The Junk Box

[John B]

Every bloke has one of these in the shed. A place where all those odds and sods go, that don't have a particular pozzy.
The great hope is that one day, you will find, amongst all the bits and pieces, that certain thing you desperately need at the time
 

Edited July 22, 2022 by John B

[Bill WIlson]

I just can't bring myself to throw hardware away.  If I disassemble something, I always keep the hardware.  If I assemble something and there are a few bits of extra hardware, I save them.  40 years ago we were cleaning out a storage area at work.  To be tossed was a small drum of random hardware that was the result of someone else saving every extra bit & piece they came across, for who knows how long.  Loathe to let it end up in the dumpster, I dragged it home.  Must've been at least 20 lbs of stuff in that drum.  I still have almost all of it and have even added some of my own stuff to it over the years.  On top of that there are countless other bins, bowls &, boxes of random nuts, bolts, screws, washers, springs, etc throughout my shop.  I don't know if I should be proud or embarrassed.   My Dad was the same way, so at least I come by it naturally.

I like the poem.

[TAIrving]

John,

At first I thought this was about hardware, until I read the side story and found it was really about people.  In my many years on this planet I have known many people who fit that story and have found that almost all do have some valuable service to provide.  

[munzieb]

This makes me think about the 6 hot dog, 8 bun situation. Over the years and many trips to Lowes and HD, I have purchased all sorts of hardware. I may have only needed 1 or 2 items but they would come in a box of 5 or 10 and the "left-overs" would be relagated to a tin can in the shop. Every time I needed a part I knew I had, but it was "somewhere" in that can, I would spend as much time trying to find it as it took to drive to Lowes (very near by) to buy more. A few winters ago, I determined to get organized!! I bought a P-touch label machine, 2 lazy susans and 4 bid racks from HF. I attached 2 bins together back to back and mounted them on the lazy susans. Then the tedious work began. I set up a table and started to sort, and sort and sort (for days) and label but now I have definitely minimized my trips to the hardware store which allows more time to do actual wood working.

[John B]

I could of cried when we moved from the farm to the city. Dad had 4 gallon drums, with the lids cut of, filled to the brim with various, nuts bolts, pipe fittings small pieces of steel, you name it, you could of found it in one of the drums.. Alas, they never followed us to the new home. The number of times I wished those drums where still around is countless.

 

[Charlie E]

Got a box of odd nut, bolts, washers, etc. that an elderly neighbor gave me nearly forty years ago. After decades of adding and taking away I’d love to know how many original pieces there are.

[WayneMahler]

I'm guessing we are guilty of this. I have several bins like @munzied showed. Some are organized, most are not. This has saved my butt a few times, won't admit to the time  it took to search just the fact that it got my bacon out of a tight situation. 

[John B]

On 7/22/2022 at 10:57 PM, munzieb said:

This makes me think about the 6 hot dog, 8 bun situation. Over the years and many trips to Lowes and HD, I have purchased all sorts of hardware. I may have only needed 1 or 2 items but they would come in a box of 5 or 10 and the "left-overs" would be relagated to a tin can in the shop. Every time I needed a part I knew I had, but it was "somewhere" in that can, I would spend as much time trying to find it as it took to drive to Lowes (very near by) to buy more. A few winters ago, I determined to get organized!! I bought a P-touch label machine, 2 lazy susans and 4 bid racks from HF. I attached 2 bins together back to back and mounted them on the lazy susans. Then the tedious work began. I set up a table and started to sort, and sort and sort (for days) and label but now I have definitely minimized my trips to the hardware store which allows more time to do actual wood working.

Have you noticed Adam Savage's arm (Myth Busters) he has a rule tattooed on his forearm for measuring bolts etc. A little bit to far in my opinion