My Nail Collection

Magnet Nail Sweeper and Friends

My Nail Collection.



Through the past couple of months as construction has been going on, I noticed that there were a ton of nails on the ground around the house with a bunch more in the driveway.  I know nails just go with having a house built but that doesn’t mean I can’t let them drive me crazy.  And they do.

I had nails everywhere. Short nails, long nails. New nails, nails that are already rusting due to the rain. Roof nails, spikes, you name it. I have them. And they are everywhere. I had been picking them up by hand and dropping them in a pile in front of the garage like one of those rock cairns you see on trails in the woods. I was hoping that by leaving them there the builders would realize that I'm kind of crazy about not having nails in my future lawn which will then find their way into my lawnmower tires. Or in my driveway which would make it into my car tires. Or worse, the tires on my better half’s car. Instead, I believe they started helping me build up the pile by dropping more nails to replace the ones that I've picked up. And I’ve also found that no matter how many I’ve picked up, when it rains, they magically grow like weeds.

So I picked up one of those metal sweepers from the local big box home improvement store. I really wanted the type which was a magnet on wheels but didn’t want to spend the $75 they were asking for one. Besides, being the impatient guy that I am, you had to order it and I didn’t want to wait. So I picked up the cheap $10 model. I’m not sure one is better than the other.

The one I have you sweep over the nails and the “powerful” magnet is supposed to pick to pick them up. Most of the time, you have to actually touch the nail to pick it up. At least it has saved my back. So I’ve been dropping the nails in old flower pots. It will be interesting to see how many I collect by the time this is all done.

It’s the small things in life…