When working on miscellaneous project around the place, I often stop at Murdoch to get my nuts and bolts. Usually buying #2 stuff that costs about $2.99/ pound. I usually get the # number of bolts needed, then assemble the various washers and nuts together to make up what I need, then throw in a couple extra washers and nuts for Murphy. Do you buy the exact amount? Do you test them all? Do you have a coffee can full of misc nuts bolts and washers out in your garage?
Small Jar of various small parts. gets sorted once or twice a year.
Nuts and bolts and washers ( locking, crush, fender, etc, lag, carriage, u-bolt etc) all purchased as needed, basedon whats in stock in the garage.
Location: whatever is closest. and has the best fastener selection.
Who buys nuts and bolts??ÿ I have several gallons of various sizes out in the garage purchased for less then $5.00 total at a house auction over 10 years ago.?ÿ Takes a little bit to find the right size for a specific job but only because I have never taken time to sort the thousands of them available.
I have many that I have bought at garage sales or have run into one way or another.?ÿ But I also pre-emptively buy some common bulk sizes at Tractor Supply to have on hand.?ÿ I'm not a big fan of spending 45 minutes on the road to get what I need.
Licensed Land Surveyor
Finger Lakes Region, Upstate New York
I happen to be in the market for six panhead screws at the moment and am trying not to be the kind of person to use wood screws instead. I may well dig in the fastener collection; probably going to end up with 5 of the correct fastener.
Toss out the scraps and you will need them before you forget having had them, that much I know.
Toss out the scraps and you will need them before you forget having had them, that much I know.
That's always been my philosophy, too.
I have a small parts cabinet with drawers for each common size of machine screw. Some of the items there go back to things I tore apart 60 years ago, many have been added that way over the years, and some have been bought either retail or from a surplus outlet. A great many have gone through those drawers and found a use.
There are some wood screws in those drawers, but not so full a collection, and I may have to buy for specific projects. I generally buy a small package of those and file away any leftovers, so I can often find one or three for some odd need.
Larger sizes of hardware are dumped together and are not as numerous.
My shop is somewhat clogged by broken things that might have good parts to salvage. Those are more electronic than mechanical. It does sometimes happen I find the right part, but i really do need to thin down that stuff.
If I need more than a couple I usually just buy a box of 50, or 25, or however they come. Farm shop probably has 100 various sizes divided up into drawers, along with nuts and washers, and several coffee cans of smaller screws lumped together, but it seems like the one size I need is never there. Hopefully by the time Im too old to need any, Ill have at least one of each.?ÿ
a lot of the ones I have are used ones taken off of old worn out equipment by my dad. He lived thru the depression and hated to see anything go to waste.?ÿ
Who buys nuts and bolts??ÿ I have several gallons of various sizes out in the garage purchased for less then $5.00 total at a house auction over 10 years ago.
When I bought my current house 20+ years ago I spent six months stocking my new workshop at auctions.?ÿ Still have a lot of the original purchases.?ÿ?ÿ
@party-chef?ÿ ?ÿ ?ÿ ?ÿ Toss out the scraps and you will need them before you forget having had them, that much I know.
That's why I never ever throw anything away.?ÿ
I live 1 mile from a Home Depot. I used to keep coffee cans of loose fittings, just like dear old Dad did. But not any more.?ÿ?ÿ
I have shelves of No. 10 cans marked for what they have in them. Mostly inherited when I bought the place 35 years ago. Sinkers, duplex, nuts, washers, brass, galvanized, stainless. You know, just about everything. The most important part of this inventory is the 8 x 8 steel cake pan that I can dump and sort in. Oddly satisfying rainy day exercise.?ÿ
I have a vague memory of my dad going to some farm sale at a time probably in the early 1960's and bringing home four or five metal boxes filled with fairly large bolts, nuts and washers.?ÿ That was our "go to" spot for bigger bolts, etc. forever, it seemed.?ÿ Sometimes we couldn't find what we needed, but normally we did.?ÿ After my dad died we had a cleanup farm sale and included the equivalent of about two of those metal boxes stuffed with the original contents.?ÿ That was roughly 30 years later.?ÿ There have been quite a few times over the past almost 30 years that I have kicked myself for not holding onto those boxes.?ÿ They were old and used in the 1960's but would still get the job done today.
When I bought this house the seller left a dozen or more cans of nuts, bolts, screws and various sizes of nails behind in the garage.?ÿ That was 25 years ago.?ÿ I'm still working on them.
I have one of those 30+ drawer cabinets that have everything sorted.?ÿ The clear plastic drawer fronts allow you to look inside without having to open every drawer until you find what you were looking for.
If I can't find what I need I'm close to three Ace Hardware stores where I can buy one bolt or one screw.
All my nuts, bolts, leftover parts, nails etc. are nicely tucked away in the back or bottom of various drawers, buckets and toolboxes scattered about the homestead. Real easy to find. ?????ÿ
I'm attempting to de-clutter, with moderate success.
I did close the door to my storage unit the last time a couple of months ago!!!?ÿ
I still have a tool box with compartments filled with screws, bolts, washers.
Still it seems that I end up at the hardware store anyway cause the ones I have don't quite work or fit.
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