Does anyone else pick up nails?

[Johnspex]

Whenever I'm walking down the street and I see a nail or screw or similar in the gutter I pick it up and drop it in a bin or down a drain. I do it because some poor soul is going to get it in their tyre and it might be me.
Anybody else this public spirited/mad?

[e21Mark]

Funnily enough, I do. More usually if it's somewhere I'm likely to be in my own car, but now I pick up wherever they catch my eye.

[steveo3002]

yeah i do it , hopefully save a puncture for some poor fella and hope i get i get some good karma back

[4Q]

Me too, my mrs thinks it's wierd though

[Wacky Racer]

My thread has arrived....

Yes I do, I have boxes of several thousand screws and nails in my garages and if I see even a single small screw or nail in the gutter, as long as it isn't rusty and unusable I will pick it up, take it home and drop it in one my boxes, you could say I'm a collector.....

It all started when my dad, who made a very big success of himself after starting with nothing (He sold his car for £60 on the morning of his wedding to pay for it) told me when I was eight:-

"Mr Woolworth used to pick bent nails up from the street and straighten them.....so never waste anything"

This used to amuse me, because if we went out for a meal he was the best tipper in the place, so he certainly wasn't tight.



I have now started picking bits of timber up I see lying around, even a piece a foot long, to take home to put in the woodburner...

[anothernameitist]

Yes might save a tyre

[austinsmirk]

yes, they all cost money.

ditto to pieces of wood too- for the multi fuel stove at home.

I even carry an axe in the boot for breaking up wood. I do have a job which means I visit a lot of properties where we're doing building works, so I do well for free wood.

[e21Mark]

austinsmirk said:

I even carry an axe in the boot for breaking up wood.

I used to, till I got stopped in the car and the Copper didn't like it, despite the legitimate reason, fact it was covered etc. When I was a kid (and a Cub and Sea Scout) I used to carry a sheath knife but I guess the world has changed? (and not for the better)

[rhinochopig]

Wacky Racer said:

My thread has arrived....

Yes I do, I have boxes of several thousand screws and nails in my garages and if I see even a single small screw or nail in the gutter, as long as it isn't rusty and unusable I will pick it up, take it home and drop it in one my boxes, you could say I'm a collector.....

It all started when my dad, who made a very big success of himself after starting with nothing (He sold his car for £60 on the morning of his wedding to pay for it) told me when I was eight:-

"Mr Woolworth used to pick bent nails up from the street and straighten them.....so never waste anything"

This used to amuse me, because if we went out for a meal he was the best tipper in the place, so he certainly wasn't tight.



I have now started picking bits of timber up I see lying around, even a piece a foot long, to take home to put in the woodburner...

My father built their entire kitchen out of oak he had squirreled away over the years. So keep collecting

[glenrobbo]

Yes. But be careful, you may not like this....

[hast2]

I got an extension built at the house 3 years ago - I'm still picking screws, nails and broken glass out the gravel drive now - bloody tradesmen

[Evoluzione]

Yes, screws as well.
I usually use my tyres to do this though.

[droopsnoot]

Wacky Racer said:

My thread has arrived....

And me - I've got loads of old nails, screws, kitchen cupboard hinges, bits of wood, all sorts of stuff that people have just chucked out.

[anonymous-user]

Being doing this for years.

[wazztie16]

Johnspex said:

Whenever I'm walking down the street and I see a nail or screw or similar in the gutter I pick it up and drop it in a bin or down a drain. I do it because some poor soul is going to get it in their tyre and it might be me.
Anybody else this public spirited/mad?

I don't, as I rarely walk anywhere so never see them. Usually I'm driving and used to cycle everywhere.

On the subject of nails in tyres though, I've had 2 in work van tyres over the last few days. Starting to think I'm an accident waiting to happen...

[graham22]

Neighbour works for BT so often nails & cable tacks on the ground by his van doors, make a point of checking & picking these up often before they find their way into my tyres - and they come in handy!

[anonymous-user]

try to cut mine over the sink so they drop down the plug hole. odd occasion they fall on the floor so have to bend down and pick them up.

[john2443]

e21Mark said:

When I was a kid (and a Cub and Sea Scout) I used to carry a sheath knife but I guess the world has changed? (and not for the better)

Yes, we always had a sheath knife on our scout belts but by the time late 70s the rules had changed and we were told not to.

[J4CKO]

Yeah, and more lately, litter when walking the dog.

If something is in the cycle lane I walk down I will pick it up and hoof it into the field, rocks and stuff.

Glad that other people do, so many folk are completely self centred, the ones that drop the crap, I know a lot of it is inadvertent, but also a lot is deliberate,like the idiots that smash bottles on the rocks at the beach where we go on Anglessey, of course that could never result in a kid with a massive cut when they stand on it.

Some people are just animals.

[jdw100]

Just had the clippers out - anyone want the toenails?