Old Fastener Storage: Do you indulge or refrain?

[sberry]

I rarely use nails, cant even remember the last time. A few for pallet box repair but those power drive. In maintenance and some simple renovation/construction the modern battery drill has made the nail hammer near obsolete.

Tim Tool Man, I like that. Real practical. In Richards middle pic above, like the bolt bins.

 

[rkevins]

I store bolts/nuts/screws in everything from large pill bottles to viniger jugs with the tops cut off, when I worked on appliances I would save every bolt/nut/screw from scrapped appliances, I keep electrical tape boxes in my tool box at work and save odd screws sure saves time. The people over lean and 5-S don't like it even though it saves time, to them it's wasted space.

 

[sberry]

I have had guys that work for me get upset I didnt save enough junk. The concet of clearing and finishing, tossing the junk was forign. It just killed them to see this big empty building. For me all this is about results. Its am I getting all he help from my infrastructure I can, this includes frequency, man hour considerations. Other cost including downtime and PM factors considered.

Common nuts and bolts are a consumable, like grinding wheels, cutting gas, welding rods/wire we never run out. We found about 4 pails of general bolts a while back, dumped a couple, stood there for 20 mins and glean the god stuff, dumped the others and spend about an hour sifting thru them and actually added quite a bit back to the stock for the time. As I recall at the time I figured about a hundred bucks of stuff we actually used, 1/2 flats, nuts, few handfuls of larger stuff. The plus side again, things I actually use and replenish.

 

[Outlawmws]

I have had guys that work for me get upset I didnt save enough junk. The concet of clearing and finishing, tossing the junk was forign. It just killed them to see this big empty building. For me all this is about results. Its am I getting all he help from my infrastructure I can, this includes frequency, man hour considerations. Other cost including downtime and PM factors considered.

Common nuts and bolts are a consumable, like grinding wheels, cutting gas, welding rods/wire we never run out. We found about 4 pails of general bolts a while back, dumped a couple, stood there for 20 mins and glean the god stuff, dumped the others and spend about an hour sifting thru them and actually added quite a bit back to the stock for the time. As I recall at the time I figured about a hundred bucks of stuff we actually used, 1/2 flats, nuts, few handfuls of larger stuff. The plus side again, things I actually use and replenish.

Work environments need a different approach. Efficiency is everything, but work places make points with the hired help by letting them take home scrap with minimal value, especially if the scrap values are sucked up by the labor of hauling it, if the employees can put it to use.

For my home shop the cost of me keeping/sorting, and yes sometimes cleaning the used stuff has been paid back many times over in cost and time savings, where I simply walked to a bin or drawer and picked out the exact thing I needed.

I have saved countless trips to the hardware store, saving me time, gas, and the cost of the bit I needed.

The effort of sorting though a coffee can of bolts and tossing them into the appropriate bin/drawer is minimal and only happens maybe once a year or so anymore as I often will sort as I find them, and only if I'm too busy will I toss them into the "sort later" bin.

 

[nosnerd]

i am currently doing the plastic coffe can thing..smaller 1/2 pint jars with label removed thanks to my awesome wife..

i am picky about what i keep tho.....my dad when he comes down..like to keep nails too...but i refrain from that tho...

 

[RECox286]

As it is with most of youse guys, I too have the disgusting habit of

never throwing out anything that may be reused or useful in some

way, and, fasteners seem to be among the most treasured of items.

I started out 40 years ago, pretty much with just one "tub" to fill,

but it became evident quite soon, that the collection was bound for

prize winning proportions. I was able to acquire [steal] a pre-ex

shelving unit with bins of about 5x5x16 inches. The whole thing will

probably hold a ton with no strain. After filling 3 shelves with nuts,

washers and bolts, I started putting the overflow into old refrigerator

metal bins, ran out of those, so started using the plastic variety. The

plastic doesn't hold up to the bulk weight too well though. One thing

I have found, using an old rubber dish washer tub makes finding the

desired fastener easier, and helps restore the fasteners to their proper

container. Simply dumping the lot back into the bin saves the finger

nails and manicure job...

Uncle Bob

 

[2mJps]

I have a big colection of bolts nuts washers sae and metric. I also have pipe fitings. Most are used. I keep them in the tins that fruit cake come in. I used to keep a lot of used belts but when i moved i got rid of them. They are handy to find a belt size on something that is missing its belt.It fills good to have stuff on hand. I clean up old farms and run onto a lot of stuff you have to be selective or you will end up on hoarders.

 

[crewchief888]

i have a drawer full of hardware that i removed and saved from my s-10 blazer teardown.
i dont keep much in the way of new nuts, bolts washers ect around,
when i'm in the planning stages for a project, i get all my materials and hardware together before i start working on it, saves me from having to run out for a bolt or screw.
however i do have several drawers full of "stuff" rod ends, linkage, AN/JIC hose ends, bulkhead fittings, caps, plugs, small pipe fittings, adapters, steel and plastic bushings, knobs, heavy steel washers, fender washers.

the kind of stuff you need, but cant get at hardware store or HD on a sunday afternoon.

 

[sselander]

Have you seen the hardware selection at HD? It keeps getting worse.
Lowes offers a better selection, but it is getting harder to get oddball stuff.
My dad now has a 40 year collection of hardware and I am still amazed he can find something quickly. Some of our local hardware stores have a decent selection.
My dad has been sorting and saving for a long time and what he has is priceless.
Sometimes it can be a pain looking for something and I go "shopping" at his house because I know he has it.

 

[Outlawmws]

Have you seen the hardware selection at HD? It keeps getting worse.
Lowes offers a better selection, but it is getting harder to get oddball stuff.
My dad now has a 40 year collection of hardware and I am still amazed he can find something quickly. Some of our local hardware stores have a decent selection.
My dad has been sorting and saving for a long time and what he has is priceless.
Sometimes it can be a pain looking for something and I go "shopping" at his house because I know he has it.

Another good reason to keep good quality fasteners! Sad to see that hardly anything in the hardware isles is anything but an Asian import... A year or so ago OSH,went all new displays and replaced their long standing decent suppliers with Asian ****. another reason I rarely shop there any more. At least the local Ace (recently expanded) is doing better.

 

[Steevo]

Hi, my name is Steevo, and I am a hardware hoarder.

I keep nuts and bolts, screws and clips, pins and dowels, sleeves and spacers, springs and sprockets, wing-nuts and washers, and just about anything else re-usable.
I have drawers full of sorted sheet metal and wood screws, drawers of new and/or clean-used bolts, nuts and washers, bins of hitch pins and cups of master links.
I tear down entire vintage garden tractors for the re-usable parts, and save every nut, bolt and washer that is not rust-damaged (just a little surface rusty is ok).
I have some buckets of "dirty" hardware that needs to be washed in the parts washer, and then some will need additional cleaning.
I have considered buying a large vibratory tumbler just to finish-clean used hardware in.
Many bolts are no longer available in the incremental lengths they used to be. Lots of bolts today have threads too far up the shank to be usable in some sleeved-bushing situations. Keeping sorted bins of the bolts allows me to match size, thread length and grade more often than I can at the hardware store or big box store. Some shoulder bolts can't be bought, but with the right starting bolt, they can be made.
I just need more storage and I can clean and sort some more!

 

[Al Bundy]

My name is Doug and I am a hoarder.

I like to have a hardware supply on hand so I don't have to run to the store everytime I need something. I collected a few nice parts cabinets but nothing was ever big enough to hold it all.

Then one day I found this. Addressograph name plate storage cabinet. 6' tall, 4' wide and 2' deep. 133 drawers to organize everything. The roll up doors were the icing on the cake!

I have collected alot of little cardboard boxes from work and the hardware store to organize the bolts, etc. I built a cart with wheels for it so I could move it when it is full. Empty it weighs around 750#. I have most of my hardware in it and I would guess it about 40% capacity.

I knew I should have stayed out of this thread. Now I want one of those!

 

[incurablescrounge]

Hey Al Bundy, There is an Addressograph cabinet on ebay now in NY. No cool slide doors though. I am happy with mine. It holds alot!

 

[arkansawer]

I have piles of bolts, nuts, washers and much more that are not separated. How would you guys go about separating and sizing them?

I did a regroup this winter. I took a 4x8 table and got a stool, left about a 2x2 area directly in front of the stool and filled up the rest of the space with containers of all sizes and shapes. The more common stuff was close by and the odd large bolts farther away. I sat my dis-organized self down and poured jar, can, box etc. out one at a time.

you will fine tune as you go. I ended up with a large hardware box that still needs to be tweaked but all bolts, nuts, washers, screws, nails, copper, brass fittings, machine screws etc. are all in drawers in divided areas under my bench in 2x4 drawers made out of 1x4 pine for the sides and 1/2 inch plywood for the bottoms.

it is really a pleasure to know what you have and especially where it is. saved me lots of time and grief not having to run to the hardware store paying for something you know you already have.

 

[dittle fart around]

Most metro areas have a bolt and screw store for commercial customers. In the northwest the stores are named Tacoma Screw.
Most of the places I worked at it was cheaper to sweep up the fasteners and toss them. Than pay someone to sort and put them back in the right drawer.
When I was younger I worked at hardware stores. The mark up on bolts is unbelievable. It's like a shoe store, you have to stock all the sizes, but you only sell so many common items. Profit has to be made on the common ones to allow the odd ball to be stocked. If you lease the building you have to consider profit per square foot compared to rent per square foot.
OK I'm way off subject here.

 

[dittle fart around]

While I'm here I want to post my favorite picture from Mare Island. It's closed now but is the oldest naval yard on the west coast.

View media item 23875

 

[Chuck.H]

I can imagine a future where we have metal 3-D printers with induction harderners(sp) and we can print any grade 8 bolt we need, with perfect shank and thread lengths.

Chuck.H

 

[Outlawmws]

Most metro areas have a bolt and screw store for commercial customers. In the northwest the stores are named Tacoma Screw.
Most of the places I worked at it was cheaper to sweep up the fasteners and toss them. Than pay someone to sort and put them back in the right drawer.
When I was younger I worked at hardware stores. The mark up on bolts is unbelievable. It's like a shoe store, you have to stock all the sizes, but you only sell so many common items. Profit has to be made on the common ones to allow the odd ball to be stocked. If you lease the building you have to consider profit per square foot compared to rent per square foot.
OK I'm way off subject here.

Yep and Contractors are big with that. dropped nails; just keep going. Someone else's problem (The contractor the did the structure for my addition did that, and I'm still finding nails in my lawn and garden 17 years later. we are just lucky no one's foot found them first (So far...), and that is AFTER we "swept the yard" with a metal detector!

For personal use the small "as I do it" cost for "restocking" is more than paid for by minimizing lost time on projects going to get a damn fastener (the last time it took three trips to get the right one...) Not to mention the direct savings of what it would cost out of pocket, and to Steevo's point, having the right one compared to some "good enough" compromise.

If I had to factor in the cost pr hour to go get a single missing fastener, not to mention the cost in fuel etc. a >$1 bolt can cost 20-50 X (or more) its ticket price...

 

[Responder]

Some really cool and innovative ideas here with storage in regards to the fasteners. I used to try and sort them (plastic pail) but now, once a year I load up scrap metal along with a pail of fasteners, take them to the scrap steel dealer and then go buy myself something with my new found money!!

Usually, it is more fasteners!! LOL

 

[ptschram]

My name is PT and I have ADD/ASD and am medicated for it. I was first screened for ADD/ASD as a result of my hoarding.

In 2000 I bought my childhood home. In 2007 when I moved out, I had lived there for 23 days shy of 44 years.

When I bought the house, my dad had held an auction and only left "the good stuff" for me. My new wife had a 40 yard roll-off bin delivered and it took us less than two hours to fill it. That was the first of five such roll-off bins.

I now have real bolt bins and have adopted the adage that life is too short for used hardware.

While nearly $100 is a lot for metal bins to keep hardware, I have realized that it is money well spent.

If you're just getting into the game, **** it up and buy the real bolt bins. They will all be the same size, shape and color which will be beneficial in the end.

 

[Outlawmws]

OK, an update for some of my storage:

I have 4 more of the 18 drawer bin racks, acquired over the past year or so, and a pair of these heavy industrial duty book cases.

It turns out the width of the book case is PERFECT for the bin racks, so in addition to the one in post one, I put three of them on shelves, and one on top, (that one is still missing one drawer...) and am gradually reorganizing other parts storage in to this stack.

The top one is 1/2 full of electrical conduit fitting, switches, outlets and such, which freed up two narrow shelves (and the bins they were in) in another unit, and the other half is mostly car parts, bearings and the like. (We need to complete labeling, maybe when my youngest is home over thanksgiving...)

The other three are less that 1/2 full, and that 1/2 is only about 1/2 labeled. but is still being rationalized.

I did manage to completely eliminate a stack of 5X7 card file boxes completely with this addition of the bins, and with some other stuff in stacked crates that got moved to the shed, made space for a 3 drawer lateral file that is getting power tools put in it.

 

[nine4gmc]

Excellent use of space!

 

[spotco2]

Y'all will hate me for this.

I scrap a lot of hardware and electronics out and everything gets sorted, even the fasteners. All fasteners go into a 55 gallon drum and get dumped for scrap when the scrap man comes around.

I've got some standard sizes sorted and stored, but very few. I've also got a hardware store that sells individual fasteners about 1/2 mile from the house. It's easier to just go buy one for a nickel and stand around and gossip like old men do.

 

[lotsoftools]

I also scrap the majority of my old fasteners. I just buy what I need plus some extra as I need it and store it in Durham drawers.
I did find a good way to get fasteners back into their jars and such. Take an old baking pan or cookie sheet and cut a hole that is slightly smaller than the mouth of the jar. Now you can spread the bolts out in the pan, hold the pan over the jar and push everything in without spilling everywhere.

 

[willymakeit]

When I brought my 56 F100 home,there was a coffee can of old bolts n nuts. Still have them and assorted drawers and cans full of items. I save them all unless rusty.

 

[MikeF2316]

Outlaw, in the ensuing 6+ years have you managed to get a larger pile of metric fasteners?

I never throw out a fastener if it's reusable. I've been known to swipe a bunch of hardware off cars headed to the junkyard. If I take apart some electromechanical device to see if it's fixable and decide that it isn't, I'll toss it out, but save any screws I've removed...
I primarily work on European cars of all ages and newer Asian ones. So I need metric, so this is my most organized drawer.

And here is the drawer below it, pipe fittings and randomness.

 

[Outlawmws]

Actually yes, but nothing to compare with the SAE fasteners! I outgrew the red plastic tray and have one of those metal "drawer" tray sets with 6 covered parts trays, and have 3 of those with the slowly growing metric fasteners.

 

[ssdave]

I hadn't seen this thread before. I am a fastener hoarder. I knew it before, but really realize it now after paging through this thread.

There's some interesting hoards of fasteners here, but I think that the OP, Outlawms, is an amateur. I've bought easily a dozen collections his size at estate sales and integrated them into my stuff over the past 20 years.

A few years ago, I fancied myself as somewhat of a fabricator, and thought that I should have hardware on hand. I bought bolts, usually at estate sales and auctions. I bet I bought out 6 or 8 collections the size of Outlawms's. I brought home coffee cans, peanut butter jars, baby food jars, drawer cabinets, boxes, bins, plastic bags, milk crates of fasteners and misc. small parts. I sorted them out whenever I had time; by size, thread, length, etc. I accumulated a few tons of them. But, if I needed more than a few bolts, usually had to go down to the store and buy matching ones anyway. Did help out for that one "special" bolt that I needed at 10:00 at night. When I moved, I got disgusted at the huge quantity, and cursed a friend of mine with the entire collection of anything over 1/4" in size. But, I kept the small fasteners and miscellaneous stuff, most in Acro Mills cabinets, sorted by size into individual drawers. I had about 600 or so drawers full. I've gone with that system since, kept them sorted out, and used them. I buy larger bolts, and don't store them. In the 10 years that I was in my last house, the number of drawers crept up to about 900.

I have been in transition for the past two years; I have all my tools and stuff in storage while I built a new house and shop. I've continued to go to estate sales and buying small fasteners. I have a hard time passing up a nice Akro Mills cabinet full of fasteners. I've probably bought another 400 to 600 drawers worth, maybe even 1000. Some of the things I recall: I bought 6 64 drawer cabinets at one sale. 2 more at another. A dozen or so 20 or 30 drawer cabinets. A few boxes full of cans and bags and jars of fasteners. A couple metal cabinets. A couple of 30 compartment hinged lid boxes. Yard sale season is over, but I've still managed to get two more Akro Mills cabinets in the past month. My thought has been when I get my shop complete, I'll sort out the cabinets, keep a 1000 or so drawers of matching cabinets, sort the stuff into them and sell the rest.

I'll never use even a fraction of these that I've created. I bet I have 10 pounds of cotter pins. 2000 6-32 nuts. 20 pounds of brass machine screws. Hundreds of thumb tacks. Thousands of pop rivets. Hundreds of plastic drywall anchors. Tens of thousands of wood screws, sheet metal screws, machine screws, washers, nuts, acorn nuts, wing nuts, rubber grommets, faucet washers, wire nuts, crimps, etc, etc, etc.

I'm sick. I need to stop.........

Back to plan A: When the shop is complete, put together a set of cabinets that covers the range of stuff I use; fill those drawers with sorted stuff from all the rest of the cabinets, and get rid of the rest.

That way, I'll have a range of sizes of stuff I use, and can capitalize on the huge investment of time I've put in over the years sorting it all out. But, the key; will be to not buy any more!

 

[Bessy]

Oh boy, you guys have revived this thread and now I have to chime in!

I've begun throwing out (blasphemy, I know) easily 10s of pounds of scrap fasteners and other stuff, keeping and sorting some of the more useful bits, and throwing out nails all together (nails are cheap, they rust, and you always end up buying a new box for a project anyway).

Now, I'm a bit of a packrat like many here, and I do keep the bits and pieces that seem like they will actually have a use one day, but I try to stay a little bit realistic.

In many cases the old hardware that gets kept from various projects is used in one-off situations where you only need a couple pieces at a time. Otherwise, if I'm going to be elbow deep in a new project that is going to use a dozen or so pieces, I buy new. If I need fewer than say five or six, the hardware aisle at the local store or home-depot suffices, if it's more than say 8 max, I go straight to Fastenal. The new stuff (particularly from bulk purchases) will get sorted into those stanley organizers, which I'm slowly acquiring as they rotate through the flyers. I'm not in any hurry, but one day expect to create something similar to soj's masterpiece.

Now Dad, like his brother and father before, has inherited boxes of stuff that I've spent 20 years digging through and using when it's appropriate.
I'm convinced each and every one of us on this forum has that box in their garage that is full of misc stuff, fasteners, nails, screws, etc that has yet to be sorted.
I understand the necessity, and the reasoning behind said box, but I just don't find any fun in digging through a box of dust, nails, staples, and other sharp sh*t in order to find a washer or nut for a project, nor is it fun to sort nails in general.

I have always had a mild distain for those boxes as they get stupidly heavy, full of dust and dirt, and you can never really find anything in them. Will I have a box like that of my own some day? Yes, but I will do my best to get it sorted out from time to time rather than letting it get to that 25 or 50 year, 50lb state that I've had the pleasure of dealing with in the past.

 

[01-7700]

great thread !

 

[Highpsi]

This is definitely a great old thread that's been revived! I see that there's a few comments in there about cleaning up the old fasteners too with ultrasonic cleaners, etc. various different methods to get them cleaned up before reorganization.

Just wanted to mention one of my most recent favorite discoveries is the simple use of vinegar to clean rust / debris. If you have time, just soak rusty parts / bolts etc. in vinegar and watch the magic. Its cheap, simple, safe and easy!

I got some great organization ideas from the thread but will be using my old glass container with nasty vinegar solution in it to soak some of the bolts before putting back in. I find about 1 week works well from my last test I did.

Cheers!

 

[MScott]

I too am a fastener hoarder. One of the biggest problems I have is sorting especially when there are metric fasteners involved. Most of the big box stores have sorting devices in their fastener area that make it easy to sort, but they are not for sale.
Has anyone found a reasonably priced sorter?

 

[GMCGarage]

Im gonna give these a try. Clear tops, can see whats in them.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-10-Compartment-Deep-Pro-Small-Parts-Organizer-DWST14825/203367153

I got 10 of them for 7.50 each. Looks like price went up overnight, I just bought last night

 

[ssdave]

I bought a couple more nice cabinets the other day, but they were filled with drill bits and taps. Nice cabinets to store them in, but I have full sets and thousands of bits and taps already. But, I dutifully sorted them, threw out the junk, and stored the rest in some semblance of order. At $50, they're well worth it. At least they're useful; I've already used a few of them in the past month or so, as I can't get to my other ones that are stored. I suspect I have the same hoarding problem developing with drills and taps again, also. I sorted out huge quantities and sold them on ebay in 10 pound lots a couple of years ago, but have accumulated more since.

 

[sberry]

I have about a gallon of metrics I saved for crisis work, mostly on cars. I can sort them on the tray or finger for 1 if I need it. Same for fine thread and a few grade 8. I replace a lot, do it on purpose and am not saving it. If I have a chance to put a new bolt in place of an old rusty one I do it.
I got a bud with boxes of used spark plugs. I got a handful of good used ones incase one busts or something happens but if a guy is changing them out there isn't much point in saving them.

 

[Gerald O]

I've got a modest collection of used fasteners distributed amongst various boxes and bins. Eventually they will get sorted out better, but I don't try to get too **** about my sorting method. Trying to be too specific is what will keep you from even trying because it takes too much thinking and time.

In general I just sort by category and rough size. Bolts, nuts, washers, screws, etc get separated by 'Big' or 'small' first. For example all big bolts go together, all small nuts go together. The size boundary is not too specific, and sometimes there's a need for a few more size categories (S, M, L, XL). Mostly this has to do with the size of the bins available. You don't need a single large bin to store an odd half dozen small washers. That's just a waste of space. If there is a large quantity of a single fastener type then those might justify their own bin. Otherwise they get mixed with generally similar sized parts. I can identify most common fastener threads by eye, so it's not too difficult to spot what I need out of a small pile.

 

[L5wolvesf]

Hi, my name is L5wolvesf and I have a collection of used fasteners. I don’t seem to be able to toss out good used fasteners. The bad ones, the stripped or rounded ones I can toss in the recycles bucket easily but the good ones . . . the good ones won’t let me.

I have another confession to make . . . the good ones are . . . in an old bucket. I know it isn’t organized, I know it isn’t neat and I feel . . . ashamed. There are some, like nylocks, or other special kinds of fasteners, that end up in jars. And I stopped using glass jars.

The ray of hope for me is that I do use them for certain projects. Projects where a dirty old fastener can support itself and something else, and have a purposeful existence.

Wow, I feel much better now.

 

[Tejay]

Nuts ,bolts , washers etc are saved but my policy on screws is one use only. There is nothing more infuriating than trying to drive in a used screw that inevitably will cause an issue. Straight into the garbage !!

 

[jives]

Okay, thread revival. I've been slowly collecting HF parts storage boxes for the really small stuff, but the bigger stuff gets put in clear plastic, screw-top, square food containers that certain foods come in. In our house we go through a ton of these things a month, mostly nut containers. They are 6-8" tall, 4" SQUARE, and have a lid diameter of about 3". There are though, different sizes. They work better than cylindrical peanut butter jars.

They work great because (1), the lid is wide enough to stick your hand in and put in awkward sized hardward, (2) they are clear so on the shelf or in the drawer they reveal the contents, (3) they are square so the fit in drawers tightly either right side up or stack lying on their side, and (4) they are tall enough for long nails and awkward hardware like hinges (the wide mouth also helps here), and finally, they are free and plentiful.

 

[cliftonbros89]

I get a little annoyed with unorganized fasteners. On our farm it used to be a mess. Hardware all over. We had boxes, buckets, cans, stuff everywhere. It made it a real pain to find anything. A few winters ago when I didn’t have a lot going on I went through a bunch of things and organized almost everything.

We had about half of the drawers on top of the cabinet for a long time. Then a few years before I reorganized we ended up with some more (although I have to say that different colors is sometimes distracting to me). The top drawers are mainly bolts, nuts, washers, then some other common thing we use more regular like roller chain link splices. Drawers are divided by sizes by we usually have mixed grades and threads in the same drawer. They’re easy enough to tell apart. Cabinet is room for zip ties on the door. Other door is sets of cotter keys, roll pins, retaining rings, metric and SAE. The drawers in the cabinet are a variety of other things like hutch bin clips, larger cotter keys, plugs and caps, etc. then there’s boxes of wood screws and hose clamps on the shelf. It’s also where we keep a few open bins with longer bolts that won’t fit in the shelves up top.

I try to keep older and less common fasteners I come across when taking things apart. Some of them come in handy. But things like a rusted 3/8” bolt that we already have plenty of will just go for scrap.

Through the year when we’re in and out things can get taken apart and bolts and what not can be scattered through out the shop. I usually just take them through the year and put them in a tray to be resorted each winter.


I also keep a can on my tool box I through things in when I’m taking things apart too. I sort it in the winter as well. Either to use or as a reminder of a certain type of fastener to get to keep on hand.

We use to have buckets full of a variety of things. Two of my uncles were in construction. They’d always empty their pouches at the end of the day so there was always a variety of nails and screws and bolts they would throw in buckets. When they’d get a buckets filled they’d bring it to the shop. I believe we had about 30 5 gallon buckets filled to the brim from them. About 3 years ago I’d go through 2 or 3 buckets every evening. I’d dump a bucket out and used a bunch of other buckets to sort. It contained all. Types of nails a large variety of screw, staples, small machine screws, large bolts, wire nuts, wire connectors, I can’t even remember the rest. A lot of the nails there was such a large quantity of I just stored them in buckets with lids and put a tag on them and stored them in a shed out of the way. But I did come across a bucket or 2 that had gathered a lot of moisture and most everything was heavy with rust. Most of that was scraped.


So yes I do hold on to old stuff. When it’s decent and useful. It also does ultimately end up somewhat organized. Being able to find something and having things on hand can save a lot of time and trouble. The less down time the better.