[mus42tang]

Do you have those "whatchamacallits"?, as I thought of what I would say to a store clerk.

I realized that when the old plumbing, hardware, paint and some outdoors items store burned down, there were many purchases I made, that had a name that was forgotten. One item I remember spotting as I walked through the store. I saw those being used by my mentor years ago, and never saw them in a sportings good store. In fact they were not sporting goods; they were merely used by reloaders.
That and a number of items were bought and remained, "whatchamacallits". So I jumped on the computer and started name searches. A little box, open top, stackable. And I can imagine trying to tell a hardware clerk that I'd use them for reloading cartridges.
Well after more than a few seaches I found a picture of them on the internet. Now I'm all set. I just have to ask for plastic, stackable, poly, storage part bins, used to hold nuts and bolts.

And I won't have to mention gun cartridges.

There's #5 and #8 bolts used for an old tree stand. Some round plumbing washers or O rings used in archery. Some machinist cutting oil used for muzzleloading. Some Jon-e fuel seen after many years, I used to rediscover how to light a hand warmer. What I payed extra for the fuel, was saved by the homemade wicks I learned to make from the internet. Before discovering the fuel, the hand warmer had been dormant in a drawer. Then there is the inexpensive Old Hickory knife, good for peeling potatoes. It proved to be the knife I enjoyed the best to sharpen.

I'll miss that old store and it's old products. I won't miss looking up the proper name of the whatchamacallits.

 

[John-PA]

I clicked on this thinking it was about candy bars...oh well

 

[jimbridger]

Yep got me a few whatchmacallits sitting right next to the thingamajigs and thingamabobs. Use them mostly for ice fishing. Still can't catch any ice. Waugh!

 

[Winger]

I use my whatchamacallits to store my conniption fittings !

 

[jimsdad]

My former father-in-law used the term "Trapasort" when he did not know wha the real name of the thing-a-m-bob was. He was an engineer so I assumed it was some sort of technical term.

 

[DIYASUB]

When I owned the petstore I had a lot of what I called "Crossover Customers". They were the folks that came in and bought pet supplies for uses other than what they were ordinarily meant to be used for.
I realized one day that I'd been selling an aweful lot of cedar shavings, the kind you put in small animal cages. Soccer moms that didnt buy hamster food or water bottles, just cedar shavings. I found out that there had been an article in some woman's magazine and all these women were following the suggestion and putting the stuff in onion bags to hang in walk-in closets.
There were also plenty of extra sales of colored aquarium gravel to crafters, and of course the young man that bought the spiked dog collar as a birthday gift for his girlfriend.
Another item that attracted crossover customers was the 4mm airline tubing. I learned that a 3" piece could be used as a fuel line in a model airplane.
The strangest use for it that I could remember was when a gentleman came in and bought 6' of tubing. I didnt recognize him as a regular aquarium customer so I asked him what he wanted it for. He told me that I charged a lot less than the place where he usually bought the replacement oxygen tubing for his mother.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Many years ago, I lived in Northern Virginia and wandered into The Arlington Hardware store. An old place, with creaky wooden floors and three foot high flat top counters loaded with bizarre out dated stuff. There a few blocks from the Iwo Jima Memorial, they had a cider press for sale. Parts for old residential gas lights, parts for coal oil lamps, New wooden barrels, casks and buckets. You could bring in an old window frame and they would not only cut the glass, but install it an putty it. The folks working there actually knew their trade. When I asked for a forstner bit, they knew exactly what I meant. They still sold bulk raw linseed oil they dispensed from an old steel drum in the back. I could spend hours roaming that little place. They also sold some stuff for muzzle loading, Hickory dowels and the ends for making ram rods, leather working tools. When they went out of business, I went and bought a few items I didn't even know at the time what they were. I bought two wafer irons and an old fashion spit for over a camp fire. Another tool was a hand drill for cutting bung holes in barrels.

 

[rflktrman]

We all have some of those thingamabobs laying around. There is a store on 422 west of Butler called Trader Horn's that used to have a bunch of them, perhaps still does as it has been years since I was there.

 

[wis bang]

Millers Hardwear in West Easton, that guy kmnows the names of most whatumacallits!