Folks Of Interest Anybody Else have a Bolt hoard or Bolt hoarding problem?

I pick up nuts, bolts, washers everywhere I find them! Salvage yards, parking lots, on the street, garage sales. My friends think I’m crazy……but where do they come for a bolt?






Bones

 

Haha! I saw that is wasn’t hooked up after I looked closer…..but had to bust your chops! Lol.






Bones

 

I find some good stuff in parking lots... I also pick up nails, screws and throw them away, flat tires looking for a place to happen. I just notice them, they stand out to me. I walked through a car show one Sunday morning last year, picked up 6 items without trying hard.

 

I have some commonly used new hardware on hand all sorted. I have never understood the draws, buckets, bins of old used hardware. The time wasted rummaging thought a bunch wore out junk hardware you could have gone to the store bought what you needed and moved on to the next project.

 

i "downsized" and got rid of a lot of my "collection." sorry i did that!

 

Wow, that looks like our local small hardware store that is more enjoyable to get parts than the big box stores... nice...

Hello,

The odd thing was, from the time my brother moved out of our Westside of Long Beach house and when I left in 1968, There was a backyard garage that was seldom used as an old hot rod/drag race building garage. For the years we left hot rodding to recover from our episode at Lion’s Dragstrip, we got involved in desert motorcycle racing, surfing and surfboard repairs, and even surfboard shaping/glassing. Motorcycle racing brought in some Whitworth nuts and bolts along with those specific motorcycle tools.

The garage storage containers did not look like the above photo from @Rocky and his organized stash, but they were separated into small individual bins labeled almost the same way.

It did not help that we lived near a large industrial complex across PCH that divided the homes from the various industry stores/shops/warehouses. So, we had access to a ton of places to get new and unusual sizes. We never had those little or large bins to store our stuff. we used glass spaghetti jars screwed into the bottoms of wooden wall shelves and when we needed any size nut or bolt, the glass jar told us where it was. It also helped that we labeled the lower part of each jar so we weren’t tricked by our eyes.
similar idea of glass jars with screwed in tops for the secure, handy location.

As the deep tomato marinara sauce jars started to crack with the depth and slightest tap, we switched to smaller depth jars to give more space to items stored on the wooden shelves below each row of jars.

There were plenty of empty jars as our son loved Marinara sauce and we had plenty of jars to go around. But, eventually, the jars were replaced with plastic containers that I attached to the underside of the shelves and took up less space. This was before the metal cases with the multiple drawers were around.

Jnaki

When those metal cases with the multiple parts drawers came out, I installed a couple under the shelves. But, they got too heavy for the 1 inch thick wooden shelves. So, the metal case with the small parts drawers sat on their shelf space. In the mean time, my wife helped me clean out the excessive nuts and bolts collection, saying “…you will never use those things. Just go out and buy the small nuts and bolts and use them up for your projects. “

Since that time, the metal boxes with small drawers hold stuff, but… I still use them… HA! (actually, so I don’t have to buy another set of metal with clear plastic drawers, I have been doing garage clean outs monthly. Doing “What do I listen to in my garage… theme.”)

Finally, when we moved to a house with a three car garage, we had tall custom cabinets and doors installed in front of two of the stalls. The other side wall had its own row of tall cabinets with doors. Finally, in the small single car side, we had upper cabinets and a long counter, the length of the car stall. I was so happy with the neatness of the whole arrangement. Now, my wife said nothing should be on the counter and the whole garage looked like another room of the house with all drywall surfaces.

At the time, the single car stall was going to be used for our next hot rod project area. We fiddled around and decided that an activity that BOTH of us can do together is much better for our enjoyment. So for the next three weeks, we sailed in Newport Harbor and Dana Point Harbor every day and eventually bought our first sailboat. This was first in a long line of different sailboats until the final one that was in San Diego harbor since 2012.

But, then a new problem started, stainless steel nuts and bolts of all sizes and shapes. normal nuts and bolts don't do well at salt water docks and sailboat areas that are constantly exposed to the salt air. so, as the projects started, the stainless steel stuff had one drawer, then two and so, on until, they almost had a metal box with their own sections. Now, it is down to a single small drawer of stainless steel nuts and bolts.

Thinking back to the title, HAVE A BOLT HOARD OR BOLT HOARDING PROBLEM

What was riding in the back of the 1965 El Camino/327 1940 sedan delivery (and now in a safe place)was the only Bolt I am hoarding at this time.

The only Bolt I am hoarding is the 1970s Lightning Bolt Surfboard at a 7’6” speed shape with an early adjustable fin. The complete deck is custom made with first gen. Astrodeck and a custom red insert. It was also one of the first boards with a leash pin insert in the tail block.
The adjustable fin was moved forward/backward for the size and quality of the waves at any surf spot. The Astrodeck eliminated the need for surf wax and the constant melted wax drips if the surfboard was left alone on top of the car or inside, locked up on hot days.

Surf transportation comes in all shapes and conveniences. Plenty of room to haul away cartons of used nuts and bolts... No more "... I will use it someday, scenarios..."