Art & Inspiration coffee can storage ?

Just emptied and sorted a coffee can that contained all the old hardware for my 1952 Ply. Suburban project. Fortunately, it was not filled to the brim, like I have seen with numerous other projects. It reminds me of an old 1948 Power Wagon that my dad bought. It had a 5-gallon bucket full of unlabeled, miscellaneous nuts and bolts. We spent about 3 days sorting everything out by size and type. What a nightmare. I prefer the old sharpie and ziplock bag method nowadays.

 

You have a problem Sir!

 

I generally go to the local hardware and buy what I need. Saves a lot of time and frustration...…….

 

OH, sure buddy and I suppose you can find what ever nut,bolt or screw yer looking for in a matter of seconds, disgusting!

 

Gotta put stuff in something..

 

I had a couple big coffee cans full of hardware save me one day. I was taking a 396 Chevy apart on the stand, putting bolts, etc in coffee cans next to the stand. I'm standing between 2 of them which was fortunate.
I go to pry the head off and it comes off all of a sudden... heads straight down towards my feet. I have my eyes closed and am waiting for the pain to sink in... no pain, so I look. The head landed square on top of those 2 cans of bolts that I am standing between. Crushed the crap out of the cans. I still have them on the shelf with the parts in them.

 

Wow, I'm groovin' on that cowgirl coffee can. Does it have a screw on lid, looks threaded?

 

Guess you had an angel on your shoulder......

 

oh my goodness... the treasure that we have amongst us.

 

Not a screw on, top comes off with a key like most did.

 

My old man grew up in the depression too, and Mom still has no telling how many cans full of bent nails and nuts and bolts that he saved through the years. He never bought nails, we'd straighten bent ones, never bought nuts and bolts, always seemed to have some about the right size. Only nails I ever remember him buying were colored paneling nails when we put up paneling in the house. He also saved any bit of wire he came upon, old electric cords, wires out of old appliances, he even had a bundle of wires that were used to hold bundles of roofing shingles together years ago, that made good tie wire to tie up stuff with. I probably waste more stuff than he ever threw away.

I've got a few small boxes of used nuts and bolts, but not many. I figured as long as I'm working and could afford it, I'd buy new nails and nuts and bolts. I do throw extras into my toolbox drawers, and I will pick up any that I see in parking lots and such. There have been several times I've been out on the road in the semi and had to have a bolt or a nut to replace one and just happened to have a few stuck in a box or sack stashed in the truck. Had an air governor lose one of the bolts out and almost lose the other one day, just so happened I had a 1/4"x20 bolt laying by the seat where I had picked it up in a parking lot. Factory bolts were allen head, but the standard 7/16" hex head worked after I stuck a 3/8" nut on it to use as a spacer.....that I had also picked up somewhere.
And I save wire myself. Got no telling how many old cords and short pieces of wire stashed here and there. So, I did pick up on some of his habits after all....

 

Well I wasn't there but we can figure some of it just by common sense. Years ago everything was shipped by rail to remote rural areas. It was expensive freight. An actual cross country train ticket was steep, probably like flying First Class is today near as I can tell from the numbers. Sacramento to Omaha, for example, in the 1860s was $131.50, doesn't sound like much today but that was serious coin back then.

So the price for a keg of nails probably showed that too, the farther away ya were, everything just cost more. I've also heard many times they would even burn an old shed or barn down just to get the nails back for reuse. Really old stuff has square nails, those were forged by a blacksmith. Nobody threw anything out, because it was literally throwing money away. Mass production of nails and barbed wire was a big deal at the time.

 

Part of my storage

 

The old man use to make me and my brother straighten bent nails and sort nuts and bolts he would say don't make any plans for Sunday. He had buckets full of that crap when he wasn't around we would bury some of it in the back yard.

 

I outgrew or should I say out hoarded the coffee cans and being a scrapper on the side I upgraded to fridge drawers now.

I did go to Fastenal one time when I gave up looking for a screw that I lost off my car and right away the guy said sure I can match that screw. after a while when he couldn't match it up to anything even on his display dohickies that tells them the thread size and such finally asked what it was from. Told him 1909 model t. ended up going home empty handed that day but I did find one in my stash, just had to dig a little longer or should say a few days longer to find one.

 

My father came from an era when time wasn't worth much money, also a farm boy- plenty of room. I've had to modify my behavior from my upbringing. Can't have any 'parts" cars on blocks here in town. Plastic boxes for the main sizes of common bolts , one container auto takeoff and oddballs. And throw the damage junk away! Buying new doesn't bother me, but time wasted running back and forth is a killer. So I guess I'm semi hoarder/organizer , but it still seems wrong to shit can something, even if I have 5 good one and I'm tossing a piece of crap.

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My dad has a 6ft tall filing cabinet made for the small 3x5 type cards that is full. At best its separated by fine and coarse thread...
One drawer is devoted to zip ties.

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This is one of the better threads going right now. At 47, I waver back and forth between coffee cans, those yellow 5 gallon drop-in bucket organizers, and those "dang rich kid" Klein-type metal cabinet/drawer organizers.

I love knowing that a much needed fastener or what not is in one of those numerous coffee cans, but I also appreciate the saving time by knowing EXACTLY where that much needed fastener actually is. When I was a teenager, I had all the time in the world it didn't matter. Now, as a dad of two active boys, time is in short supply. Time looking for a tool or a bolt is simply time wasted.

Like Bruce, I will still pick up any and all various road finds and add them to the stash. I do enjoy when said road find can be identified before being stashed away, but those events are happening less and less.

 

Thanks fellas ,does this mean I'm normal?

 

Heck no. But, it looks like you've got plenty of company.

 

Few years back I found a couple milk crates full of old Sanka cans at the curb. They were packed full of good old hardware of all kinds,m uch more organized than my old hubcap full of mix matched leftover crap. I chunked my stuff and put the Sanka cans on my shelf.

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Who on here knows Aldous Huxley's Brave New World? "Ending is better than mending" is after all a slogan from a dystopian world.

 

I got some of mine from work when they downsized and others from auctions and swap meets

 

I quit coffie can's and glass jars. I have some bolt bins that it isn't too hard to find what i need in. I also use clear plastic jars about half full you can lay them on their side and rotate to see whats in them. When I tear down a engine every bolt goes ito those large plastic laundry detergent containers. a quart of used oil and the cap put back on. and labeled with a marker. So that way I have several complete sets of engine fasterners & bolts in one place. stuff like new fuel pumps and good carbs are stored in large zip lock bags keeps the mud wasp from them. However I still have plenty of 5 gallon buckets of bolts and other stuff that need sorting. A few months ago I bought a dozen 5 gal buckets at a auction for $2 most where filled with used engine oil. Two where full of new Hyd oil one had new 90 weight gear oil. and one was full of new unused stove bolts and lag bolts . Just to show folks that we do sometimes actually use our stuff. Ive already used a few the longer lag bolts to fasten electric fence to trees and poles. I use a porclean insulator and a 4 inch section of garden hose. Screw about a inch of the lag bolt into the tree. Hold's the wire away from the tree and as the tree grows I can back the bolt out. The glass jars are a hazard. When he was 12 My middle son was carrying a mayonase jar with a honda carb that was pickled in paint thinner. He fell and the jar broke slicing his wrist. Cut a artery and blood went everywhere. I grabbed his wrist and stopped the flow. And held his arm the entire time I drove to the hospital and until a doctor arrived and stitched it up. Got rid of the glass jars after that.

 

You need a can full of Breaker Points, soon they won't sell them any more due to low demand, buy em' can em' for later.

 

Several times I have bought vehicles that the former owner when they replaced any part. they put the old part in the box and stored them in the vehicle. Most commonly you found old points in the new box stored in the glove box. other stuff would be under the seat.

 

You must go through a lot of plastic nuts. Or did you mean these?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuticles

 

Yeah, but the store now only sells what you need in little plastic packages that always have just one less than you need.

 

I still have several bandaid cans that dad filled with small screws and nuts and what not that he picked up in the airplanes he was inspecting as he did the inspections. He would stick them in his pocket rather than leave them in some cubby hole in the plane.
When I was young he made one of those Gerber baby food jar rotisserie setups using a 22 and a stand made out of wood so you could have 4 rows of jars and turn them to see what you had.
I've got who knows how many coffee cans full of stuff some I have had for better than 30 years. I like the plastic Costco size peanut butter jars though as you can see into them. One in particular is full of GM starter bolts that all go into that jar when I find one in other stuff.

I used to have a double washtub that I tossed all my bolts and nuts and small pieces of scrap in when I lived in Texas and my buddy Jr Fisher gave me a lot of them over time. I woke up to a noise in my garage one Sunday morning slipped out there and there were him with my 110 lb Shepard Boarder collie leaning against his shoulder as he dug though the wash tub looking for some bolts he needed. I still think he used to come by early on weekend mornings and pick the dog up to go for a ride but never confirmed it. I sold the washtub bolts and all when I moved back up here.