Couldnt take it no more

I have a ton of cans/jars full of bolts,nuts,washers,screws etc of every size & description.Lots of them Dad gave me,some he had since the 50's & almost as much I've scrounged myself over the past 20+ yrs either taking apart stuff for salvage or bringing home odds/ends & leftover new hardware after cleaning out employer's tool boxes & jobsite trailers. Everything is somewhat organized according to size,use quantity etc.

Over the last 4-5 years I've gradually been switching every container to various clear plastic widemouth bottles jars cause they don't rust or break.Most anything 80z to 1qt size with screw off lids is perfect.I keep wooden biscuits,plugs,buttons & dowel pins in 3lb plastic peanut butter jars cause they are moisture resistant compared to other containers.

Job Superintendent tells me to 'clean this up pronto',he don't care if it's shoveled into the dumpster or I take it home.....All that matters is I do what I was paid to do.

I'll share some pics of the mess ermm clutter later.My massive woodworking bench is semi covered right now,tools mostly though.A couple older pics show it almost empty,that don't happen often.

 

I had to get some bolt bins 10 years ago cuz I had accumulated so many buckets of nails, bolts, and pipe fittings it was out of hand. Got 2 massive ones 6'x6' and 2- 4'x4' dirt cheap at an auction. I didn't sort/put every thing up all at once but I bet I had 20 hours into it,,,,,, an hour here and there. Awesome though as now I don't have to spend the time searching as said OR 2 hour round trip into town .

 

All this show n tell of work benches has got me all fired up for some reeeeeeeelly serious powerful thinkin bout startin' a plan to ... ahhhh ... get started...

 

part of the mess

 

Yeah, think twice about getting started. I wish I woulda. Got a bigger mess now than when I started. Got this pile sorted.

Put bolts in clear plastic jars sorted according to diameter only not length. Nuts and flat washers and lock washers assorted to size in the wooden bins.

Only problem is that this meant pulling stuff from the shelves to make things easier to get to and now a whole new mess was created and much more sorting is to be done.

 

It's crazy isn't it Butcher! How the h*ll does all this stuff appear!? At least you pushed thru the first layers.

 

I refer to this as the project within the project in order to get A done, need to do B, and sometimes C, all at the same time

I do a lot of this to help me think it through

 

That's funny you should say that. That's how I do things too. I usually see step C in my mind (the finished project) and then work backwards in my brain pan till I get to step A.

 

DONE! On to the next project.

 

When I cleaned my garage that you could barely walk in, it took me a good 6-9 hours. Everything had to come out so I can clean the floor, and the slow process of putting things back started. Much of it did not make it's way back into the garage. The whole point of taking and putting it into different piles in the driveway. Took longer than I hoped, but I am very happy with the results.

My dad's garage is the workshop. Now that needs a ton of work like what Butcher did. Though dad's garage would take months to cleanup properly. He was a machinist running lathes and milling machines over at the state University. Over the years he's accumulated a great deal of tools to go with his machines. The shop contains both wood working and metal working tools/machines. One extra wide car bay. What we need is a proper barn built with two shops side by side with rolling dividers.


Thanks for sharing Butcher.

 

Sorry but I stay out of Lindas kitchen and she stays outta mine Works out better that way. And them fly's just hibernate. that reminds me, I got throw some poison chunks around fer the mice that want to come in outta the cold.