'lost' tool funny one.

[aj2n]

When I was younger (say 6-7 or so) I was always out ridin with my grand dad rollin hay. Well it became kinda a running joke in the family that every christmas/father's day/birthday he'd get about 3-4 pocket knifes cuz he was always loosing them. Well they'd done that a couple years and I'd noticed it. and i guess one of those years out on the tractor with him I would watch him climb off the tractor and run back to the baler and cut the baler twine once the roll was done tying. then he'd climb back up on the tractor drop the bale and take off. well he'd climb back up on the tractor and set the knife on the rear wheel fender and never think twice about it. There's no tellin how many pocket knifes our cows came across all those years.

back to present I was pullin square hay from 20 or so years ago out of the loft and found a pocket knife from god knows when. I wonder how many years he'd been doing that.

and I guess the apple's fallen right under that tree cuz I buy utility knife after utility knife and ever hay season I can't seem to keep track of any of them.

 

[Travelover]

.........
and I guess the apple's fallen right under that tree cuz I buy utility knife after utility knife and ever hay season I can't seem to keep track of any of them.

:laughing: I think I lost 3 utility knives when I insulated my attic.

 

[deereman75]

This lost knife talk has reminded me of something. A few summers ago, I was doing some back country horse packing. I had just got a new frost mora bush knife and sheath. I put it in my saddle bags in the sheath before I left for the trip out. After about a 4 hour ride, we got back to the trail head. I went to get my knife out, and in my saddle bags was the empty sheath. I never did find it, although I have a much nicer one now.

 

[ETpilot]

Very interesting reading this thread. Working on aircraft I have found a few lost tools. Of course, it is not the place where you want to find lost tools.

I always account for all my tools when working on a plane. One time I searched for about an hour and a half looking for a missing screwdriver. Tools sure can hide when they want to.

I have a socket riding in the frame of my truck. I lost it when replacing the AC compressor working thru about a 1" hole. Never could find it. Forturnately it does not make noise.

 

[Short Game]

In 1967 I bought a Buck Folding Hunter with a rosewood handle in the Navy Exchange in Yokosuka, Japan. I lost it a few times but always found it. I had carved my initials in the handle and by the early '70s, had already lost it several times, but always found it. Then I lost it again and didn't know where to start looking. I looked but had to give up. A year or two later I took a hike in the woods and walked right up on it on the ground. Stainless steel, brass, and rosewood, all in good order.

I parked it a long time back, as I eventually completely wore it out. The blade is sloppy and that the lock is no longer to be trusted. I wore a hole in many pairs of Levis carrying that big knife too.

 

[Cub 7274]

While its not a tool
I worked for the railroad and we were spotting cars at an industry one day in the winter it was nasty out & when I went home I had to snow blow
When I got finished around 11pm I realized my gold bracelet was gone from my wrist.I looked everywhere for it finally around 1 am I gave up
Fast forward to May of the next year and we were again spotting cars at the industry as I got off the rail car I looked down to see were to step and noticed something laying under the ball of the rail the sun made it shine yes my bracelet it had laid there for 5 months unharmed.
Never again wore my bracelet at work.

 

[Mace Canute]

Hey! I just found my little 4 inch bearing separator plate!!

 

[moored4]

and I guess the apple's fallen right under that tree cuz I buy utility knife after utility knife and ever hay season I can't seem to keep track of any of them.

Get a utility knife scabbard and bolt it to the bailer where you use it to manage the baling twine. Mine ie always there and that's the reason why, I got tired of losing my good knife! :thumbsup:

 

[gengine]

I went out on a well armed horse ride last summer. After about six miles of trail we stopped for a snack and a cold drink of water. I grabbed my lunch from my saddle bag, walked to a log, took off my chaps and reached to remove my gun and it wasn't there. Needles to say, my chaps went back on, lunch back in the saddle bags, and down the trail I went, solo. I got all the way back to the truck without finding a gun. It wasn't in the truck either. That's when it hit me. The little horse my wife and I were training had to have a little convincing to cross the creek a couple miles up the trail. When doing so, the lead rope probably pulled the gun and holster off my hip. Back up the trail I went. So, I had already done roughly 12 miles, and was feeling every step the horse took. I got to the creek, the sun was going down and things were getting fairly dark. I just jumped in, boots and all, and started feeling around for it. About this time, the rest of my party came out of the trees and saw me in the creek. They were all laughing, but wouldn't you know it, I found it. Now I ride with my reins in my left hand and my right wrist wedged between my hip and the handle. That way I know right where it is. That was the most expensive tool that I have lost, but I'm sure there are plenty of screw drivers and sockets with my name spread all over the state.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

my dad once laid a pocket knife on the baler, and it fell off while baling. About a 10 acre field, and I found it.

The hardest part about a project is finding all my tools...

 

[k0ua]

Friend of mine went elk hunting in colorado a few years back, Says he sat down and rested up against a tree for a bit. A while later is when he noticed he was missing his Kimber .45ACP pistol, apparently slid out of the holster. He never could find that tree again, or the pistol. I suppose it is still in Colorado. He was pretty sad.

James K0UA

 

[Redneck in training]

I know a guy who never bought a car. He rides his bicycle 365 days/year. While visiting him at some occasion I saw several buckets of sockets, screwdrivers, wrenches etc in his garage. He told me that when he sees one on the road he stops, picks it up and deposits it in the bucket when he comes home.

 

[Redneck in training]

I commission control systems for rotating machinery. When in example turbine or compressor is being assembled it is usually fenced off and you have to empty all pockets before you can enter. If you need a tool you have to have it on a lanyard. It is very expensive to to take half assembled machine apart to remove whatever falls in.

I found all kind of items such as wrenches in control valves. One time we were testing emergency shutdown of a pipeline station and multimeter flew out from a vent valve. Somebody put it in the pipe during a break and it got welded in.

 

[Redneck in training]

Guy I used to know many years ago had Renault 2CV. For those who are not familiar with the car it had small four cylinder engine in the rear. He was meticulous mechanic, he didn't drive it much but worked on it every weekend. The car suddenly developed a problem. It would idle just fine but would run poorly under the load. So he got his toolbox from the trunk (that was in the front of the car) and a rag he had neatly stored in a side pocket of the trunk. He checked timing, carburetor, capacitor etc and all was just perfect. He would rev up the engine and it would run and sound right. He puts the toolbox to the trunk and neatly folds the rag and stuffs it in the side pocket, closes the trunk and takes s test ride. Same symptoms, the car has no power. He rechecks everything again and finds no issue. Pissed off he just throws the toolbox back and tosses the rag in the trunk, slams the hood and takes another test ride. The car runs like a clockwork. He returns opens the hood folds neatly the rag and stuff that in the side pocket. Car has no power. The car was made for Sahara desert when French still ruled Morocco. To get cleaner air to the engine there was a duct in the body of the car from the engine compartment to the trunk to the side pocket where he was storing his neatly folded rag.

 

[Redneck in training]

Somebody mentioned that he asks his wife to find stuff for him. I think it is black magic or some kind of miracle. Women don't find stuff they make it appear. I look all over the fridge and can't find in example mustard. I tell my wife that we are out of mustard. She goes to the fridge and and hands me a container full of mustard. I am still trying to catch her how she does that.

 

[SensibleNick]

Guy I used to know many years ago had Renault 2CV. For those who are not familiar with the car

Never even heard of them.. Do you mean a Citroen 2CV? (which has a small 4cyl in the front)

 

[irvingj]

"Never even heard of them.. Do you mean a Citroen 2CV? (which has a small 4cyl in the front)"

Yep, they both look surprisingly similar. Very weird.:laughing:

 

[sixdogs]

It's odd but I have most of my first SK socket set from 50 years ago and seem to hang on to tools with an iron grip for fear of having to buy them again. A guy I knew had two sets of tools so he wouldn't loose the good ones. Bonney for good and Chinese for backup but he always lost the Bonney.

We used to live in rural Maine and for decades I commuted 45 miles one way to work and most of that was interstate. During the summer months (make that six weeks) when the weather was nice and tourists everywhere, the roads were filled with lost stuff. I could pick up hundreds of rubber straps, sockets, wrenches, tire irons, luggage---you name it and it was there. Good stuff, too.

 

[Mace Canute]

You gotta be careful picking stuff up off a road...

LiveLeak.com - Pedestrian Hit By Motorcycle

 

[sixdogs]

You gotta be careful picking stuff up off a road...

LiveLeak.com - Pedestrian Hit By Motorcycle

Agreed, definately not an urban activity.
But not rural Maine, especially years ago. There were many times I drove for three hours north and never passed, was passed by or saw anyone else.
Reminds me of driving rural Alberta 40 years ago.