TEN HAMMERS? THINGS IN THE HOUSE WHEN ONE IS ENOUGH

Ten hammers ought to be enough?

Who has ten hammers? Me.

And they’re all looking for a nail.

I found a question on twitter asking about things people over-stock.

The answers listed quite a variety.

From coffee cups to tape measures to calendars, people were surprised to find they were low-grade hoarders.

Do ten hammers qualify as hoarding?

Not if you’re a blacksmith.

But I Might Need These Screwdrivers

Who recycles wooden handled screwdrivers?

Wooden handles mark you as a collector with a collection, not a mental health problem.

Right?

After looking at tool boxes used by ship builders during the days of sail power, you know, old took boxes, I learned about a ship builders resume.

Their resume was their tool box. The hiring manager would inspect a tool box and reject or accept based on what they saw.

If they saw a tool box constructed with the joinery needed for ship building you got hired.

The question came up after seeing elaborate work on a utilitarian object.

It was more than just fancy showing off, it was a statement of skill.

If you’ve ever seen wooden boat building demonstrated, the planing, the steaming and bending, the connectors, then you’ve seen master craftsmen at work.

If you use your collection of tools, that might be your claim.

How Much Is Too Much

If someone has commented on your ‘collections’ and wondered why you’ve got what you’ve got, you might need to take a look yourself.

If your friends mention the ‘H’ word, you might want to take a hard look.

This is the answer to ‘Why do people withdraw from friends and family?’

You can live with ten coffee cups, ten forks, ten knives and spoons, and no one blinks an eye.

There was a time when someone with shelf after shelf after freaking shelf of National Geographic magazines was a status symbol.

Not so much when you’ve got stacks of newspapers with a trail between your chair and the refrigerator and the bathroom.

Ten hammers seems suspect, too.

My twitter contribution to how much is too much wasn’t ten hammers. It was pillows.

But not just normal pillows, like pillows for heads on beds.

It was pillows as design element, seasonal awareness, and bins and bags for pillow storage.

Some people even have a travel pillow so they’ll wake up as beautiful as they were when they went to sleep. Hi, honey.

For research, how many tea towels does anyone have at the same time? If it’s not a big drawerful, you’re not trying.

Tea towels come in the form of souvenirs, beautiful fabric you’d never want to stain, and your average shop rag.

And don’t mix them.

How much is too much, too many?

I asked a building contractor how they know their projects are finished. It applies here, too:

“Customers either run out of time, or money. Once that happens, it’s a wrap.”

If you can afford a compulsion, and have room to store it or display it, who’s it hurt?

But, if you’ve got a thing for something weird, like used toothbrushes, you might want to cull the collection.

I do believe one thing can lead to another, and it’s good to stay ahead of the trauma.

But, what is there to justify ten hammers? Excuses, the answer is excuses.