Why does nobody talk about the 14,400 nails I pulled out of one barn?

I was cleaning out an old dairy barn near Lansing last fall and decided to keep every nail I pulled. After six days of work I counted 14,400 of them, which works out to roughly one nail for every square foot of that floor. Twenty years ago I would have just tossed them in a bucket and not thought twice about it. Now I save them, straighten the good ones, and sort by size in old coffee cans. My teenage helper asked why I bother when a new box of 16s costs eight dollars. I told him it is not about the money, it is about seeing how many times somebody before me fixed the same sagging beam. Any of you keep a scrap bucket going, or am I the last guy on the crew doing this?

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marybutler1d ago

Ever try soaking the bent ones in vinegar to loosen the rust?

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