I thought restoring old card catalog drawers was pointless, then a hinge pin fell out in my garage

Eric Butler · 2026-10-21T18:00:05.068581+00:00

Six months ago I started buying old wooden card catalog drawers at estate sales around Cleveland for $8 to $15 each and fixing them up to sell as little storage boxes, and I figured it was just a cheap hobby. Last week one of them tipped over on my workbench and the hinge pin shot out and vanished into a pile of sawdust on the floor. I spent 40 minutes on my hands and knees with a magnet before I realized the pin was a weird size, so I measured it and found out it was an odd 3/32 inch rod that no hardware store near me had. I ended up cutting down a piece of brass rod from a hobby shop and filing the ends until it slid in smooth. The drawer sold two days later for $65, which is more than I paid for it plus the rod combined. Now I keep a labeled bin of every pin, screw, and odd part I pull off these drawers instead of tossing them, and it has paid off three times since. Anyone else find that the tiny parts are the whole job with old furniture like this?

🐿️Pinecone Attack

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I thought restoring old card catalog drawers was pointless, then a hinge pin fell out in my garage | Boring But Cool Jobs - Pinecone Attack