Did your dad hunt you down when you misplaced his tools.

[TAMPAGT07]

I'm sure alot of your dad's were like mine..I swear when he came home, he could smell if one of his tools were MIA..He had alot of his tools hanging over his workbench, and it took him about a milli-second to find what tool was missing. Then his mouth jumped into play, "E-D-W-A-R-D, where the hell is my red handle screwdriver?" "I don't know Dad." "Well, you sure as hell better find it."

I think this happened at least a few times a week. I don't recall ever actually losing a tool, and I couldn't imagine if I ever did.

 

[stopdroplol]

My dad seems to have this idea that all the items on our garage shelf (tape, hoses, engine fluids, air attachments..etc) have assigned places. However, these assigned places are only known to him and no matter where I put something back, it's always the wrong spot.

With tools it's actually the opposite. My dad has this irritating habit of putting my tools back in his box. 3 times out of 4, when I can't find my tools it turns up in his box. Then again, a lot of my tools were previously his. Maybe it's habit.

 

[TheGrooveking]

My father made a career out of chasing me down for the tools he misplaced. It didn't help that my brother would leave Dad's tools all over the place and because I was the mechanic in the family I was blamed, it didn't help that our dog, a black lab loved to grab anything shiney and carry it around in his mouth. So the dog would pick up a wrench or pliers on the driveway or in the garage and then drop them in the lawn somewhere. I can't tall you how many times I found those items with the lawn mower! You think a rock is something when it comes out from under a lawn mower, try a pair of 10" vise grips! It left dents in the bricks on the side of the garage.

After my parents moved to Denton, Texas I was visiting on vacation, so I cleaned my Dad's garage and organized all of his tool boxes, even labeled them. According to my mother, within 1 week it was back to the mess it was before I touched it.

TheGrooveking

 

[DaleK]

My father could never keep track of a tool for more than 6 months after he bought it. By the time I finished university and came home to the farm I had a pretty good start on my own tool set, by the end of the first spring he'd finished losing all of his tools and I was still gaining on mine.

 

[usdemt]

Usually I would be tracking my father or brother down to find my tools, but thats just me. When my brother lived with me he had a drawer on his nightstand I would check monthly because he would pick up a tool, start fiddling with it and take it to his bedroom without thinking then it always ended up in that same drawer.

 

[DHS]

He signed his tools out, no matter who was doing the borrowing.

 

[Sparkfarmer]

My Dad was always after me for missing tools, sometimes i did mess with them and sometimes I didn't. The funny part is that even after i have been out of the house in another city for over 2 years i come back to visit and its "hey what did you do with my left handed sprinkle sprocket!?". My mom tells me he blames me whenever he cant find a tool even if i haven't been around for months LOL.

 

[outlander800]

Yeah, my dad used to ***** at me all the time when I was young for loosing his tools. Back then I didnt see why it was such a big deal, but now that I have a huge investment in tools I see why it was a big deal.

 

[Ray-CA]

I wish that I could hear my Dad yelling about his tools just one more time.

Ray

 

[Case IH]

My dad has an older matco box (he got it for a graduation present because he was going into diesel mechanics and hes 45 so thebox is alot older than me) and the 3 drawer top is stuffed to the brim and it usually tookhim a while before he noticed his tools were gone and by that time they were long gone and i heard about it all the time.............Soo i just now got my own box and tools and cannow understand where he is comimg from

 

[rjohnson]

With tools it's actually the opposite. My dad has this irritating habit of putting my tools back in his box. 3 times out of 4, when I can't find my tools it turns up in his box. Then again, a lot of my tools were previously his. Maybe it's habit.

+1 Same here!

 

[crewchief888]

I can't ever remember misplacing my fathers tools, seriously. He expected you to put it back EXACTLY where you found it.

I wish that I could hear my Dad yelling about his tools just one more time.

Ray

my dad had all his sk wrenches hanging on a pegboard in the garage.
if i laid one down on the workbench and walked away, i swear the man had esp. he'd chew my azz and make me put it back where it belonged.
i couldnt figure out why, that is until I couldnt find one of my own tools.....

+1 ray

i hope dad can see i do put my tools away, most of his old sk's dont get used much anymore, they're there as a reminder...

 

[street131]

I learned how to run real fast...

 

[snapmom]

Every Christmas my dad gave me some tools, I still have most of them, and now his too, my brothers got furniture, but he made sure I would get the tools, much nicer than a piece of old wood.

 

[bczygan]

I don't remember any issues with his tools, but I DO remember he expressed some ire when us kids filled the gas filler spout to the Jaguar with small pebbles and sand:

True story, and that's the make and model Jag. It sure was pretty......

 

[rockwithjason]

i started out wrenching on bikes in the yard. my old man found a lot of his tools with the lawn mower. years later i bought him a quincy compressor to make up for it. he says i can have it when he dies.

 

[toolsd]

To answer the question, yes, just as I do my son. Poetic justice I guess!

Tools, who DUG the floor jack my dad gave me out of the mud today... from underneath of of the (17 yr old) son's trucks...

 

[mkirkpatrick]

My dad always had his tool box locked up in his truck. If I wanted anything I had to ask, then return it in the same condition that I borrowed it in. That was until I was old enough that I started getting tools and a little 2 drawer toolbox for christmas and birthdays. After a while he was borrowing my tools because I had to specialty tools, then he just had me do it and inspected my work. Those were the days.

 

[David79z28]

No but I have to chase my son down to get mine. Most of the time I just look wherever he was recently working on his truck or dirt bike.

We bought him a socket set and wrenches a while back. They are lost now.

 

[TheGrooveking]

I wish that I could hear my Dad yelling about his tools just one more time.

Ray

A big +1 on this one, man I wish...

TheGrooveking

 

[DrkMtnDew]

It may have taken Dad a week to notice if something was missing, but after it was discovered it missing, I was found quickly. I was really good about putting tools back...in my miniature toolbox.

 

[LEVE]

My dad made me buy my own tools... Best thing he could have done.

 

[PCO6]

I can't ever remember misplacing my fathers tools, seriously. He expected you to put it back EXACTLY where you found it. I pretty much expect the same thing.

Same with my Dad. He only told me and my 2 brothers once, in a nice way, that that was what he expected and he never had to tell us again. It worked well for all 4 of us. I know there were times when my Dad borrowed some of our tools even though he didn't have to just to show us he would treat our things with the same respect.

 

[gc11090]

Yes he did! And now he is the one guilty of misplacing my tools!

 

[american lockpicker]

I probably lost a 1/4 of my dads tools growing up...

 

[fireguy]

Dad was a school teacher who built spec houses in the summer. My main job was to find his hammer, his saw, his tape. I wish I could look for his carpenter tools one more time and to tell him how much I miss him.

 

[bad_religion_au]

no, he was a softy when it came to the time we spent wrenching when i'd "help" him with the cars, he felt too guilty about not being able to spend more time with us to yell.

shame, because 1, we lost a fair few tools, which i am now kicking myself for, as they were very nice tools, and 2. it's taken me ages to LEARN the hard way about proper tool organisation.

although, i do chew him out for misplacing MY tools now.

 

[DMessin]

My Dad was always after me for missing tools, sometimes i did mess with them and sometimes I didn't. The funny part is that even after i have been out of the house in another city for over 2 years i come back to visit and its "hey what did you do with my left handed sprinkle sprocket!?". My mom tells me he blames me whenever he cant find a tool even if i haven't been around for months LOL.

Sounds exactly like my Dad!

 

[moparmuscle88]

we used to take his tools all the time and lose them, but i was always mowing grass, so i had the money to replace them when he found out to keep him from killing me...

now he takes my tools and leave them lay everywhere, (i guess i deserve it) but its hard to explain that some single tools cost more than his entire collection so please dont lose them

 

[Todd.Brock]

We were always using the shovels and rakes in the sand box.. If you left one out and it rained.... lets just say there was hell to pay.

 

[scheu]

Yep. All the time. His fault for not locking his box I guess...

 

[peelman]

I can always remember my dad cussing about my brothers never putting tools back (they were much older than me, I was mom and dad’s last (failed) attempt to have a daughter). Even to this day they’ll come borrow **** for 6 months and only return it when he asks for / demands it back...

So I was always the good troop and put **** back when I got done, which has turned into an almost pathological condition now, because i obsessively wind up cords & air hoses, put tools back in the box, if drill bits came in a carrier they go back there, etc etc, even when i’m not in my own shop

By the same token, it was always nicer/handier to put things away when they had a case, wrap, or some kind of storage device, so now I’m drawn to tools that have those. A recent example that comes to mind: I hate buying just a set of loose drill bits, and will go out of my way (and/or spend a disproportionate amount of money more) to get a set that has a case or some kind of storage. That was the other thing dad taught me: its always OK to spend money on good tools, even if you may only need them once or twice

 

[Perkins]

I am new here, and was googling stuff and came upon this site.. figured i'de chime in since it happened to me.

When I was young I used to love to help my father work on stuff, He would always have me fetch tools for him and showed me how to fix stuff. Fast forward to when I got my first car, I started wrenching on it myself. I am not going to lie, I would loose a lot of tools. He would always get mad at me and say that I lost his tools. After a while, I went out and spent over $1000.00 and purchased my own tool box and filled it with tools. Granted it was just Craftsman stuff, but it still did the job and they were MY tools. Well my father thought it would be a great Idea to combine our tools, and I thought that would be a good idea, because I had tools that he didn't and he had tools that I didnt. Well when I went to move out to go to college, I obviously wanted to bring my tools with me. So I separated all of the tools, and he starts to complain about how I lost this tool and I lost that tool, which I actually didnt. Anyways, long story short I gave him all of my tools, and took an empty tool box to school. Got a job while I was at school and re-filled it. I don't share my tools, lone them out, etc.. I have my tools separated in order so everything is nice and neat. I keep my tools locked up. I bought my kid his own tool box and told him if he loses his tools, he is out of luck and will have to replace them himself. A father should never share tools with his kid, it just makes bad blood. My father actually would misplace his own tools, but instead of admitting it he would simply blame me. He is a very Dis-organized person .. That's why I take the effort to keep all my tools cleaned and organized.

I remember speaking with him one time and saying how much easier it is to have sockets separated by size, unlike what he does where his are organized by SAE and Metric (tons of sockets in each drawer). He got mad at me, told me I was calling him a slob. I was simply trying to make a suggestion to him on how I organize my tools because if you need a 10mm socket, instead of searching for 20 minutes in a full drawer of 5mm - 30mm sockets you can look for the label (10 MM) and grab it.

Ugh. We still dont get a long. lol

 

[Motofixxer]

Appreciate the time you have with your Dad no matter what kind of interaction it is. I would love to have any kind of interaction with my Dad good or bad. (His consciousness has been nonexistent for 6 years now, I'm only 33) Life is too short, enjoy it while you can.

 

[bluecomputer]

He doesn't use them much any more but when I ask him if he has a tool or what happened to your "random tool" he says I used to or "you lost it".

 

[Mr_Rich]

I know I lost my share of my father's tools as I was growing up. I still have an adjustable wrench of his that I lost in the yard for a couple of years back in the house I grew up in. It looks rough and took some effort to get to work but I keep it as a memory.

Like the previous posters said even if you can't see eye to eye with the old man, cherish the relationship while you're both still around.

Rich

 

[Busted Bolts]

I've been thinking about getting one of those gizmos that stores have at the door for loss prevention, and have the stickie tabs on all my ****. Then when I wasn't in the shop the alarm and lights would go off signaling an INTRUSION in the shop. LOL I just tell my boys if they loose them then they won't have them when It's time to reduce the inventory or I pass. So far so good, they don't want to spend their money.

 

[simplec6]

Nope, because I didn't lose 'em.

 

[Garys Garage]

When I was a kid we lived in the country with a two car garage. We had a big shed a hundred yards from the house. He would keep all his tool over the work bench on peg board. When I was working on something in the garage I would walk to the shed and get his tools and take them to the garage. When I left to get parts he would take them all and put them away. He would complain that I was losing them. Not sure if I did. One year for Christmas he got me a 100 piece set from sears. I was a happy camper. After I had them all unwrapped he came over and took three sockets from my set and said it was to replace the ones I lost. LOL. Several years later i was at a friends house and he was reorganizing his tools. I looked and he had two of my dads Wright sockets ( dad had ground a big W in all his tools). I snatched them back and reclaimed 2 of my sockets.
Now thirty five years later and my kids are losing mine. What goes around comes around.

 

[zer0cell]

The solution is to beat your child using whatever tool they misplaced.