screw, or the right nut. I would much rather have a big tin of nuts, one of bolts etc :)

[Kent A Bathurst]

When I moved 5 years ago, every not and bolt came with me.

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd75/Bill_de/hardware-wall.jpg?t=1289848570


allright, allright....you win. Uncle.

[Stephen Tashiro]

I kept several jars of bolts and fasteners that I inherited for many years. About 3 years ago, I threw them away. Haven't missed them since. It's been good for my fingers too since may of the bolts had square nuts that I might have been tempted to use. Got rid of many slotted head screws in those jars also. Good riddance!

[Will Overton]

I have jars too, but I hide them behind my ras. :)

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd75/Bill_de/ras-open.jpg?t=1289857237 http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd75/Bill_de/hinges2.jpg?t=1289857362

[Heather Thompson]

When I moved 5 years ago, every not and bolt came with me.

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd75/Bill_de/hardware-wall.jpg?t=1289848570

Will

"Every "not" came with me", actually when I moved in 94 my ex did "not" come with me. :D All of my tools did come with me and I have actually fixed his cars and helped with his new house, he may may be a pinhead but I still care about him.


Heather

[Jon McElwain]

Okay, I think I'm going to be sick - these photos are just disgusting!!:eek: What, did you guys go and detail your shops just for these photos or are you just like that?:p


http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd75/Bill_de/hardware-wall.jpg?t=1289848570

At least Will here has some sawdust in his dust collector to prove that some dust was actually made - I assume in the vicinity of this photo. But really, it's like a photo out of fine woodworking or something...:D



http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd75/Bill_de/ras-open.jpg?t=1289857237

Just ribbin!!!!

[Will Overton]

Will

"Every "not" came with me",

Heather

Thanks, I made the correction. My ex did not come with me either. I guess with all the hardware there just wasn't enough room. ;)

[Don Jarvie]

When I hit the flea markets this is the one thing I look for. Screws and bolts have gotten expensive if you need to buy more than a few.

[John Coloccia]

Will

"Every "not" came with me", actually when I moved in 94 my ex did "not" come with me. :D
Heather


Thanks, I made the correction. My ex did not come with me either. I guess with all the hardware there just wasn't enough room. ;)

If I could have found a way to shove her into a little jar, I would have considered taking mine with me. LOL.

As it is, I'm down to a small cardboard box of miscellaneous stuff. I don't have the organizational skills to organize my collection, and it's too time consuming to ever find anything, so I ended up just buying whatever I need anyhow. The box is a 2:00am desperation move that often proves fruitless, I'm afraid.

[Steve Costa]

Several years ago I purchased a library card catalog. Every screw, nut, bolt and project parts are stored in separate drawers, which are labeled to assist with "senior moments".:eek:

[John Messinger]

I think I read about you in the newspaper, the headline read: "Nut Bolts, Leaves Washers Behind, Screws Self." I found the article both fastinating and riveting, so included it in this thread!.

[John Coloccia]

Several years ago I purchased a library card catalog. Every screw, nut, bolt and project parts are stored in separate drawers, which are labeled to assist with "senior moments".:eek:

You know, that's actually a great idea. There was one for sale at my local antique shop. They were using it for storing small items, and I never made the connection to use it to store my hardware. It was cheap too. I need to go back and see if it's still available!

[Myk Rian]

I have stacks and layers of Folgers coffee cans of all sizes on my shelves.
All kinds of stuff are stuffed into them.
A marker helps me figure out what is in them.

[Jamie Schmitz]

I seriously almost inquired about employment at OSH just so I could sweep up all the N&B's on the floor. What do you bet they dump them in the trash.:(

I love looking through my box especially when I find exactly the right fix.
Anybody else have one of these.
http://www.amazon.com/Thread-Detective-Screw-Gauge-Metric/dp/B002MMIK1U

[Jon McElwain]

I think I read about you in the newspaper, the headline read: "Nut Bolts, Leaves Washers Behind, Screws Self." I found the article both fastinating and riveting, so included it in this thread!.

Fastenating post! I really think you hit the nail on the head. Speaking of nails, where did I put that box of 10d philips nails?


What a bunch of pan heads we are.....

[Mike Langford]

I started "collecting" nuts and bolts and misc. stuff way back in the mid '70....Whenever I had to throw something away (old fan, car part, household appliance, etc) I'd always strip and save all the fasteners, clips, and what-have-you's off before the trip to the dump....

My bins are NOT organized at all!

I got items I'll never use (...but I've got them IF I ever need them! :D)

I try to keep the items in "groups" to make it a little easier to find them but sometimes it's "dump & hunt"

It also seem that if I need 5 matching nuts, or bolts, or whatever....I'll only be able to find 4 :rolleyes: then after I've bought what I need I'll find 6 more in the back of another drawer....(I think that's a category of Murphy's Law)

BUT, I feel your pain....I'd really miss my mess if it twern't there.....

I have drywall screws and pocket screws elsewhere (no pic)
167438

[Keith Outten]

I use Pennzoil quart oil cans to store my fasteners. I cut the top off of the cans and soak them in detergent for a couple of days which takes care of the oil film.

I have no idea how many yellow cans I have. I made a 2 by 4 shelf in the ceiling that runs the length of my shop and then some so there must be over 50 feet of the cans on the shelves. Decades of collecting fasteners and a host of other things like springs, electrical switches and terminals, etc. My collection of bolts and screws are sorted by size with screws and bolts separated from nuts and washers. I also sort out all of my stainless steel and metric fasteners.

Like Myk I use the new plastic coffee cans to store nails in my barn and I must have two wheelbarrows of the coffee cans full of nails.

I would guess that I own in the neighborhood of two thousand dollars in fasteners. I got a head start on my collection many years ago when I was working on the North Anna Construction project. At the end of the job when they were clearing out the tool rooms they were hauling 5 gallon buckets of fasteners to the scrap yard. Employees were allowed to take all we wanted in those days, all we had to do was ask for a gate pass. It took me months to sort out all of the fasteners I collected. through the years my effort has paid off big time as I have saved a small fortune not having to drive to the store to buy screws, nuts and bolts.
.

[Marty Paulus]

I use a combo of methods. I just recently got fed up with my screw/nail cupboard so I bought an organizer from the borg that has a boat load of compartments that are adjustable. Emptied that cupboard into there. Now all my screws, brads and nails are in one carry case. Wife thought that was a big step for me as she can be OCD at times ;). I also use the coffee can method. It is a carry over from my Dad. Growing up Dad always had a small box of misc. nuts and bolts. It was a crap shoot to actually find the right one but it did save a trip if you could find it. I now have a stack of plastic coffee containers that hold other misc stuff like hose clamps, assorted wire nut and the hardware from any of the projects that I had to take apart and store the pieces. Blue tape and a sharpie make for much less stress when the time comes to reassemble.