Helping Hand...Leftover Spoils!

[KCarGuy]

I am sure alot of you Guys out there are like me...
...I drove to Wisconsin Yesterday and worked 12 hours helping my Boss and a few other co-workers installing some equipment at a Big Customer.

After finishing we all went out for a nice dinner and then my Boss...Knowing that I hate throwing away "Hardware"...Gave me all the Leftover Parts that were ordered to complete the job.

Hundreds of feet of Chain, Clips, 1/2" Concrete bolts, Stainless Cap Screws, Washers, etc, etc.

Most of my Hardware over the last 20 years has been Had this way.

I still am amazed that there are still guys out there that throw all that stuff away when they are done.

Are You a "Hardware Horder" like me????????

 

[Weps]

lol. you have no idea. as long as i've been doing this, i always keep hardware i've taken from projects. this includes random dismantles as well. if it's high quality or "vintage", i save it. and it's come in handy more times than i can count. a lot of that stuff is simply not manufactured any more or is crazy expensive. i work on a lot of older stuff and yellow zinc grade 8 or even hex head just seems wrong.

 

[MartyO]

Most definitely!!

Waste not, want not!!!

 

[Garage5.9]

Typical rubbish picker just like me but that's a good thing.

 

[rburke65]

My wife gets really embarrsed when I see something sticking out from the top of a dumpster, or out on the 'curb' and I stop the SUV to retrieve the treasure. Can't help it. Free is good. It doesn't get any better than free....unless it is also delivered.

 

[LIVELY]

i hate to waste anything and most always find a use for it or find someone else that needs it

 

[Lugnut64052]

Are You a "Hardware Horder" like me????????

Yes sir, I am, and proud of it too.

I once worked for a school bus contracting company. One summer we got a contract to install air conditioners in something like 200 special ed buses. The A/C systems came in a kit, one per bus, and there was A LOT of leftover stuff from every kit after the install was complete. They were just throwing it in the dumpster until I showed up. Bolts, nuts, whole bags of foot-long zip-ties, miles of 4 gauge battery cable, miles of 14 gauge wire, electrical terminals........I began taking all that stuff home with me and I'm STILL using on it, 20 years later.

I used to do quite a few engine swaps/replacements in my kid's hoopty cars, siblings cars, etc. If it was a Jap car I always tore the old engine down and saved all those high-quality JIS fasteners. I cleaned them all up and sorted them, which created a big bolt/nut rack of JIS. I've used it more times than I can count.

 

[JC23]

I pick up loose washers and fasteners I find in parking lots. Yeah, I got it bad...

 

[Travis E.]

Yes.

 

[KCarGuy]

Every Install that I do at work, comes with more Screws, Bolts, Clips, Chain, Rope Cable, Air Hose than needed. I always keep the extra.
After 20 years of gathering extra parts, I can actually have Too Many (what?)
I am always giving some to friends and family.
Or One Day....
....My wife was having a Garage sale and I had a bunch of "Cool" hardware out on a Table, A Guy saw some swivel Spring Clips that I had Marked for 5 cents each, He picked one up and then looked in the 5 gallon bucket to see hundreds more (all brand new mind you). He asked me if I would take $35 for the whole bucket, I told him "Sure"...he had a great line as he handed me $35. He said..."if you try to sell me a piece of coal, I may not be interested, but if ya try to sell me an entire Train Car full of Coal...Well now ya got something."
Keep collecting all that Hardware Guys! Could very well buy you and your wife a nice lunch or two.

 

[jtbinvalrico]

Yup.....even if I'm getting rid of an old appliance, ceiling fan or whatever....I take off the nuts, bolts, springs, etc and put them in my parts bins.

 

[38Chevy454]

I do the same, keep extras from any package installation kit. Not only saves money, but for me the real help is that it can save me a trip to hardware store when on a project.

Keep saving them up and you build quite a collection. I also save old fasteners when I need the vintage look in a visible area for one of my hot rods. OEMs have some cool fasteners you can collect and reuse.

 

[dirttracker18]

My wife used to be embaressed when we went to the dump and I made a stop to check out the metal pile for goodies.

Once she saw the others guys doing it she settled in a little

 

[cashishift]

My wife gets really embarrsed when I see something sticking out from the top of a dumpster, or out on the 'curb' and I stop the SUV to retrieve the treasure. Can't help it. Free is good. It doesn't get any better than free....unless it is also delivered.

my girlfriend is the same way.. i could care less what others think.

Her dad is notorious for stopping to get bungee cords, lol.

When I was younger.. my neighbor was throwing away a couple of old school desks.. I went out and grabbed one after it got dark.

Still have it at my parents.

 

[milner351]

I've got all sorts of uses for that chain! I try to not be too obvious when I look over the scrap metal dumpsters at work...

 

[YellowLakeWelding]

My father and I hit the industrial auctions, no one bids on the bins with massive assortments all thrown together so I alway pick up hundereds of dollars worth of hardware for practially nothing. Apprantely no one else is willing to sit down and sort it all out so they just pass over it as junk, well half that stuff is still brand new yet!

 

[ddawg16]

I'm not sure who is worse....me or my wife....in her case it's fabric, books, nick nacks....and stuff I would call junk....but then again, she says that about my junk too...like jeep parts....

 

[milner351]

I'm looking forward to when my son is old enough to sort through hardware - that will be a great way to teach him to identify sizes by site.

 

[keflaman]

Whew! I'm not alone.

 

[930dreamer]

I'm helping a friend with a move/get rid of stuff event going on 9 months. I have boxes/shelves of fasteners I can't seem to get rid of.

And yes I keep a few of each

 

[Bevis]

Whew! I'm not alone.

Same here...

 

[Norcal]

Yup.....even if I'm getting rid of an old appliance, ceiling fan or whatever....I take off the nuts, bolts, springs, etc and put them in my parts bins.

Ceiling fan hardware???? Most are Chinese & the "Chinese standard" hardware is useless junk.

 

[Walterchang]

We have 2 cardboard boxes full of misc. Hardware at work. I am tempted to offer a few bucks for them. Tons of great stuff, just destined for the trash can. They pitched a ton of metric stuff a few weeks ago when I had the day off. I was bummed out.

 

[rsieracki]

What if i just save "spare parts" i have from when i try and fix stuff? lol

good score on the hardware, i'd a grabbed it too

 

[jhn9840]

I wouldn't be able to go to sleep if I threw a piece of hardware away.

jhn9840
John

 

[KCarGuy]

I had a real bad habit of keeping all the hardware from parts I removed from Cars at the Boneyard, Ever since early 70's.
Now I have Totes of Interior and exterior hardware that my buddies are always going through when they are doing restorations of there cars.
Junk yards out here have gotten rid of all the older cars...when the price of metal skyrocketed several years back...now, the only cars around are cars I wouldn't want to repair anyway.
My work Scraps equipment all the time...Our job is to disable it at the customer and then it can be scrapped.
I remove all the Air Valve, Regulators, HD Cords, Electrical plugs, SS Hardware, Take all the aluminum...and grab all the Steel 2x4 tubing for later projects.
They were even going to scrap a 220 VAC 80 gallon Compressor with very low hours on it, because it took up too much Racking space in the wearhouse, plus someone damaged the Pressure switch and both Air Filters...So I took it home (Runs great now).
Stacked up behind my Garage right now is 100 feet of 10 foot pieces of Aluminum Chute. its 1/4" thick, 1 foot wide and the side are 4" tall. Not sure what I will use it for (maybe shelving)...and My boss has called me once or twice to ask if I can deliver a piece to a customer for a trial project. (he knows I will always have it).
Anyway...I guess... "I am Ken and I am a Hardware Horder!"

 

[rmuell01]

I'm not sure who is worse....me or my wife....in her case it's fabric, books, nick nacks....and stuff I would call junk....but then again, she says that about my junk too...like jeep parts....

Asking slyly, what kind of jeep parts? I have some ( a lot ) from my 1954 willys cj5.

PM me if interested.

sorry for this interruption.