Pluggers by Rick McKee for May 26, 2020

I know i have what i need somewhere. Just need to keep looking.

even if I don’t have a workshop, I can so relate with whatever is needed until I have to go to the grocery store (yes, the same one at which I’m employed) which also has a hardware section

I was raised to never throw anything away i was the original American picker my first color tv came out of someones trash day heap as for screws anytime I have any leftover they go straight into a jar for my time of need.

That’s me in Dickie tee-shirt and Cargill pants. Imagine the muttering. It’s funny but it may take a day or two, but I find a needed part eventually.

Funny, until the the surplus of gas a trip would’ve been more expensive.

Well, you can’t buy just one anymore. Everything comes in ballistic plastic bubbles that are virtually impossible to open, in insufficient quantities. You either can’t buy enough with one package, or you have too many with 2 packs. Hence, the search for the orphan is justified.

Tis a Plugger " Parts " Department !

Who snuck into our garage and drew my dad with his toolbox and tool desk?

Sixteen glass peanut butter jars filled to the brim. All rusted or corroded. None sorted at all – not by length, thread, or even by slotted vs phillips vs torx.

Years ago a good friend of mine, now deceased, owned and ran a jobbing machine shop in Boone County, Indiana. Most of the tools were 1930s and 40s vintage machines, although he had a Tree CNC mill. One of the lathes was a #4 Warner & Swasey repatriated from West Germany; it was part of the postwar Marshall Plan support for Europe. Anyway, he had a nail keg containing a miscellaneous stock of hardware. More than once I watched him dump the whole works of the floor and rummage through the pile to find a bolt or nut or something else that he needed for some project or other. Then he would rake everything back up and refill the keg until the next time.

In my tool box I have one dedicated drawer, with tray bins, for small parts and hardware. I’ve still got some clamps, plus some 10-32 and 8-32 screws and nuts from my aircraft mechanic days more ’n 35 years ago.

Just did this last week! Took out tuna can full of all sizes of screws and the 3rd one fit perfectly :D

My trip to a hardware store is about 25 miles round trip.

I have found that the surest way to find the right screw or screwdriver, etc. is to search everywhere for a day or two and then give up and go buy another. Miraculously, the missing one will appear. I couldn’t find the box cutter that we had used years before to break down our moving boxes. I looked in the garage, storage drawers, basement, etc. and finally bought a new one. Within a day, the original one appeared right up front at eye level on a shelf in the basement.

That’s because most Hardware Stores today don’t sell screws, bolts, nuts, etc. individually. You have to by a package that usually has three items in it. So when you only need one, you end up with a drawer full of extras to be used the next time.

It’s all the other metal stuff in there with the screws that I have no idea what is for.

Hah. If I can’t find the right tool within 10 minutes, I’ll go buy another one. I have lots of duplicates.

It becomes a point in principle.. he knows he has at least one.

Got that right

I was raised the same way and strip off parts etc. that are usable for future repairs and such. My first stereo when a teenager was made from an old Gerard record player( You know it played those Big Black CD’s. )and 2 of those old Round Chrome covered car door speakers from a junk yard. Saving things has saved me a LOT over the years. Throw out what is obviosly JUNK and keep what has Potential use. Be Safe and Have a Great Day ! :-)

A true plugger has all of his screws, washers, nuts and nails organized so that he doesn’t have to search.

That’s me all the way. Of course on the rare occasion when I throw something out, the following week I’ll need it and have to buy it aaaagh!

That’s what the screw, nut and bolt can is for.

The real aggravation is… if you eventually “give up” trying to find the damn screw in your parts bins…. and then go to the hardware store…. you usually find it immediately after you have another one (or a whole package of them…. opened). :)

finding the right screw is one of life’s great pleasures…

well, someone had to say it…

Ain’t it the truth, plus my wife fully believes no matter why I go the Hardware store for, the underlying reason is to get another tool of some sort.

and besides, most people who work in hardware stores don’t know where anything is at in their store, so you end up looking all over the store, anyway.

You’re a plugger if you have a century drawer.

Or bucket of bolts.

Or collection of coffee cans of assorted threaded fasteners.