John thanks for a great post. I am sure many of us remember buying nails at our local hardware store. You would approach a multi-tier large lazy susan contraption that stood about head high with bins full of different size nails, 10 ld, 8 ld, or 10 penny, 8 penny for example. You would get a brown paper bag from nearby and would use a short handled bent fork to rake up the nail and put them in the brown paper bag. When you got what you wanted, you'd go to the counter and pay by the pound. When the old hardware stores closed, we lost an important part of our shared culture.

I certainly understand what you mean about the old-time hardware stores. We have a mini version of that near here, Gilbert's Hardware. Went in the with a water valve that required a special O-ring. Try finding that at Lowe's. They opened a draw with any size O-ring you could imagine, pulled the right one out and repaired the valve for me. No charge except for the O-ring. Another time they spent 45 minutes working on a valve, including drilling out a broken screw and re-tapping the hole for the screw to hold the handle on. No charge except for parts. Nice photo of the old Carpenter's Hardware building, John

The former Carpenter Hardware building in Cammack, Indiana, just west of Muncie. The building has been renovated and converted into businesses and apartments.

This building housed one of the last real hardware stores in central Indiana, the kind where if it was a nut, bolt, screw, gadget, plumbing fitting, electrical supply or tool of any kind, it was there or it likely wasn’t available. There were three floors, including the basement, all full of whatever you can imagine, and was a hangout for the local fellows with time on their hands. It was run by Mr. Carpenter (everyone just knew him by “Carpie”), a crochety old so-and-so. If someone was an unfamiliar customer, Carpie ushered him to the product and found it for him. If one was a regular customer or an acquaintance asking for something, he could expect a reply like “It’s upstairs on the west side, about half way down. You can find it.”

Because we--my family--were farmers and carpenters, I grew up frequenting places like this and real lumber yards (the likes of Lowe’s don’t count as a real lumber yards). I miss places like these.