do you re-use screws

[havabeer69]

so going through a garage re-shuffle at the moment and pulling some screws out of the shelves and it lead me to the question...

do you re-use already screwed in screws? or are they a one time use item only. Maybe being a gen Y/millennial I'm a little biased in my single use policy compared to other generations.


it may come down a multitude of scenarios so does it matter about things like:
1. button head screw, into pine sat there for 4 years, pulled out, no damage to head... would you re-use?
2. 1970's flat head screw
3. framing screws
4. anything that was outdoors in a treated pine retaining wall


I dunno, I guess there is a thrifty part of me that says i should just keep the 15 screws I pulled out of some shelfs i built 6 years ago "just incase" i need them for something, but fighting against my need to just turf them and if I need more just buy some at the time (could be 1 month could be 5 years later)

[Pete57]

Have always had a box of assorted used screws around the workshop. Would only keep slotted head screws if brass or something special.

Often go to the 2nd hand screw box for small jobs where you only need a couple of screws.

Same with nuts & bolts.

[Chesand]

:iagree:

Any damaged or rusty screws go straight out.
Invariably, you never have the right sized screw so finish up buying more anyway.

[BobL]

Unless they are custom screws that may be needed for a specific purpose and are able to be fixed, rusted or damaged screws get chucked out.
Self tappers - by now I have so many "spares" of these, unless unusual they also get chucked out
Everything else gets sorted and kept.

[bruceward51]

I routinely reuse good screws but you need to be brutal about quality and damage. I start off throwing into a bucket but eventually find time to resort the common sizes. In order of preference:
* almost always reuse square drive screws and there is rarely damage to the drive head.
* reuse Phillips head only in set sizes and often find head damage.
* only keep slotted screws if they are going to be reused in the same project such as a restoration.
* I also keep a spare assortment box but try to not let this grow into a bucket size before sorting it down.
I probably throw about half of the tin when I do a resort.

[verawood]

Like others, it depends on the condition, if good then yes.

[Huon pine fan]

Unless you have a specific upcoming use for them do your kids a favour and throw them out. Some years ago I cleared out my late father's shed and I lost count of the number of 1kg Nescafe coffee tins and large jars of screws, nuts, bolts and nails that I put out in hard rubbish.
Mind you, the scrap metal scroungers had a field day and they disappeared almost as fast as I put them on the nature strip!

[Aussiephil]

Some of my general guidelines, items required for restoration excluded.

If there is the hint of damage in the bin, this includes any corrosion and head damage.
If undamaged and known size, immediately placed back into the correct storage location
Unknown size or couldn't be bothered days, placed into 100x100 tray and first dive to when looking for screw.
left on bench/floor ... swept up in a cleanup and dropped in bin, rarely sorted.

Honestly i probably throw out more than I should.

Cheers
Phil

[orraloon]

There are a lot of ifs but like others have said I keep some if they look OK. I have a few tins of bits n pieces for future use and sometimes I actually find something that gets the job done. I do need to up my game at sorting because it can take ages finding that right nut,bolt or screw. Sometimes its quicker to just go to the big green shed in the first place.
Regards
John

[woodhog]

Wood screws no.
Machine screws and bolts are sometimes re-reused if they were not previously torqued heavily or heated for removal. Heavily damaged threads and rusted fasteners no.
For load bearing situations new fasteners are best.
Use your best judgment. When in doubt throw it.
On the flip side of life some automobile fasteners are re-used and others replaced.
Best of luck.

[Greg Q]

Anything brass and undamaged is kept. Not sure why. Robertson drive if pristine are kept. Phillips or pozi scrapped. Anything from Zenith at Bunnings is scrapped unopened. Anything by Spax gets reused repeatedly. Roofing screws for some reason proliferate no matter how ruthless the cull.

My father had jam jar lids screwed to the underside of every shelf in the garage with full jars of every piece of scrap fastener he ever had. Growing up on a farm during the depression will do that to you. It took me a long time to kick that habit.

[banana]

if you're not sure if you'll ever use the ones you save, i'd sort them into two jars: one jar for the good ones, one for the junk

someday, the junk jar will be full. take it to the metal recycling place next time you're passing by. if you still have never reached into the good jar to find a screw, might as well take that one to the metal recycler too

if you do end up reusing the good ones, you'll probably come up with a more sophisticated system as you go

[auscab]

I really like the feeling I get when a piece of rubbish Ive saved has saved me getting in my car and driving to the shop .

It happens a lot . Ive got my own tip now :) . Bliss ! I always have had in fact . Its just bigger than ever now . Part of that is scrap metal and when I take a load to the tip and don't pay a cent to get in because I'm unloading a years worth of bottles and jars, I take along some scrap metal just to get me into the metal section so I can throw some good stuff back on my ute , if I'm lucky . I cant get over the good stuff that's sometimes there.

As for screws yes I save all old ones . The slotted rusty ones . The more rusty the better in fact . Unusual I suppose but I restore as well as make furniture for a living . Its not very often I have a reason to take out new ones from something but if there good Id keep them . Of course with restoration things need matching up when I have missing screws . I did a roll top desk last Christmas . Those things a re full of screws . And someone else had worked on it before me and left about 10 out of the re assembly . So rusty and same size was required . I buffed them all a little to clean them up and I had a perfect match .

[Bushmiller]

I certainly recycle batten screws. If a bit mangy looking they are just used for temporary or non important jobs. This is more a building strategy than fine woodworking of course.

Regards
Paul

[DaveVman]

I keep some old screws and other fittings. But not if they are pretty common, cheap quality or damaged or just a hassle. Or just because I can't be bothered walking to the rubbish bin. The older or more unusual it is, the more likely I will keep it, provided it is in good condition. However I just toss these into a little box. It was getting a bit fill of bits so now I have one for door and cabinet fittings and another for everything else. So technically there are now 2 boxes. I never try to sort this box. It is my go to when I can't find the screw or fitting that I need. It is like a last resort to search in this box for something suitable to avoid another trip to get what I really need.

It has come in handy sometimes because because by some standards I have a limited supply of fixings and fittings. Mostly what I have a good stock of are Robinson/square headed woodscrews. Anything else I'm often lacking.

[BobL]

When I was working at Uni and for some time there after I used to have access to old pieces of scientific equipment and dismantled many of them for parts and invariable many fasteners.
The ones I find hardest to throw out are stainless and I estimate I have about couple of 2L ice cream containers full of those
Also while back a mate of mine was seriously downsizing the fastener store in his steel fabrication business so I got to pick through his fastener collection.
That included whole boxes of screws.
As a result I reckon about half of my fastener stash (especially the imperials) are recycled.

The photo below shows my limited wood screw, and part of my metric machine screw storage.
About 1/3rd of the drawer is hidden as these drawers cannot be pulled out all the way and most of the stuff that's hidden are stainless, and larger metrics
At the bottom of the picture are lots of boxes with scrap bits of plastic (HDPE, Teflon, PVC etc) and rubber.
501112

Apart from a container of bugle head wood screws this drawer contains my imperials.
501113

[havabeer69]

I honestly think a lot of these post's are convincing me to just be more vigilant and turf screws (to metal recycling) and not worry about it.

BobL, i work at an older power station we have APL's fully of older imperial brass and steel machine screws that will just never get used and will goto the scrap yards in the cabinets they're in.

[BobL]

I honestly think a lot of these post's are convincing me to just be more vigilant and turf screws (to metal recycling) and not worry about it.
Yep, I put mine in the recycling bin. When we cleared out FILs shed there must have been 40kg of old rusty screws and galv plumbing fittings that went to the scrappies, and that was after I kept quite a few of the better galve plumbing fittings.


BobL, i work at an older power station we have APL's fully of older imperial brass and steel machine screws that will just never get used and will goto the scrap yards in the cabinets they're in.
Drool!

[bruceward51]

Watching this thread reminds me of a tale I heard of a bloke with dementia at a Men’s Shed. He came in once a week and happily sorted imperial machine screws by thread and size. He was perfect at identifying all the common threads. He completed the whole stash in a few weeks then his mates just recycled the same lot of screws each week.
I think the lesson is that sorting can be therapeutic - for some of us!
As I said before, the secret is to be realistic and brutal about what to keep and have a limit on the size of the odds and ends storage.
Bruce

[Bushmiller]

I save any brass slotted screws, no matter how damaged the head, as the shanks make good small pins mainly in larger sizes.

Regards
Paul

[havabeer69]

i Guess as a 2nd part discussion to this is where do people buy their screws, and do you just buy whats required and store them, or do you keep a bunch of sizes on standby?

As a hobbisty i'm considering just buying a 100 pack of the following self tappers from scrooz.com.au and putting them in my small parts containers out on the bench for wood working jobs.

6G & 8G:
10mm
12mm
16mm
20mm
25mm
32mm
38mm
50mm

[Alkahestic]

Screw it Screws (https://www.screwit.com.au/)
for non square drive - Buy High Performance Screws Bolts Fasteners and Concrete Fixings Online at Great Prices at Scrooz (https://www.scrooz.com.au/)

and when I'm really in a pinch, Bunnings (although I can't fault the galvanised M6/M8 bolts and nuts, they've been ok). Screwit has an introductory pack - I got that plus a few sizes I knew I needed, only downside for me is I need to pay and wait for the postage. After using a Robertson screw though, you'll look at Zenith brand screws with the appropriate disgust. I'd rather put a few dollary doos into my home inventory than have to buy the Bunnings stuff at similar prices but much lesser quality. I've got some 10g 50mm Robertsons that I've used with an impact driver several times - no point throwing them away because the heads are still 95% good.

[DaveVman]

For a few years I was buying screws in small packets as I needed them. Very, very gradually building a small collection. Occationally a whole box for something I knew I'd use. Then finally I ordered a range of pocket hole screws from ScrewIt Screws and I reorder as I use various sizes. Then I bought a selection of square drive screws from Scroz because they are much closer to me. So now I finally have a small range of different sizes and head shapes. As many as possible are Robinson screws. I hope to slowly expand this range further.
It is a shame we don't have star drive screws in Australia. I'd like to switch to those for some projects to be honsest. So there's a whole other future range.
Also I never seem to have the nut and bolt sizes I need.

So yeah it just depends how often you are in the shed making stuff. As you do more projects, more frequently, then it makes sence to store a range of them. If your project activity wanes then it's less worth it. Remember it also costs you to store stuff.

[bruceward51]

If I need a lot of something for outside I generally get the trade quality galvanized stuff from bunnies but I find the sizes available for workshop projects are very restricted. They only stock the popular sizes.
so I keep on hand a range of sizes of square drive steel screws from screw-in.com.au. From memory I keep 19, 25, 31, 37, 44 and 50 mm in #8 countersunk; 44, 50, 65 and 75 mm in #10 c/sunk; 25 and 50 mm in flat washer (pocket hole although I never do pocket hole joints).
i mad3 a small drawer unit with lift-out boxes so I can take the screws to the job. It has worked very well for me but I am about to reorganize it a bit because the drawer unit is too deep for my new small workshop space.
Bruce