Ever lost a tool, then FOUND IT a long time later...

[Mike Bradbury]

I guess I have been the unfortunate spoiler to somebodies lost tool story several times. I am a facilities manager and I am always having to crawl into attics and ducting to work. I have found many hammers, wrenches, C clamps and flash lights from previous employees that I know are long gone some tool have been there so long that the previous owner is dead.

[PanelDeland]

My memory is so bad that I can't think of a specific one,but I have lost and found quite a few........

What were we talking about.......

[Luv68's]

Originally Posted by Benelli

I was talking to my friend on the phone the other day, I said "I'll leave as soon as I find my damn phone" and he said "Well, I bet I know where it's at?" and I asked "Where?" and he said "well check the side of your head."

Sure as hell, it was there........... I felt pretty dumb.

Now"I" feel better

[jb1016]

Originally Posted by Mike Bradbury

I guess I have been the unfortunate spoiler to somebodies lost tool story several times. I am a facilities manager and I am always having to crawl into attics and ducting to work. I have found many hammers, wrenches, C clamps and flash lights from previous employees that I know are long gone some tool have been there so long that the previous owner is dead.

A guy who does a lot of demo once told me he's found more hammers than he can count -- inside interior walls.

[hounddogs!]

Kansas, 1999 or so. I brought the 2 year old out to help me replace the outside door handle on an '87 Accord. I got everything reinstalled, then for some reason I left the car before attaching the inside door panel. I returned later to button everything up and went on about my business.

Sometime later, I absolutely couldn't find a 10mm combo wrench, a socket, and needlenose pliers. I muttered around for a while then replaced them and went on with life.

Fast forward to 2001, Maine. The handle has broken again and it's time to replace it with the composite version, rather than pot metal. After dropping the new 10mm combo into the bottom of the door, I fish around and find two copies of it. The other missing items were in there as well. Apparently, the toddler found a good hidey-hole when the door panel was off and didn't want to spill the secret, even two years later.

[Sillyoldman]

I was installing an overhead shelf in my utility room. To my dismay I could not find my level and it was too confined to eyeball. I made a special trip to buy a new one. It immediately turned up missing. It bothered me for years. Later we sold the house and as i removed the last items from the shelf and packed them up I decided to get a ladder to make sure nothing outside of my reach had been left behind. Any guesses on what I found?

[PanelDeland]

Originally Posted by Sillyoldman

I was installing an overhead shelf in my utility room. To my dismay I could not find my level and it was too confined to eyeball. I made a special trip to buy a new one. It immediately turned up missing. It bothered me for years. Later we sold the house and as i removed the last items from the shelf and packed them up I decided to get a ladder to make sure nothing outside of my reach had been left behind. Any guesses on what I found?

Two of what ever it was you were talking about?

[Sillyoldman]

Originally Posted by PanelDeland

Two of what ever it was you were talking about?

Yep it was my new Level. I used it the one time and forgot it was up there.

[andyh1956]

i have lost & found so many tools it is hard to know where to begin. i loaned my bush hog to my neighbor about 10 years ago & he lost a blade on it. i later bought the property from him & when i came home from afghanistan i went over to look around & found the blade stuck in a tree! but the killer for me is to lay something down & answer the phone or go eat & come back & tool is gone! this has happened a lot to me & i had decided that satan himself comes to my shop just to mess with my mind. then one day i was pulling the old wood heater out that was not used anymore & there was this big Norwegian hamster standing on it's back legs blinking his eyes at me. and what do you think he had decorated his little domicile with? that's right, all the tools i hadn't been able to find! anything shiny, the METRIC bolts i couldn't find & had to drive to town to replace- even my high dollar shure fire weapons light that i'm sure he needed to read home & rodent with late at night. all this time going crazy looking for my tools & i was done in by a damn kangaroo rat.
andy

[DirtyLarry]

I lost a ¼" socket one time working on my old 350 and found it imbedded in the top of a piston a few hours later after pulling the cylinder head to find that all that knocking was. Apparently tools do not combust when they get dropped down the carburetor. Yeah, the things you learn when in high school.

[dammitmitchell]

i recently lost an entire ratchet set for my metrics....
went back to find it.... still havent found it.. dang..

[mbgmike]

Thats why I have three sets of just about everything One time i took down a old house that was on my property and like a year later i started finishing the clean up. I finally found the sawsall that was under one of the building sides. It was flat shoved down into the dirt. i cleaned it up and blew it out with air and I still use it.

[Mr Pops]

I changed out my heater core about three months ago and I've been driving the truck three or four times a week ever since. The other day I went to fill my washer fluid and noticed a wrench still hanging on the nut for the heater core bolt that sticks through the firewall! I don't know how it didn't fall off!

[Musclerodz]

I have shop gnomes. The little bastards take my tools, sometimes for days, sometimes for weeks, and then out of no where they are laying on a bench in an obvious location. I don't know what they have been building all these years, but it is one hell of a project.........

[colin_havens]

a couple of years ago I lost an entire set of drill bits when I was reworking the suspension on my truck. I looked everywhere, tore the shop apart, and even blamed my sister who is notorious for borrowing my tools. Literally about a year later, I found them...between the grill and radiator support on my 67. They had been there the whole time. On the bright side, now i have 2 sets of drill bits lol

[andyh1956]

yesterday i have lost my sure fire weapons light again in the shop. crap.
andy

[rob67]

I use to have that problem, usually with pliers. Now I pick up all my stuff and inventory everything as soon as I am done. I also check everything when I do my monthly (yes monthly) tool maintenance.
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[fryer1979]

Does leaving a wrench on the caliper bleeder, then driving the truck almost 3000 miles, only to discover the left wrench still hanging on when I did an oil change count?

[donut]

Thanks for bumping this thread, I needed the laugh.

I'm known for leaving things everywhere, then forgetting them. As evidence, when I moved south, I had a yard sale. My wife (and customers) couldn't believe some of the duplicates I stockpiled (lost, replaced, rinse, repeat..)

6-2' levels
3-4' levels
8-torpedo levels
8-2' framing squares
6-1' framing squares
9 tape measures (6@25'+)
7-12" adjustables

Get the picture? lol

If I'm working on the truck and can't find something, first places I look is the intake or the cowl. My 9/16 and 1/2" wrenches traveled on the cowl from ME to SC. Still there waiting when I popped the hood.

[motornut]

i have swivell sockets and i like the 9/16 one for the bellhousing bolts
works great with the short space
popped off the extention and dropped it while under the car
didn't hit the ground,with the radio on and my eyes closed no clue, looked for ever
but used the reg socket and swivell...
got the engine out,tranny....few weeks go by
new ones in drove it for exhaust,it fell out goin on the hoist

[Dunenutt]

Every time I go to Harbor Freight, I stock up on blow guns. I have some sort of Gnome that eats them. Some day, I am going to move something and find 20 blow guns.

I go to swap meets, and load up on 10mm wrenches...Same Gnome.

I did find a 2 3/8 socket a while ago. I did'nt lose it, but the semi in front of me did. A windsheild will just barely stop a large socket, at 65mph.

[pat 70/71]

I changed the spark plugs on my 70 long bed 1/2 ton and for life of me couldn't find the ratchet/ socket when I was done with the job! that was 1977 And I found it in 1990 thirteen years later when I went to change the motor mounts and There it was stuck in the old motor mount. cheers, Pat

[bubba327]

Originally Posted by Musclerodz

I have shop gnomes. The little bastards take my tools, sometimes for days, sometimes for weeks, and then out of no where they are laying on a bench in an obvious location. I don't know what they have been building all these years, but it is one hell of a project.........

I have Artesians that do the same dang thing!!!! I have spent hours searching for the wrench or parts that I laid down in plain sight when the phone rang or nature called.

I finally get mad and clean the workbench till they get scared and leave it in plain sight for me.... I wish they would help me instead of stealing my parts and tools
They do make good beer and leave it in the garage fridge!!!

[100%Chevy]

I've found many tools over the years,which helps to off-set the ones I've lost!
Many,have been laying on the road.
Found a nice,new Maglite at the cemetary a while back,just laying in the grass.
Since I'm a tool nut(collector),I have more than enough tools.And,I inherited my dad's collection.
I just leave my tools laying where I used them last in my shop,so they're always handy!Only time I pick them up is when they're in my way.
I have multiples of all hand tools.
I bought a 67 Impala a couple years ago.It was mostly dis-assembled.I wondered how I was going to get the ignition switch out without the keys.
Later,while working on the dash,I found a little magnetic key safe.It was stuck under the dash lip!(why,I don't know!).Now I have the original 2 keys that the car came with!Now,that's luck!
I bouight a 99 piece tool set from Western Auto when I was 12(mostly allen wrenches and hacksaw blades).I still have most of it!Somewhere in my shop!
Mike.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Hey this got bumped! Great stories! I have another one...

I finally bought a set of real good crescent wrenches, the ones that actually work, not the cheap ass ones I used to buy that NEVER hold the spot you adjust them to... anyway I haven't seen them in over a year. I searched all over the garage and nada...

Yesterday I asked my wife if she had seen any of my phillips head drill bits for the drill... she says "Yeah, I put them in a box." She brings me to a box in the room we're using for storage at the moment and not only are my drill bits in there, there is also my crescent wrenches, a 3/8" drive ratchet I've been looking for forever, a few wrenches, one of my "good" vice grips, and a couple pairs of crappy walmart pliers... It was too funny to even be mad at her. We had a chat and any tools she finds, she's supposed to put them in a box... IN THE GARAGE.