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Those cigar boxes have been replaced by plastic bins, but I have no intention of of getting rid of them.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!

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.

[Dave Houseal]

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

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

[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

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.

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.

[Heather Thompson]

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

Will

"Every "not" came with me", actually when I moved in 94 my ex did "not" come with me. 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!! What, did you guys go and detail your shops just for these photos or are you just like that?

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...

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.