Just counted 47 different fence post caps in my garage and it hit me

I was cleaning up after a job in Tempe and started sorting all the spare parts. When I got to the post caps, I actually stopped to count them. Forty-seven. Not just a few styles, but a whole mess of them - ball tops, flat tops, solar, even a few of those fancy pyramid ones. I've been doing this for twelve years, and I guess I just never threw any away from old jobs or leftover packs. It matters because it shows how much this trade is about the tiny details a homeowner never thinks about. They just see a fence. We're the ones who know that the right cap can stop water rot, or that a solar cap on a gate post is a nice touch. But honestly, having this many is just clutter. How do you guys handle leftover small parts? Do you keep a small stock or just toss them?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_piper10d ago

Forty-seven is a lot, but it's just post caps, not a stockpile of gold bars. Homeowners really don't care if it's a pyramid or a ball, they just want the dog to stay in. Maybe keep a handful of the useful ones and scrap the rest.

martin.riley9d ago

Scrap them for what, though?

pat_moore9d ago

My neighbor has about twenty of those old post caps in his garage. They just sit there next to a broken lawnmower. I doubt the scrap yard would even give him five bucks for the whole pile of cast iron.