Today I cleaned an old container in the garden. It was filled with debris and old screws that came from the now pulled down playhouse. I looked at the screws, some of them actually looked as if they might work. Some were totally bent or even broken in two. I considered re-using some of them, gave up the thought and put them all in a container for re-cycling.
Then this small passage from Little House on the Prairie came to my mind:
Now Pa carefully took the nails one by one from his mouth, and with ringing blows of the hammer he drove them into the slab. It was much quicker than drilling holes and whittling pegs and driving them into the holes. But every now and then a nail sprang away from the tough oak when the hammer hit it, and if Pa was not holding it firmly, it went sailing through the air.How did we get from there to where we are today?
Then Mary and Laura watched it fall and they searched in the grass till they found it. Sometimes it was bent. Then Pa carefully pounded it straight again. It would never do to lose or waste a nail. (From chapter 10: A Roof and a Floor)
Ohmyword! I totally remember Daddy pounding nails straight to use them! Huh. We were being wise and I didn't even know it!
SvarSletYes, the wise old days are not that long ago :)
SletOh yes. I remember those days too. Very, very little was thrown away. Which is as it should be.
SvarSletMr. BA straightens the bent nails and keeps any of them and the screws that aren't too rusty to be used. The rest he takes to the scrap metal place where it will be melted down and recast for some purpose.
SvarSletPa, of course, was using new nails, so he couldn't afford to waste a single one. When reclaiming old ones, it's best not to use the worst of them, what you build might not be as sturdy if you reuse the badly bent, broken or rusted through.
I remember my dad straightening bent nails too and he had one of those things that put a new thread on pipes to be able to re-screw or reconnect something when the old threading had become damaged or rusted.
SvarSlet