I guess that would be more properly junk as opposed to junque... I guess it was yesterday, but I worked on fixing some old doors from the old chicken coop my son had built some years ago, and I had to tear it down in 2021/22. The L braces on the corners had busted. I did get some new L braces, but I also recycled the busted pieces that still had 2 holes, and the hinges. I used them to reinforce the corners in addition to the new L braces. I put those pieces and the hinges perpendicular to the joints, and that made them sturdier. I also used a couple of the new L braces at a wonky angle along side of the L braces already there, kind of like > where I didn't have enough hinges, etc. I want to use these doors as trellises in the garden, so they do not have to be fancy. I have 1 more hinge, that I will probably use on top of them to make an A shape for cukes or something to climb on. Old hinges are good for joinery on wood projects. They are cheaper and sturdier than things to join stuff from the lumber yard. Like if you want to join two upright pieces of lumber, old hinges will be much stronger, and you can get them cheap at flea markets or yard sales and places like that. They do not have to match either, like if you were using them in your house for something. I used some old hinges when rebuilding my shed/chicken coop project to fasten 4x4 uprights to the existing shed. I like to save odds n ends of things like screws, nuts, bolts, etc and have several of those plastic containers for little junk that gets lost easily. I just organize them in the little bins. Someone once saw my collection when he was fixing something for me, and he thought I had about $200 or more worth of stuff in the one container. My son sometimes looks for spare things instead of buying a few nuts and bolts if we already have something that will work. Other good containers to use for odds n ends are the little plastic seasoning bottles. Those little bottles are also good to store dried seeds in for next year. I got an old door knob set recently, but have not decided where to use it yet. (Someone else had put ribbons and bows on it for something decorative, which I promptly removed.)
Junk? What junk? I totally agreed with you AAnightowl and I classify them as very useful items when there is a need When there is a need for the something I know nearly exactly where to look for it and I do have a door knob in there too!
Last year, I took this big pile of old cedar picket fencing, and treated 2x4s and 4x4s, took out all of the screws, and removed the metal brackets. Then I cut the tops and bottoms off of the pickets, so it was only good wood. I cut-the 2x4s and 4x4s to the size I wanted, then assembled like this. There was an old can of deck stain in the garage. I used the paddle attachment on the drill to re-mix it, and applied two coats. The inside is also lined with sheets of plastic so it will last longer. All of the wood and hardware came from that pile of old fencing. This box holds 8 25-gallon containers (grow-bags) to make a nice, raised, container garden bed. It's a good height for me to use. I've cut another batch of wood for a second one. I'm waiting for a stretch of nonrainy weather to assemble it. This time I ran out of deck screws, and the brackets were too bent up, so the hardware is new.
My husband is very organized, and has all sorts of hardware in labeled containers. I save hardware, too, and when he is heading to the hardware store, I ask, "What do you need?" When he tells me, I say, "Oh, I have that" and delve into my toolbox and hand it to him. He cannot understand how I know what is in there and where! There is no junk, just things you may need at some time . . . .
@Daniel W, your planter boxes look great. Have you tried kuglekultur? [not sure if spelled correctly], but it would put some logs and brush to good use filling in your raised beds, and providing a long time of nourishment for your garden. One garden you tuber uses large raised beds, and fills them with old logs and brush, etc and his gardens look great. He is Mark @ self sufficient me, and down under in Australia. He does organic gardening too.
A useful gift or a nifty tool. I have acquired 6 of this style of gauges and in boring winter months I will sort my hardware collection. I have small, medium and large gauges in both metric and sae and for the most part the screws and nuts are sorted into small bin cabinets I screwed onto a shop door. It is very fast to find what you need, but not fast to sort them out. Becky's parents passed some years ago and I have slowly been sorting things from her dad's shop. Thankfully he was pretty well organized already so it's not too bad. The best thing about the gauges is sorting out metric threads. They are used more and more now.
Oh Lordy.. you don’t even want to see my garage shed and barn. Save all sorts of left over materials to repurpose from remodeling additions and garden projects. Not to mention a lot of sections of an awning I recouped from a nearby pasture that my son and I rewelded metal frames to fit my windows and rehung the vinyl coverings made to refit a few of my windows. This house doesn’ have eves or roof overhangs. So it added much need shade to many rooms. Even made arches for the garden vines with some of the left over frames. I can get into so much trouble with repurposed materials.
Must admit. I like so many have hoarded stuff. Always convincing myself it will come in handy one day. Then eventually dumping it only to find soon after that I had a use for it, too late now, or to be asked by a friend. Mike, you haven't got, have you?
I believe I have figured out how it works. It's that you touched and saw it as you tossed it so naturally you remember should you have an opportunity arise. If you had left well enough alone you would be blissful.
@Pacnorwest Those awning frames and covers you redid saved a ton of $$$$$$ though. I am sure they look great. I used to have a lot of trees for shade. They came down in storms, or became danger trees and had to be cut down. I miss my shade trees. At least they became firewood for heating my house or the homes of friends.
AA very sorry that your shade trees are gone. It a big problem in winter storms nothing to protect the hose or block winds. In summers it also lost shade to cool the home . I will get pics of the awnings they are helpful and the trees help . In summers I don’t need the air conditioning even in 100 degree temps due to all the trees surrounding the house I planted years ago. Just keeping them all sail worthy iRemoving dead and crossing branches is important .
I can't say that I hoard a lot of useful stuff. My "biggest collection" will be old cables, adapters and gismos for old audio and computers, that I'll never use again, but then, "everybody keeps them." But I do save a lot of nuts and bolts, hinges, locks etc., I keep them in the shed. I "recycled" these handy cabinets from my office when I retired. They are all in there. I only need to go through about a dozen drawers to find what I need.
I don't collect old hardware, mine is big stuff. The scrap metal guy has missed out on several things because I've seen them and asked for them. The square thing for my tomatoes and the Arbor for the grapes came from people putting stuff out for the guy. Oh, and the chicken wire was at the end of the alley one afternoon when I came home from work. And I just got the thing the beans are growing on. It was in the alley by the trash next door to the lady I walk with every day.
I collect ice cream containers for putting the frozen fruit from the garden in and the plastic containers that we buy fruit in. I use those for potting on the wallflowers and polyanthus.
I use the plastic ice cream containers for my seed potatoes. I use one for each kind, usually it's just the Yukon and huckleberry gold. But this year I think I'm going to keep some raspberry for next year. I cover them with damp sand.
