Tips & Tricks 101 Buying Used Hardware

[finn]

How many of you harvest fasteners and other interesting items from appliances before they go to the recycle bin?

My wife’s 86 year old uncle does that, and has been doing it for seventy years, at least.

Unfortunately for me, he lives rent free in a house my wife and I own, so guess who will evehahe to deal with this junk.... it’s become sort of a family joke, I guess.

I truly do wish him a long and healthy life, for more than one reason, though.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

If it's stuff I use regularly I jump on a deal. 8d thru 20d nails.
Nuts, bolts, screws washers from #8 thru 1/2" or M4 - M12.
Electrical items (switches, outets) plumbing fittings.

I have a variety of boxes of small nails and slotted wood screws that I'll probably never use. Occasionally I'll use a few.

My neighbor brought me a box of electrical supplies. I thanked him but couldn't think of any reason to keep a bunch of rusty handy boxes or ungrounded outlets.

 

[Retroman]

I have built up a pretty good supply of nut's, bolts, washers, screws, etc seems if I don't have what I need there are always a few left in the pack or extra's bought that aren't used. And it is nice to fix something quickly without a trip to HD even if it is close.

 

[jonshonda]

Woody you will like a score I had on a rainy crappy day very late in the garage sale season (wisconsin fall is not pleasant at times). I bought a lot of hardware from a sale, but the hardware wasn't the special part. The fact that someone had taken the time to collect 3-4 dozen baby food jars, nailed them to a 3x3" 14" long piece of wood, and made some brackets that allowed it to be mounted to a wall and be spun around so you could view hardware on all four sides.

The hardware is a mix of stuff I can and cannot use, but my plan is to make a run to the hardware store and stock up on all the major bolts/nuts/washers. Not dozens of each, but maybe 5-10 of each of the regular sizes in various lengths.

 

[Dave455]

I learned a word today, thanks!

I’ve learned a lot visiting this site! I only recently learned that “lag bolts” are what I call “coach bolts”!

If I could only find out what ‘grits’ are, I’d know whether to order them with my breakfast when I visit the U.S.!

 

[lilredex]

Grits...think coarse cream of wheat cereal. A lot like coarsely ground corn meal only usually white. Yes have them for breakfast. Its a kind of So. U.S. thing.

 

[IMCA38]

I have picked up a bunch of hardware at auctions over the years. Last spring, I picked up this hardware catalog at a sale. It’s a great help in identifying and labeling some of the mystery items!

 

[fatfillup]

I like having hardware in stock and having to make a run to the store on the middle of a project just kills momentum. The key is buying what you use mainly and having a storage system. And also buying it right. Yes I have bought **** I will never use but that is how you learn.

I have also made some good money selling nut and bolt bins both full and empty that were purchased at auctions.

And some folks enjoy the hunt for a deal, I know I do

 

[bonneyman]

In all seriousness, what are you planning to do with a bucket of fuses? If I needed that many fuses I’d be rethinking my electrical situation.

Interestingly enough, I’m redoing the electric to my father in laws detached garage because it’s on a fuse box. The fuses, box and anything associated with it all going in the trash when I’m done. Breaker boxes are cheap for what they are and you can’t overload your box by just “upgrading” a fuse. Well, not quite as easily, I suppose you could always swap out a breaker.

As an air conditioning contractor I was always needing fuses. So I grabbed them wherever I came across them. Now that I'm out of the business I have plenty for home and shop use - or the occasional family/friend service call.

 

[mfewtrail]

How many of you harvest fasteners and other interesting items from appliances before they go to the recycle bin?

Countless times I've used that hardware for other projects or to fix things. My entire collection of saved **** takes up about a 2'x2' section on a shelf, so it's not taking up much space at all. The stuff I know I can't use gets collected for a period of time, then taken to the scrap yard.


This year alone, I can think of at least a dozen instances where the stuff I've saved has saved me money and/or time. I've purchased bolts one time in the past 2-3 years. The rest came from what I already collected.

 

[ffemtdisp]

I'm torn on this issue.

My parents were Depression era kids. Things being rationed, not a lot of money to spend, they had to be thrifty to survive.

Mom used the wax paper bags out of cereal boxes to put between layers of cookies when she sent them out. Asking her why she said "I already paid for it".

Dad would straighten nails and keep "hardware" what ever came his way. In jars on a shelf in the cellarway. He bought two small boxes of nuts/bolts/washers (small and large) new from Sears no less in 1973 and I still have some of them.

Everything else was reused/recycled.

Funny, A more environmentally conscious than I young man heard my story about cereal bags and cookies seemed happy and called that "green" I told him to talk to some older folk, he might learn something.

Having rambled on about all that, other than storing a few little things, why not make the trip to the store and by as needed?

Oh well.