Nuts and Bolts--Does Everyone Save Them?

my Uncle Nick is a pack rat like that. He has a huge garage that is packed full of stuff. Everywhere he goes if he sees a washer... or nut... he picks it up.I keep threatening to tie some fishing line to a nice, juicy stainless bolt and set it on the ground. When he goes for it... yoink! I pull it away.

 

Yes. I have even aquired my Dad's can. It came with the toolbox he gave me. He decided one day he was done working on trucks and gave me his Snap On box. Then a few years later restored a 74 Stingray and has now a new can of nuts, bolts and washers. I still have the tool box

 

My old man was a packrat supreme. He worked construction and used to walk the site grounds every day before he headed home, to see what he could scrounge. Always had a pocketful of nuts and bolts to dump out every evening. He used a lot of it when he was active, but kept the habit after he slowed down. When he died, we had literally tons of stuff to sort through. Some of it was decent, but frankly a lot of it wasn't of much use. We ended up selling most of it in box lots at his estate auction.

You can still get good-quality hardware - just not at the shopping mall hardware stores. I usually go to a "professional" place called "Fastenall" and get high-quality nuts and bolts - and, exactly the ones I need, so I don't have to "make do" with hardware that's "almost right". Also, no hours upon hours spent sorting through shit that I honestly know I'll never, ever use.

I still hold on to some stuff - if its in really nice shape (especially the big items that are really expensive), and keep a few trays of miscelaneous small hardware for household fix-it work, but for the most part I find it much simpler to pick up what I need - when I need it - for my car projects. It may cost a few cents more per piece, but I save money (and lots of time) in the long run by not having to hassle with a bunch of old, oddball, rusty crap.

I always have "fresh" hardware that's easy to handle and never makes me worry about whether or not it will hold up over time.

Just my 2-cents.

 

11,000 lbs / 21 cf = 523.81 lb/cf
everybody knows steel weighs 490 lb/cf

I think you must have underestimated the size of your freezer

 

I finally broke down and bought 100 plastic bins on ebay for a hunnert bucks.
I made a cabinet for the bins and spent several days sorting....My buddy Dana came over and labeled the bins. If you have to keep rummaging through old boxes and coffee cans it kinda defeats the purpose of having all those bolts and stuff. I'm sure I've already recovered those days of sorting by
being able to walk right up to what I need.....
I have rooms full of parts and pieces. Its hard to throw old stuff away. Its built so much better than stuff nowdays...

 

Dang right. Sometimes its hard to find what your looking for but it sure beats driving down to the store and spending.

 

Oh man this is some funny Shiite! I call it the "Lucky Bucket of Bolts". I could see doing it IF it's fairly well organized, but it's not so most of the time it's quicker to go to the hardware store.

Thanks,
Kurt

 

It sucks now days to part out cars. My buddy just parted out a 96 Z28, I asked if he was going to save some of the nuts and bolts, and other stuff. His response was...what am I going to use all that metric shit on?? I guess it's been a while since I've been a part of a parting out party! I can see saving special clips, bolts, etc. But to save some old 1/2'' bolts when a fresh one costs $.05, and looks nicer, I don't understand it.
My Dad and I go to auctions, and laugh at the old timers who buy up the boxes/cans of rusty hardware and bent nails. My Dad swears he's going to start buying them when he retires, just so I have to deal with them when he's gone.

 

I've got at least 6 five-gallon pails full of nuts,bolts,washers,& screws I've managed to "packrat" over the years...however ,you must remember theres an Unwritten Law that says "...No matter what amount/size of bolts, that you're hunting in your collection...There shall always be one less than the amount/size you need..."....happens every time..So ,I always end up at Fastenall or the Bolt store...I just use my collection for ballast in case my garage tries to float away!!!! Stan

 

I really don't like the new pointed tip bolts with the washer already attached. It probably helps in the manufacturing process.

Give me a regular 3/8" bolt and flat washer anytime! Used even!

 

I always have extra nut, bolt & parts when I work on my cars.

 

i have totes full of misc hardware i save

 

My sons thought I was nutz because whenever we'd get rid of some old POS vehicle or farm implement, I'd scrounge it for usable - keepable stuff. Not only bolts but hangars, brackets, bellcranks, shafts etc.

One went away to college (To learn "Shop teachin" now called Tech Ed.) , he tells me other guys who also study "shop", their Dad's do the same thing. He spends time in the garage now looking through all the neat shit ...

Probably many of the guys here do the same thing, it's part of the fun and neccessary if you do some fabricatin'

Nothing wrong with a pillow block from an old snowmobile winding up as a part for the new project.

Powerband

 

lots and lots of misc. nuts, bolts, and doo dads... and everyone knows that the doo dads are super expensive

 

I've got a 1 cabinet with 4 deep drawers and every thing sorted. My father laughs at me until he needs something. I also keep wood that is also sorted and I built a wood shed it all.

 

That included the van.

 

Kids from all over our tech school come see me when they need obscure bolts and nuts. If I don't have it, I can find it at home or at my dad's house. Being an organized packrat is where it's at.

 

Really breakes my heart to have to go buy nuts and bolts. It don't happen very often. Save a lot of steel scraps too. Why cut up a big piece to make a small bracket or gussett.

 

I have a lot of peanut butter jars screwed to the undersides of all my shelves that I keep lots of everything in. I don't think I could work with out them. Gumpa

 

I have several ( magic box's of fasteners )....!

Most of the time they just sit around doing nothing, But every now & then - I am missing the ( magic bolt or bolts ) to finish a project or tool and guess what...? A few minutes looking through the magic box & ive found what I need..!

 

The common rule(it's "Somebody's" Law), states that the amount of time from when you threw something away until you need it is inversely proportional to how long you had it before you threw it away.

 

Yes! I thought my dad was crazy when he taught me to save everything! I have 5 gallon pails of all sorts of fastners and stuff. My dad always made me look through his coffee cans and told me I could always find at least two of whatever I needed. (he was correct) Now I make my son do it. Weird how life repeats!