The odd things we save .......

[JPGLSG]

Do you ever wonder why some of us save odd things. I had a small project that required a short bench while sitting on a dove stool in the garage. I knew just where to find the bench, although I haven't use it in 10 plus years. It has been in the attic of the garage for years. I built this creation back in 1973 when I was building my first home and for some odd reason this thing is just hanging on to me.

Do you have an odd thing that has followed you around for years ?

 

[toysoldier]

My wife.

 

[tinman]

My wife.

Obviously she does not frequent this forum...............you hope...... :roll:

 

[Jeepnik]

Good heavens, I have so many homemade and home customized tools in my garage I think it would fall down if I took them all out. But, it's nice when you need that open end wrench with two different bends in it to reach that one bolt hiding out of sight that's holding up the show. Then there's the shed...

 

[Dan in MI]

I have few things that I keep around like that. Most have some type of sentimental attachment. Probably the weirdest would be the handle for my Dad's homemade charcoal chimney. He used to make them looooooonnnggg before I ever saw one for sale. The chimney rotted off (he used heat ducting) but I kept the handle planning on rebuilding it and never got around to it. Dad's been gone since '88.

 

[mohavesam]

You kept an outhouse seat in your garage? That is weird...

 

[Fox Mike]

Good heavens, I have so many homemade and home customized tools in my garage I think it would fall down if I took them all out. But, it's nice when you need that open end wrench with two different bends in it to reach that one bolt hiding out of sight that's holding up the show. Then there's the shed...

I too have a bunch of 'special' tools for use on helicopters. I have one cut down 11/16 open end wrench that only fits one nut on one place on a 'C/M' Huey. Why I haven't thrown it away is beyond me. I have various other 'one of a kinds' but that is an example of 'keeping' stuff you REALLY do not need.

 

[Phoenix too]

A friend of ours is moving. He dropped of a box of plexiglass 'panes', not quite a foot square. IIRC, he said his Father brought them home to Brookline, then up to their NH camp, then back to Massachusetts, and then to his Son's (our friend). I might have missed another location. SWIMPAL thinks she can use them at school.

I still have the work bench that came from the house where I grew up. Both vices are gone, the top was a 'Moxie' sign, but 'Moxie' is gone, too. I have a 2' dia spot light that I think might have been used once, when I was a kid, for a night-time skating party. I'm sure that there's a ton more.

 

[m657]

I inherited my Dad's tools about 25 years ago. While some are quite useful, a few odd ones have been kept around 'just in case'....

One such was a hole saw circa 1961 from building our house. It was a bit curious, as there were not 1 but a series of about 5 or 6 saw blades about 1/4" apart, with a center bit in the middle for inserting into a drill chuck. That would revolve, and supposedly cut out a hole something less than 4" diameter.

Not like modern hole saws, where there's one of each size, this was all around the center mandrill, fixed to the supporting cap on the non-toothed edge.

I kept it thru moves & poverty & better times & better tools.

Last week I dug it out to use it, full of expectation and nostalgia.

Within a 1/2 dozen rotations the sucker broke into a dozen parts without much downward pressure. Crushed & off guard, I tossed it in the load for the dump run.

 

[H.H. Hipshot]

M657, I used one of those exact hole saws this past weekend to cut a hole in the dash of my boat for a 2" round voltmeter. I still have all the blades and the housing worked just fine.

HHH

 

[graygun]

I have so many things that are probably only here because I'm single. I have tools,parts,pieces,fasteners,junk,odds and ends. I'm not very organized (understatement). :lol: :roll:

 

[powder smoke]

Linda gives me hell all the time for not throwing anything away. lol ps

 

[vito]

Sometimes when getting rid of something, I see a part on it that looks like it might come in handy. Maybe its a hinge, a tube, a flat piece of wood, etc. I guess I almost never end up using these "useful" things, and they have actually moved with me from one house to the next, but I just can't find it in myself to throw away these "good" items. I keep an old can that contained popcorn, one of those metal containers that originally held about 3 or 4 gallons of popcorn, for all of the small extras that I've held on to. I actually went through the can recently and it was like looking through an old photo album. All these little pieces of hardware brought back a lot of memories of things long gone.

 

[callshot]

I have an old manual typewriter and a newer electric one. Can't find a repairman or a ribbon. Most all of my stuff is old.

 

[mishtub]

My family's motto is "It's still good"!

 

[RugerHound]

I hang onto everything until 1 week before I need it, at which time I throw it away.

 

[BucolicBuffalo]

"Grumble" I owned two of those sets of wood clamps that hold a lambskin for applying tung oil to floors. They screw onto like a broom handle. I knew exactly where they were. Someone else moved them on me. Since it's just the wife and I, it must have been me.

So I now own three sets of those wood clamps. I can name any number of items I own just like that scenario. Some built, some store bought. Those were just the most recent thing that drove me crazy looking for them.

 

[opos]

We are of an age where our parents were products of the depression and in my case of the dust bowl and depression....when they got something..regardless...they kept it as there was a chance they couldn't ever replace it...We've been through the "cleaning out" process after some of our folks have passed and it's amazing what was kept "just in case" I'm not as bad but still have lots of things that might have been once or twice used things...I still know where they are...and how they work....I collect and restore antique farm engines and there are few parts anywhere for them...all the collectors I know have an enormous pile of bits and pieces and we do a lot of trading and swapping..not much selling...

 

[nekvermont]

Like RugerHound said, If you throw it out you'll need it a week later. :lol: 25 or 30 years ago I could go to our local dump and find all kinds of things that I could use now or knew I could use in the future. Quite often I would come home with more in the back of my truck than I went with. All these "found treasures" got stored in my barn. In 1998 I needed to get myself into a bigger woodworking shop and the only bigger building that I could remodel into my new shop was the barn where I was storing all the treasures I had collected at the dump. I ended up taking 7 full size pickup truck loads back to the dump.

 

[Bob Wright]

A friend of mine said his Dad had a bin of scrap wood. It was labeled "Unused lumber."

I've made many jigs for gluing or cutting that were just too nice to throw away. And old edger or lawnmower blades can be made into the most useful tools.

Bob Wright

 

[Rick Courtright]

I have an old manual typewriter and a newer electric one. Can't find a repairman or a ribbon. Most all of my stuff is old.

Hi,

Can't help with a repairman, but if it uses a ribbon, chances are pretty good these guys will have it:

www.fjaproducts.com/

They're a a small SoCal company who've treated me well when looking for several different kinds of ribbons.

Rick C

 

[4kdave]

I have a metal C clamp I made on the lathe in HS about 1948. Have never used it and after I'm gone they will say " I wonder why he has this with all the other clamps he has "

 

[GunnyGene]

Do you ever wonder why some of us save odd things. I had a small project that required a short bench while sitting on a dove stool in the garage. I knew just where to find the bench, although I haven't use it in 10 plus years. It has been in the attic of the garage for years. I built this creation back in 1973 when I was building my first home and for some odd reason this thing is just hanging on to me.

Do you have an odd thing that has followed you around for years ?

Looks kinda like a saw bench , and that you did use it for that purpose.

http://www.wkfinetools.com/tRestore/saw/sawBench/sawBench-1.asp

 

[vito]

Don't ask my wife this question, she might answer that she saves me!

 

[coach]

My problem is remembering where I put it when I need it. Sometimes I'm not sure if it got tossed out or not.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Here are two odd things that have been in my family for over 60 years and at my house for over 20.
Electrical insulator that somebody picked up and a turned wooden flower pot pedestal.

 

[Jeepnik]

I too have a bunch of 'special' tools for use on helicopters. I have one cut down 11/16 open end wrench that only fits one nut on one place on a 'C/M' Huey. Why I haven't thrown it away is beyond me. I have various other 'one of a kinds' but that is an example of 'keeping' stuff you REALLY do not need.

Because one day you ARE going to need that wrench. Trust me, just when you think you'll never need one of those "special" tools you will.

 

[Jeepnik]

I inherited my Dad's tools about 25 years ago. While some are quite useful, a few odd ones have been kept around 'just in case'....

One such was a hole saw circa 1961 from building our house. It was a bit curious, as there were not 1 but a series of about 5 or 6 saw blades about 1/4" apart, with a center bit in the middle for inserting into a drill chuck. That would revolve, and supposedly cut out a hole something less than 4" diameter.

Not like modern hole saws, where there's one of each size, this was all around the center mandrill, fixed to the supporting cap on the non-toothed edge.

I kept it thru moves & poverty & better times & better tools.

Last week I dug it out to use it, full of expectation and nostalgia.

Within a 1/2 dozen rotations the sucker broke into a dozen parts without much downward pressure. Crushed & off guard, I tossed it in the load for the dump run.

Hey, I have a couple of those. Are you sure you had the blade fully in the slot. Dis you tighten the allen screw that holds the blade in place, and were you going in the right direction.

 

[Bear Paw Jack]

I've got a double garage full of boxes with stuff that I couldn't decide to throw away when I moved down here. I know that I had somethings that were really nice like 2 diamond D holster rigs but for what ever reason I can't seem to find either one. But I hate to go buy another knowing I "have" them somewhere. I think we all save things because we MAY need them and when we finally do need them, we can't remember where we put them. :roll:

 

[Colonialgirl]

Damit; I finally found my E-4 patch, BUT I haven't been able to find my patch for the 38th Arty Bde (AD) ; I KNOW I have it around SOMEPLACE. I bought me a nice Dark blue double mesh baseball cap at the VA Shop; It has an Army emblem on the front a leather bill with the word "ARMY" across on side of the bill. I added a "US" collar brass to one side and an "Artillary" collar brass to the other side and a nice NRA pin up above the Army seal. I want to sew the E-4 shoulder patch to one side and the Brigade patch to the other, BUT I can't find that ((&&*(^&*%&&^$%^# Bde shoulder patch.
Guess I'll have to go on line and see if there is someplace that sells them.
I KNOW its around here somewhere, I found copies of ALL my orders from my time in the Army including being sent to Korea, to the Missile Range (TDY) Good Conduct award and orders home along with discharge papers (also a couple of copies of the Stars and Stripes from those days), BUT NOT the @^$@#&%@&437 shoulder patch.