lost tools

[czechsonofagun]

I hate loosing tools, about 6 years ago I was installing a projector at a local church. I did not realize it but I left a ratchet up in the droptile ceiling above the projector. BTW all of my tools have red painted on them, to designate them from the other a/v installers I used to work with. Anyway, about 5 years ago I hired on as the full time A/V guy at the same church. A few months ago I was up in that same ceiling pulling some wire and I pop the tile next to my wrench. I go up into the ceiling and just started laughing. What are the chances of finding a tool that I lost 6 years ago, I am positive it was mine because of the paint. I just wished this kind of thing happend more often!
Dave

When we moved to Virginia I had complete set of 3/8" sockets + ratchet. And 1/2" ratchet from my BIL - planning to get the full set for 1/2" some time down the road.
Well, had to fix something in the crawl space under the house and found 1/2" socket set in a molded box - only the ratchet was missing

 

[George2615]

Yes, I'm guilty of loaning out my tools also. I have loaned tools to friends expecting they they will bring them back in a short amount of time. Then the next time I need the tool I can't find it and have forgotten who borrowed it. Since I need it and nothing else will work I usually go buy another.
I've gotta put up a tool loan board in the garage and write down the date and who borrowed the tool then cross it off when returned.

 

[DieselPower]

I learned rather quickly when I first became a mechanic that the best practice was to never loan out tools. They never seem to come back unless you go on a hunt for them. I can honestly say I only loan tools to one person now. My best friend (who I worked with for years in a truck shop with) is the only person I will loan my tools to. He takes care of them as if they were his own, if he breaks it he replaces it without having to ask, and most importantly he returns them in a timely manner.

 

[Paddy]

George,

I lowned out a flue brush last Fall to help keep someone safe...can't remember who?? Sign out list is a good Idea

 

[Dusty]

I keep a list when I loan a tool now, but I also make the person borrowing the tool write his name and the tool he has taken on the 3" X 5" index card. That way, they can't say that I wrote it wrong and that they were not the one to borrow the tool. Had that happen more than once until I went to the new method. Since then, I also loan less tools, because the person borrowing it knows that I will be looking for it shortly there after. If they need it for more than a few days, then they should buy the tool.

 

[kossetx]

Male offspring=lost tools

 

[AlanB]

I lost my Milwauke sawzall. I have no idea who I lent it too or if the wife used it for one of her projects, or possibly, it could even still be in the shop somehow and just not able to find it.

I have another now, and it still aggravates the crud out of me that I do not know where the heck that thing went.

As the wifes Lawncare business has turned more and more to hardscaping and landscaping, more and more of my tools are becoming landscaping tools. I got pissed a couple of weeks ago when I could not find the metal chop saw, and then she realized it was at a customers house. She went and got it, then when I went to use it, she had removed the vise and we have no idea where it went..... Oh well, she makes enough money on those projects, I can just go buy a new one

 

[jinman]

I really like the molded plastic cases with sockets and wrenches. If one is missing, it's obvious when I go to close up the case, and it stimulates me to go look for the tool and put it into its proper place.

This early spring, I had a coworker ask if I had a post-hole digger. He wanted the manual kind (not my 3PH auger) for his son to repair a fence where his dog kept getting out. I hadn't used my manual PHD in so long that it was rusting up pretty badly. So, I loaned him my manual PHD because I was sure my wife had another one and I would be able to use hers if needed.(My wife was my neighbor before we got married.)

Well...I put in a garden and then built a fence around it last spring. I used my 3PH auger, but needed a manual PHD to clean out the holes. When I asked my wife, she said her PHD was in the barn, but I couldn't find it. Then after thinking about it, she realized she had sold hers in a garage sale after we were married.

So my rules of loaning things are:
1. If you loan something out, you will immediately need it.
2. If you think you have an extra, it will go missing.
3. After you tool is returned to you, it will sit unused again for an eternity.

Anybody else have similar luck?

 

[JJT]

I loaned out my floor nailer and 6 months later had to "borrow" it to do a side job. When I was done it went back to my co-worker. He had it for almost a year when he died from a sudden heart attack. $300 nailer gone. Almost a year later I get the nailer back through another co-worker, minus the hammer.

 

[firewalker]

Gosh you guys!!

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned another way to lose tools. In a divorse!! A good friend of mine told me to "get your tools out of the garage when you move out or you will never see them again!". My thinking was....."Aw,...she'll never keep my tools,....she knows how important they are to me and she will have no use for them. Besides, a lot of them were handed down to me by my father and some from his father. She will surely not be so mean as to keep them." Man,...was I ever wrong!!! It became a major sticking point in our procedings and the only ones I was allowed to get were the ones I could list from memory without being able to go to the garage to make an accurate inventory.

After the divorce was final, it would kill me to go pick up my boys and see in her new garage all the tools I forgot to put on my list. It got even worse when I saw her NEW husband using MY TOOLS!!!!! Not to mention the ones she told me she sold in a garage sale because she "needed the money". I would have gladly paid her just to get them back!! Do I sound bitter? You bet I do....that was 10 years ago and my blood still boils when I think about it. Just a word of advise to all of you who may have the misfortune of getting a divorce, CLEAN OUT YOUR GARAGE BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!!!!!

I don't miss the ex wife one bit, but I still morne the loss of my tools.