101 Uses for...........

[Sandyn]

Old bicycle tubes: I'm a cyclist and have loads of old tubes around. I cut them up, they make really good elastic bands, especially for outside since they don't deteriorate in the same way as normal rubber bands. I also use them for wide flat tyres for wooden toys and I have been known to patch them and use them on my bike! They can be used like bungee cords for various things.

Old mechanical hard drives:- I am not suggesting people should do this, but it's what I do with old drives. Rather than smashing them up, I take them to bits, There are two very good rare earth magnets. You can never have enough magnets!. There is a small very high quality bearing for general use. I remove the platters and use for wind-chimes. Not only do they make a lovely sound, but they reflect sunlight as they turn. It's not feasible for anyone to take these platters and retrieve data once stripped from the drive, but the surface can be scored, or the platter destroyed to make absolutely sure data can't be retrieved.
Some platters are glass, but extremely tough, but if you try, they will break and produce sharp edges, but nowhere near as bad as some glass plates you might have in your kitchen. Other platters are aluminium. There are some extremely small machine screws, which can be handy. One of the screws came out of my bike gear shifter. The gears wouldn't work, but one of the screws from the hard disk was an exact match for the missing screw. What are the chances of that!

 

[Fitzroy]

I have a big plastic tub of bit, screws, etc that I’ve stripped off or out of stuff destined for the bin/tip. Always able to find a screw to fit when needed. The plastic tub must weigh 3+kg and have thousands of screws in it but still keep adding to it. Hoarder the wife mutters when she sees something going via the shed to the bin.

Magnets from hard drives, absolutely.

Old inner tubes, keep the occasional one for rubber bands etc, but most go in the bin.

Large cardboard boxes have their sides recovered and go in the craft cupboard for my boys.

F.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The old man in our local years ago (f.i.l. of the landlady) left school at about thirteen to work in Devonport docks. Obviously a handy person he kept the remnants from all the tradesmen's pockets when they came in after work for a beer. He had a huge box of everything from nails, screws, fuses, pop rivets, small springs, strip connectors, panel pins, washers, fuses etc. up to six inch thunderbolts.

 

[Terry - Somerset]

I used to have similar tubs.

Every time I needed odd size screws, washers, nuts, hinges, etc etc out it would come.

And pretty much every time I found that if I needed three screws, I could only find 2,; project needs two small hinges, only got one; need some small bolts, right thread, wrong length, etc

Same with the offcuts box - great if you are into pens, but for almost anything else the bits you have are invariably too short, or too narrow, or with a knot in the wrong place etc.

Solution - stop hoarding. You never again need to walk past a box or tin known to be the root cause of frustration.

 

[Richard_C]

Cut lengths of tyre tubes handy in garden for tying shrubs to stakes, bean pole assembly and similar.

I try to re use all sorts. Bearings from an old pressure washer sit happily inside the base of a rotatable cantelever lamp, an old washing machine drum (steel, not the plastic sort) is a good incinerator. An old IKEA sofa base has just been cut up and the birch used as a coffee table leg/frame for a nice piece of yew I am preparing, old kitchen worktops used as a spare bench in garage and as flooring in the roof, old outdoor table frame with rotten warped top removed became a salad trough with sides made from decking....

A box of bits turned into a drawer of bits turned into far too many bits....

 

[Sandyn]

It's somehow reassuring to know there are other people with my good/bad habits!! I have the big box of mixed bits and pieces, but raking through it rips your fingers to shreds. After keeping something for years, and I finally decide to dump it. I can guarantee I will be looking for it the next week. I will be downsizing house in the near future. I have no idea how I will shift all my workshop stuff....which brings back memories of 'flitting' when I was young. it was normal just to use a cattle float. When it turned up, the inside was covered in cattle s**te. lol. I think it was the first time I ever heard my mother swear!!

Bulk bags: great in the garden for collecting leaves, grass cuttings. Sometimes when the compost heaps are full, I fold the tops over and let the material compost in the bag. Seems to work well for leaves.

 

[Bm101]

I used to have similar tubs.

Every time I needed odd size screws, washers, nuts, hinges, etc etc out it would come.

And pretty much every time I found that if I needed three screws, I could only find 2,; project needs two small hinges, only got one; need some small bolts, right thread, wrong length, etc

Same with the offcuts box - great if you are into pens, but for almost anything else the bits you have are invariably too short, or too narrow, or with a knot in the wrong place etc.

Solution - stop hoarding. You never again need to walk past a box or tin known to be the root cause of frustration.

I keep one big tin. Weird thread screws. brass shims. washers. oddments. some IKEA fixings. I used to keep everything but it was a habit I learned from my dad who learned it from his dad in times of make do. Far easier tbh to buy a tray of screws these days. Life is short.

 

[clogs]

same as above but when fixing tractors and the like kept my reclained junk on a pallet....
3/4" dia bolts of all kinds Metric Whit etc.....kept the Whit and Unified...walked past the pallet the other day and smiled....
have bought some industrial Dexion racking for it all.....
this "junk" has got me out of a hole a few times.....
try buying a lower radiator mounting bolt for a Massey on a Sunday afternoon.....
It'll give em a headache when I'm gone.....hahaha.....

 

[Sandyn]

I just looked in my box and right on the top, there is a lower radiator mounting bolt for a Massey, but it's a Sunday morning, so no use!!

One of my favourite tractors when I was young was a wee Massey Ferguson easy for a skinny young lad to drive, then as I got older it was a Fordson Major phenomenal acceleration from about 0-10mph, I could do wheelies in it. Link brakes, no servo, just choose one side, stamp on the brake and steer to the other side. lol

 

[TDA171]

Old bicycle tubes: I'm a cyclist and have loads of old tubes around. I cut them up, they make really good elastic bands, especially for outside since they don't deteriorate in the same way as normal rubber bands. I also use them for wide flat tyres for wooden toys and I have been known to patch them and use them on my bike! They can be used like bungee cords for various things.

Old mechanical hard drives:- I am not suggesting people should do this, but it's what I do with old drives. Rather than smashing them up, I take them to bits, There are two very good rare earth magnets. You can never have enough magnets!. There is a small very high quality bearing for general use. I remove the platters and use for wind-chimes. Not only do they make a lovely sound, but they reflect sunlight as they turn. It's not feasible for anyone to take these platters and retrieve data once stripped from the drive, but the surface can be scored, or the platter destroyed to make absolutely sure data can't be retrieved.
Some platters are glass, but extremely tough, but if you try, they will break and produce sharp edges, but nowhere near as bad as some glass plates you might have in your kitchen. Other platters are aluminium. There are some extremely small machine screws, which can be handy. One of the screws came out of my bike gear shifter. The gears wouldn't work, but one of the screws from the hard disk was an exact match for the missing screw. What are the chances of that!

Dead right on the magnets...they are brilliant! Epoxy one to a bamboo bean support, cut to desired length, and you have a brilliant ‘pickup tool’ next time you drop something metallic on the floor in the workshop. Also works well for finding ’missing’ items in the bed of shavings under my lathe!

 

[Racers]

Dead right on the magnets...they are brilliant! Epoxy one to a bamboo bean support, cut to desired length, and you have a brilliant ‘pickup tool’ next time you drop something metallic on the floor in the workshop. Also works well for finding ’missing’ items in the bed of shavings under my lathe!

Just slap one on the end of a steel rule they have plenty of magmatism to pick up screws even when stuck on something.

Pete

 

[billw]

My mum chastised me the other day for buying some screws when "there's hundreds of them in the garage", and was even more annoyed that I'd only bought new ones because I wanted them all to be alike.

 

[Ollie78]

Be careful

This is " it might come in handy one day" is the gateway to hoarding. I know because my Mum is a hoarder and so I make sure I don't stray towards it too far in case its genetic !!

Ollie

 

[Peri]

Be careful

This is " it might come in handy one day" is the gateway to hoarding. I know because my Mum is a hoarder and so I make sure I don't stray towards it too far in case its genetic !!

Ollie

Upbringing is a powerful thing

I don't want to turn this into a Monty Python sketch, but growing up in the early 80's when my dad was made redundant (HGV driver) we were so poor I'd go with him to the local building sites and collect used nails which he'd straighten out and use in the shed he was building. As a hobby he made model galleons and miniature furniture from bits of wood he'd salvage from real furniture people threw away.

As a result - I've got shelves of unopened boxes of screws, but I actually feel bad if I don't carefully remove used screws and put them in a big bucket 'for later' !
And I am unable to throw anything but the smallest scrap of hardwood away - anything longer than a foot and and wider than an inch gets stored away. He's been dead 20 years, but whenever I try to have a clear out I can feel him behind me going "Boy, you'd get 3 planks for a fishing boat" out of that !

My mom still has a few bits that he made.