Serious inquiry

McCracken

McCracken

Logan Can't See This
Joined
Jul 9, 2005
Location
With your mom at a nice seafood dinner
Ok, so lately I've been helping my mom clear out at her place. My dad died back in 2013 and left a pretty good supply of randomness. Not that I'm complaining. I see that it has a place at some point in life. However, there is one thing I'm struggling with. Much like myself, I have an overwhelming supply of nuts, bolts, washers, nails and screws. All of these coming various sizes and lengths. The question I have is, how are all of you managing your inventory? Sure I can go buy a thousand of those little trays you put on a shelf but surely there's something better or maybe even more efficient. I think we all have a bucket or bowl we just throw all this in but I would really like to get a handle on it. It sounds crazy but I'd like to actually use what I have instead of running to Lowe's, Tractor Supply or Fastenal every time I need a bolt or screw.
 
I use trays, coffee cans and peanut butter jars. The peanut butter jars have the lids screwed to the underside of my wood shelves. easier to see if you take labels off.
When I separated about 3 five gallon buckets full, I would pour out a pile and separate them. It took days! to finish.
But, just so you know, you'll still find yourself making a bolt run, because you don't have exactly what you need. And, sometimes you do. So
Just figure out a way to organize them, and go for it. Time in the building, you a cold one or 6 and some music, helps it go a little easier.
 
Coffee cans

I inherited nails, screws and washers from my best friends grandpa....who was like my very own grandfather. Most were in TIN coffee cans and clear peanutbutter jars. They're much more sentimental than practical. So I continue the tradition.

My son will have enough nails and bolts to repair the world.

Sometimes.....when I crack open one of the PB jars for a needed nail, I'm overcome with the familiar smell of "gramps" garage and I have to take a moment. Damnit...these allergies
 
All I know is nails and screws should be separated from nuts, bolts, and washers. Stabbing yourself while you're looking for a nut isn't fun. Or maybe it is....I've never tried it... :D :lol:

I'd probably go as far as separating the nuts and bolts based on thread size.
 
If it's all mixed up you will have to organize it. I've done it a few/dozen times w my shit,just dump it all on a work table or piece of plywood and sort it into piles of stainless,steel, galvanized, bolts, screws, bolts and some stuff by size etc. Toss stuff that is rusty or wore out then put all the leftovers in a zip lock bag or a coffee can or a bin etc.
 
I keep my main supply of small bolts, nuts, etc in divided trays in a few drawers of my Lista type cabinet. For all the small batches of nails, screws, bolts, I searched online and found cheap peanut butter type jars. Bought I think it was a gross of them. Clear jars with different lid colors (white=screws, red=nails, etc). All the jars are the same, so they stack neatly, didn't have to wash peanut butter out, and didn't have to eat a metric ton of peanut butter. Stuff doesn't fall out if you throw one in your tool bag, and you can write on the lids with a sharpie. Many/most of the nails and screws are in totes in my work trailer so I always have at least a couple of handfuls of anything I might need.

Got the jars from here SKS Bottle & Packaging - Clear Plastic Jars Scroll down to "peanut butter jars"

But IIRC, didn't pay that much...prices have gone up...been a while.
 
This. And a couple coffee cans of just misc jeep only bolts/nuts/screws.
2019-06-26 21.12.39.jpg
 
I'm going through the same thing organizing my inlaws shop that has been essentially storage for 15+ years...coffee cans work great, there are some cheap organizers out there. In my case, my father in law is a hoarder of all things and has a relatively absurd stockpile of ammo cans. If hardware is rusted, its going in a bin for the scrap trailer. If its in decent working shape, its in ammo cans. Theres enough of it that I'm sure ill never organize the old stuff by size, but to get it all in one place its working out great.
 
I have two 72 hole bolt bins neatly organized, plus a separate area for nails and wood screws. Plus another for set screws and socket head cap screws, plus a miscellaneous tray in each of those areas, plus a "big threaded stuff" miscellaneous shelf that is divided metric and inch, and that's just in the shop. The house garage is where I keep most of the wood screws and nails, but enough miscellaneous bolts/nuts/washers/screws/etc to fix the lawnmower or whatever random crap doesn't warrant a trip to the shop. It almost sounds organized, but don't be fooled, it just means I have waay too many pieces of hardware! :D
 
Working on an old rusty Jap truck, once I realized I needed to hoard bolts, this became an issue. Especially once I learned there was a difference between Jap and European spec metric, and it's much harder to get J-spec than E-spec.
I have one of those a 16-drawer benchtop things w/ draws that are like 3-4" wide. Until recently I only filed Metric bolts, but then I got the old Bronco and realized I needed SAE too. Some of the drawer have multiple slats inside breaking them into more compartments, I'd bet I have 25+ sizes there.
I have another separate unit that's for all other kinds of fasteners (screws, drywall anchors, sheet metal anchors, etc, plastic automotive clips used in fenders, and such). Elsewhere there's a box of different boxes of screws (drywall, sheet metal, decking, Robertson) and nails.

I've got a can that collects "miscellaneous" crap, like extras from an Ikea box or something. Every now and then when I'm really stressed and need to unwind I'll go dig through that and sort things.

All that aside - if you've got an active workspace, I can't say enough about those big shelving units of 100 plastic removable tray bins.
If you think your garage is chaos, imagine a workspace that 15 teenagers - 3 FTC Robotics teams - work in. Our workspace used to be a complete nightmare of parts. Last year we invested in one of those Uline sets and forced everybody to spend 3 days organizing.... it totally changed the work dynamics of the teams. The thing holds literally hundreds of small parts from beams to L brackets to bolts to sprockets. We save SO much more time now, compared to previous years when we'd spend so much effort just looking for "where's that small sized sprocket?" Last 15 minutes of every meeting is "Put everything away, and organize the parts" time.
 
GotWood said:
This. And a couple coffee cans of just misc jeep only bolts/nuts/screws.View attachment 296803
Click to expand...
This is basically my setup. On the plastic bins they are organized in columns. Top left is 1/4" nuts, washers underneath. Below that the next bin is 1/4"bolts less than 1" long, then 1-2", etc.

Next row over is 5/16, then 3/8, and so on all the way to 5/8" bolts. Then I have a section for metric, basically m6, m8, m10 and a misc. Column since I don't use many metric around here. It's set up the same way as the standard though.

Then I have a set of bins with specialty bolts and nuts organized in standard and metric but not fully separated, that's where oem flanged bolts, or lugnuts, sheet metal screws, interior trim screws, etc go. Then I have one for electrical connectors, ring terminals in one bin, blue male Spade in one, etc.

I have about six of the grey units like this pic on the wall. When the standard fasteners get low I go buy by the pound at tractor supply. This dramatically cut down on one hour round trips to Lowe's mid project, or dumping all the coffee canson the bench and digging for half an hour, then driving to Lowe's anyway, lol.

All this in my two car shop. All the nails and construction screws are in cans on a shelf in the house garage.
 
I was lucky several years back, to buy a used bolt bin! It helps tremendously! Especially when another job I had, switched vendors. The Main Plant, I should say. I worked in distribution, & we received a Loaded pallet of Hardware, to use, or Dump! I was near the bottom of the totem pole, but still made out pretty Good! Free is Free! I Still have a few other containers, with assorted hardware. But, I too, make manta trip to Buy the Hardware I Need.
 
If it isnt consumed or in a usable quantity it gets tossed in scrap. Something I stock I replenish.

Next on my list is a stocked standard bin and some bins for a few other items.

I can't stand little hoards of this and that anymore. Most likely I need a hand full of specific items. If I'm working on something Custom I usually make darn sure stuff matches and is fairly common.

Little hardware packs seem to always pile up, most of the time the usefulness or life expectancy goes before I need that extra screw....or it was so cheap to begin with I end up o.c.d. and replacing all the hardware.
 
I organize by thread size and somewhat by length, kinda like @Tim C does. 1/4" thread 2" and shorter in one bin. 1/4", 2" and longer in another. Most standard sizes have two bins. Corresponding nuts and washers go in either of the appropriate thread size bins. This is my setup in my work truck. The shop has a bolt bin that is stocked by a guy that comes through every few weeks. Anytime I'm working on something and will need more than 5 or 6 bolts I grab a handful from the bolt bin rather than work out of my truck bolts. The extras go in my truck bolt bins. This keeps my truck bolts well supplied for normal 1 and 2 bolt repairs throughout the week.
 
I've tried all sorts of containers but my favorite are the blue bin's from tractor supply. Especially if they will be in some sort of cabinet or in my case my service truck boxes. Coffee cans are OK but once you get 7 or 8 together it's a pain working around them and tough to quickly identify what the contents are with out pulling g them out. If they're one deep on a shelf it's fine but my shelves are 2 cans deep. The blue tsc bins fit perfectly though
 
5 gallon bucket on casters. Though I have taken to using plastic boxes with organizers like for fishing tackle etc. (I refuse to buy them straight out, but I will buy the bolt assortment and add the sets together and I got an empty box. I'll snag a picture later.
 
WARRIORWELDING said:
Next on my list is a stocked standard bin and some bins for a few other items
Click to expand...

Surprisingly, setting up a fastenal account isn’t that bad or expensive. A couple months ago, set this up as an automated MRO program at work...initial cost was $1700 for bins and an assortment of about 200 different fasteners. Reorders are about $3-500/month depending on what’s needed.
 
The original owner of our house used empty baby wipe containers. They're stacked 5 high on shelves in the wood shed, full of all sorts of fasteners and other stuff he used for everything from stenciling signs for church functions to building birdhouses to whatever other fix-it projects he had. I only handle them with gloves because hantavirus. The 5' black snake that lives down there ate the mice but Hantavirus.
 
Back
Top