'lost' tool funny one.

[rsewill]

There is a car commercial with some guy who can't find his sunglasses. The couple backtracks halfway across the state only to find his sunglasses in his hoodie when bats chase him out of a cave. And his companion is understanding - give me a break.

 

[Don87]

Yeah, but then you have no one but yourself to blame, it's easier to blame the shmuck who borrowed them!!!

These are all funny stories though, good reading! I can only add that I know of one of the top of my mind. I lost a small, Craftsman metric socket inside the frame of my '83 Toyota truck I was working on many years ago. You know how some sockets don't fit snugly onto the ratchet handle?? This one fell off at the worst time/place and dropped into a hole in the square tube frame. The frame was angled where the hole was and I could hear it roll down a few inches. It's still there, and believe it or not, I still have the truck! It doesn't run now, but maybe one day I'll figure out a way to retrieve my socket!!

Flexible Magnetic Pickup Tool

 

[Redneck in training]

When I was a kid we had a tame jackdaw (small crow bird) flying around the village. It would come when called, could say few words etc. The bird had a bad habit though. It liked anything shiny and since it was accustomed to people it would fly in the house and steal stuff such as spoons, watches, coins, jewels, small wrenches, keys etc. Lot of people were missing stuff. One day, don't remember if it was a storm or tree was cut down, all the stolen items spilled on the ground. They were all deposited in the birds nest.

Google "kea parrot" for really destructive bird.

 

[Redneck in training]

Just recalled another. When I was about 5 or 6 our father caught me and my younger brother throwing his priced Gedore sockets in the well behing his shop. I think he fished them all with a magnet on a rope.

 

[aczlan]

Just recalled another. When I was about 5 or 6 our father caught me and my younger brother throwing his priced Gedore sockets in the well behing his shop. I think he fished them all with a magnet on a rope.

Luck he didnt fish them out with you on a rope...

Aaron Z

 

[Travelover]

Luck he didnt fish them out with you on a rope...

Aaron Z

:laughing::laughing::laughing:

 

[Johnp33]

If you ever work on a Cummins 855 the water pipe below the cooler has a grove in it that fits a socket perfectly and That is one thing I use to look at every-time I dropped one while working on them many times I would find other peoples as well as the one I had dropped.

 

[Swamp Yankee]

I was installing a set of main stairs in a new house about 25 years back. The builder hadn't installed a sump pump yet, it was a wet spring, and the basement was full of water to within about 2 feet of the first floor joists. Let's not question the wisdom of continuing to build in these circumstances - I was a sub, and not the GC. In any event, I dropped my cordless drill, and of course it bounced into the basement stair well to Atlantis. Ah, well. It was the first I'd ever owned, a 7.2 volt Makita. Losing it was a great excuse to step up to the new generation of 9.4 volt drills.

 

[Alien]

I can sit at work bench and lose a tool cannot locate until go into the house get a cup of coffee and return and the tool is where should be. wife thinks it is funny.
ken

Ken My wife and I can relate to that. It happens to both of us on a regular basis. Whether it is tools or cups or stuff in the pantry. I think it is something to do with shifting dimensions. :laughing::laughing: Gotta be....:confused2:

 

[Alien]

Funniest thing happened just a couple of days ago. Don't tell my wife I told you...
I was waiting in the car for her and she was running around looking for her handbag. I told her it was on the side board. She said, yeah it was but I picked it up and now I can't find where I put it. Frustrated she came out to the car to see if she had dumped it in there. Looked at me and said. "I can't find it anywhere"
I said, " whats that on your shoulder?" :laughing::laughing:

 

[SGBotsford]

Opposite effect: Put a 25 foot lime green tape measure on the bumper of my ranger.

Forgot it.

Next day went to town, 70 km away.

Stopped for gas on the way back.

Tape measure was *still* on the bumper.

Lost tools.

I own 6 tape measures. That way I can (sometimes) find one when I need it.

I will no longer willingly buy a tool for outdoor use that is either black or green. Put them down in the weeds and they are unfindable.

Until you mow.

One time I found a 3 foot crow bar, just AFTER I had gone over the area with a bushhog. Good thing the blade didn't catch that. I have however wrapped up a 100 fet of black garden hose on the bushhog. I now buy pale green garden house that stands out.

Shovels by preference have orange or yellow handles. I keep a spraycan of international orange paint for wooden handled tools.

I also have a roll of wide yellow electrical tape. And I've used Tuck tape when I couldn't find the yellow stuff.

Someplace in the garage is a pair of Freude 7" demolition blades. Home Depot had them on sale. I think they ran home to Mom when my back was turned.

 

[SGBotsford]

Opposite effect: Put a 25 foot lime green tape measure on the bumper of my ranger.

Forgot it.

Next day went to town, 70 km away.

Stopped for gas on the way back.

Tape measure was *still* on the bumper.

Lost tools.

I own 6 tape measures. That way I can (sometimes) find one when I need it.

I will no longer willingly buy a tool for outdoor use that is either black or green. Put them down in the weeds and they are unfindable.

Until you mow.

One time I found a 3 foot crow bar, just AFTER I had gone over the area with a bushhog. Good thing the blade didn't catch that. I have however wrapped up a 100 fet of black garden hose on the bushhog. I now buy pale green garden house that stands out.

Shovels by preference have orange or yellow handles. I keep a spraycan of international orange paint for wooden handled tools.

I also have a roll of wide yellow electrical tape. And I've used Tuck tape when I couldn't find the yellow stuff.

Someplace in the garage is a pair of Freude 7" demolition blades. Home Depot had them on sale. I think they ran home to Mom when my back was turned.

 

[chopped]

Ok I did the pencil thingy...
Went to gaage and came back and looked around, couldnt find the pencil, I thought I must have left it in the garage. So found a pen and made my mark. Cut the wood. and then as I bent down I knocked the pencil from my mouth. It was in my mouth the whole time..lol

 

[toy]

Back in 1971 or 72 I had a 69 Pontiac and I was having trouble with the transmission, syncroniser needed replaced. I took my Pontiac to the Pontiac dealer to have the work done and when they finished with it I went to pick it up, it drove good and seemed right. I didn't know that the mechanic was missing a socket, but I found it for him. About a month later I was passing a car that was just poking around I mean he was just barely rolling so I, being immature decided to smoke the tires as I passed him. 1st gear just fine, shifted to second gear and it seemed fine but then all of a sudden everything locked up. I thought that it might have been the rear end that I had jerked out again, but I was able to get it back into 1st gear and was able to creep home with it. I knew then that it wasn't the rear end so my brother and I pulled the transmission opened it up and saw a lot of metal loose in the oil.After further inspection we found the chewed up socket, it was busted up but there was big enough pieces that we could make out the size of the socket the brand of socket and the initials of the mechanic on it. I went back to the shop where the work was done and told them what had happened and they tried to give me grief about making it good. I told them that I had the socket with the mechanics initials on it and the bill that he had signed and initialed and that I didn't believe that I would have a hard time proving it their fault. They went from paying 10% to replacing it with one out of an old clunker gto they had out back to replacing my transmission with a new one free of charge. This isn't about me loosing a tool, but it is about a lost tool that cost a lot in the end.

 

[S. Shaner]

Several years ago one muddy day in spring I was in the backyard in the morning, and again in the afternoon. Between those times a red object had appeared sticking out of the mud. Iinvestigation revealed a Sears 12V battery drill sticking half out of the ground. I can only thank one of the airlines that land nearby for dropping this manna on me when they opened their landing gear doors.

 

[SPYDERLK]

Just saw this thread in a TBN link re loosing your tools. I dont think that is what is being talked about here. A loosed tool can smack ya right in the head. Be careful out there.
larry

 

[PILOON]

Well not exactly a lost tool,
But I often place my trash on the roof rack to drop it into the roadside bin as I leave. (on rack in case it leaks)
More than once I have driven miles and some driver frantically points to my roof and it dawns on me that I neglected that essential end of driveway stop.
My excuse is that I have to very carefully look both ways on exiting the drive to avoid collisions and that momentary distraction makes me forget the overhead cargo. L.O.L.

 

[sixdogs]

You know, I've lost a few--not many-- tools over the years but I think I have found way more that lost. Forty years of scrounging the roads and I have multiple brand name Crescent wrenches, some Proto, Bonney, Craftsman, etc. Found some original branded Totota wrenches, a welding helmet, Craftsman torque wrench, shovels and sledge hammers, concrete tools and on and on. Looking back, I would say the list includes far more quality tools than India or HF tools. In fact, I don't believe I ever found a HF tool. Must be we lose the good stuff, learn the lesson and then hang on the whatever tool we may buy next, even if low-buck stuff.

 

[koopster]

When I was in high school wood shop I made an inlaid wooden box, about the size of a good tool box, the shop teacher told me to assemble it all and then we would cut the lid off!

Do you know what a mess a table saw will make of a full glue bottle while your ripping the top from the bottom! I had to stay after school for 3 hrs cleaning glue from everything, inside the saw, walls, light fixtures, It went everywhere! Thing is I know I did not leave that bottle of glue inside of that box! :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

:laughing::laughing::laughing: This story was great! (of course, not for you at the time) My sides hurt from laughing.:confused2:

 

[Ron JD670]

Lost and Found...
After my contractor was done with the remodeling construction and drywall I was doing the finishing work and light installs. Over the wet bar we had planned a can light so I tapped with a hammer to double check where the studs were. Each time I tapped I got a thud back. Tap thud, tap thud. If I tapped harder the thud was louder. :confused2:I thought maybe the contractor had put a rock in there as a joke. I finaly punched a small hole and felt something with my finger but could not figure it out. I marked a circle for the can light and went at it with my saws all. Something went flying. When I finally had the hole cut, I reached around tentatively and found the contractors small cats paw pry bar. A few weeks later we had him and the wife over for dinner to celebrate the project and I gave it to him wrapped as a thank you present along with a new 25' tape measure. He finally realized it was his pry bar and had to admit he was wondering where he had left it. We all got a laugh. :laughing: