bolts

[hardscrabble]

Here's one I haven't seen on this forum. I have a fair number of "used" bolts and nuts, and I'm a bit of a pack rat and hate to throw away anything usable. So, barring the broken, bent, battered, and stripped, how does one tell if a previously used fastener is still usable?
Thanks again.

Perry

 

[petetx]

i use a wire brush or buffing wheel and make sure they aern"t cracked

 

[NCWayne]

The way I do it is if it isn't broken, bent, battered, or stripped, and it doesn't otherwise "look bad", then it's fair game. That said if I'm using a fastener in a "critical" application I typically won't use a used fastener unless it's something odd that isn't readily available new. For anything else as long as it doesn't meet the aforementioned 'bad bolt criteria' I have no problem using a used fastener.

Think about it this way. When working on a machine there is no way that every fastener you remove can be economically replaced. So when you get right down to brass tacks with the question, every machine out there that isn't factory origional with absolutely no repairs, is running around covered/held together with used fasteners.

 

[Butch(OH)]

If the application is critical enough for you to take a second look at the used bolt,, dont use it.

After being taught to do so and spending 35 years saving the smaller commonly used hardware items I realized one day that everytime I needed a like bolt, nut or washer for a repair I would go to the new ones in the bins because it was easier than dumping the buckets and scrounging. Sometimes I would not have the new ones I needed in the bins so I would dump the bucket(s) and look and 8 times out of ten I had to go to town to get what I needed anyway. One day I came across a 1/2 bolt in the bolt bucket about 12" long that had a square head and about 1/2" of threads and a odd ball sized hex nut screwed all the way down tight and realised that I rememered seeing it in there as a child.,, Next time I hauled scrap the junk bolt buckets went too and have never looked back. A fellow can build a dern nice garde 5 nut and bolt assortment if he buys a few in bulk each time he goes to TSC.

reforming pack rat/ LOL

 

[tomNE]

I only save oddball stuff. if its common, i use new stuff and toss any used stuff. I seem to have alot of oddball fasteners as i continue to fill clear containers.

 

[Bryan inIowa]

Amen !!! After spending a week cleaning dads garage so you could at least walk in it ,I throw it all ,buy new . I figure the time lost trying to find old junk is not worth it! when I got home from his place I went on a purging rampage in my shop ! scrap prices are up . $200 bucks for a pickup load of general metal . Round two is this weekend . Figure is I ain't touched it in a year it's gone !

 

[PJH]

I admire you guys who are able to pitch the bolts that have been laying around since you were a child. I can picture a neat and productive shop, quite unlike my junky place.

My wife was an "only child AND grandchild", and I remember staring into the murky depths of a rusty 5 gallon bucket half full of assorted bent nails that her grandfather had saved over his lifetime of rural living. I guess at one time, nails were expensive, and a penny saved is a penny earned.

I can't bear to pitch a bolt or nut that has any usable life left in it, but I do have a set of bolt bins that make finding a needed bolt a lot easier than dumping a bucket out on the floor.

I live 20 miles from the nearest hardware store, and my used bolt collection has saved the day many times, not only for me, but for all the neighbors also.

Skinflint Paul

 

[greygoat]

The farm down the road from us had 10 kids.
There was always a boy or girl in the "Shop"
straighting nails with a hammer, on the anvil.
Busy hands stay out of trouble !

 

[Inno]

My Dad was another one of those guys who didn't throw away anything that might be useful. After he passed my brother and I were cleaning out one of the garages and along with the usual pails of rusty nails and nuts and bolts we also found old brake shoes..........old worn out brake shoes.......we found probably every bar from every chainsaw he ever owned, old chainsaw chains (he was a logger) with absolutely no life left in them whatsoever. I do still have a very small assortment of his old nuts and bolts but as others have said, you spend more time looking for a rusty half worn out bolt than you would to drive to town and buy one. I am now collecting parts bins and buying little bits here and there.
I am the descendant of a packrat but I am trying my best to reform........why do I feel like I'm at a support group meeting?

 

[Butch(OH)]

"why do I feel like I'm at a support group meeting?"


LOL

 

[Dick L]

35 years is just to short of a time to have saved enough to be useful. I have over 50 years of saved bolts and other items. As I sort thru the pallets of items to find just the right bolt or part it brings back memories of where many of the items came from. I get these mind pleasing pleasures from the past that you just deprived yourself of for a coupla bucks. ^D
I'm not a pack rat! I just carry a large inventory of memories. ^D

 

[TimV]

And which side are we supporting?

I also have lots of "experienced" bolts and such around. However, most of it is sorted--I find it makes a good winter project to set down with a bucket of bolts and sort them so that I don't spend as much time digging through pails to find the right one. Even makes a good "kid project", and considerably more instructive than video games. Got several friend's kids who are more than happy to sort through stuff like old nails, particularly when their reward is half of the loot for their own projects like "fort" building and such. While things like 1/4-20 bolts aren't probably worth keeping in large quantities, there have been many, many times when I've had an oddball bolt, nut, or similar that the hardware store didn't have! Latest was the new grips I bought for my Ruger Blackhawk. Supplied screw was too short and in 10-24 thread. Hardware store didn't carry 10-24 round heads, so I had to dig through my own stash and came up with one that fit perfectly.

I don't spend a lot of time on the real rusty stuff, however, particularly in the common sizes. It goes in the metal bin and off to my buddy's scrap yard to be traded for equal (or thereabouts) weight of "good" scrap!

 

[snoop-nc]

INNO: You wrote: "
I am the descendant of a packrat but I am trying my best to reform........why do I feel like I'm at a support group meeting?"

My response is: "Well, you ARE!! That is what this forum is designed for""

And I, too, am "afflicted" with the same malady. Wanna come help me find/clean the inside of my shop? We just might find something that "might be useful someday"

Rick

 

[Inno]

lol........I'm trying to stay away from helping people "clean" their garages or barns........heck, my wife won't even let me go to the garbage dump alone anymore!

 

[Butch(OH)]

Dick, RE: memories
Some day you need to take the short drive south and stop at the shop. Remind me to show you "the blue box"

Butch

 

[circus]

If it's small, save it. If its large toss it. One old ripe couch takes up the space of a lifetime of junk drawers.

 

[Russ from MN]

With scrap prices so high at least it has been profitable to save metal! I had some old electric motors that I had for 30 years and hadn't used and probably never will so I got .25 a lb and bought new metal for a project!

 

[PJH]

Speaking of 1/4-20 bolts - about 30? years ago, we changed out all of the "Do Not Pass" and "Pass With Care" (remember them?) signs in the bottom 13 counties in Southern Illinois. The contract required new sign panels, posts and bolts/washers/nuts. The first day I watched the crew drop the old bolts/nuts on the ground. The second day I brought a 5 gallon bucket and set it on the back of the post truck. I told them if they made it back to the truck with a bolt in their hand to throw it in the bucket. I collected 6 nearly full (and heavy) 5 gallon buckets of bolts and lag screws over the course of that contract. Most of the work crew were local farm boys, and we divided the bolts among the ones who wanted them. I'm still using mine, but the supply is dwindling.

You guys who think there's a simple cure for this are mistaken. It's a full blown illness. . .

Hoarder Paul

 

[Bryan inIowa]

wow ,,we may be related !!! My dad is the same way

 

[60 acre hillside]

My brother-in-law saved all bolts, even used plow share bolts. In later years he bought plow bolts by the box. When he died, he had not used a moldboard plow in years. His son let me have the surpulus fasteners, I now have the used ones by the bucket and new ones by the box abd I do not use a moldboard plow,

 

[Bill in IL]

No reason to throw away good bolts and then buy them again. If it looks like it can thread a nut like a new on I save it. Sometime you just need a crappy bolt.

 

[scotc]

I would tear stuff apart for the bolts for a while there. Several motors, a transmission, and a few other things. When we had spare old bolts we would throw them in their place in the bolt bin, not much went into the bucket or tray unless it wasn't looking the greatest. There was always a use for old bolts.

Actually, dad still has a couple of our bolt trays sitting in the barn.

 

[Dean Olson]

If it's still looks functional I keep it. I only buy new grade 8's if the application justifies it.

I bought some new standard 3/8' bolts because I knew I didn't have enough of the same size. I overtightened several and stripped them out with a standard wrench and 3/8" drive socket. Either I'm getting stronger as I age or the fasteners are getting cheaper.

 

[MF24-4]

Every time I get rid of something, a few weeks later I can come up with a need for it. My excuse for saving is I was raised poor and that is a hard lifestyle to change. Come to think of it, I'm still poor.

 

[Jack345]

Try to match the same grade nut to bolt, I've noted lot of people will put any old nut on a bolt for best results use the same grade nut as bolt.

www.americanfastener.com/technical/grade_markings_steel.asp

 

[36 Coupe]

The closest hardware store was 10 miles away for 30 years here.The general store was pretty good when I first moved here,Close,500 feet away.After several owners it turned into a beer and cigarette shop.I asked one owner why he didnt stock 8p nails.He said he needed some, couldnt get the job done.Never did stock any.I started buying nails in 50 lb boxes.I went thru looking into can after can of old bolts and never finding what I needed.I buy new bolts and nuts and put them in big coffee cans..The best price on bulk hard ware is 1.50 a pound here.My mother used to pick up nails Dad and I dropped while building something.She usually got a can full of new nails.The 40s and 50s were hard times,stuff was cheap but you didnt have the money to buy it.Waste not want not.Galvanized 16p spikes sell for 1.70 a pound now but I did buy a 25 lb pail for 78 cents a pound at a salvage store.They can cost 4 bucks a pound at a hardware store in 1 pound boxes.Its just a matter of buying at the lowest price in bulk.I have some bar oil that cost 2.38 a gallon.Its 6 or 7 bucks now.Wish I had bought more at 2.38.I have a small amount of new steel stock I bought back before the price took off.Income is down now but I still have supplies to get things done.