Missing tool...hope I'm not alone!

[Sevenhills1952]

Curious how often this happens. Either out of the blue or because you need something and you know you had one but can't find it?
Last year I completely organized all my tools, put labels on tool cabinet drawers, everything clean and organized. Anything missing I ordered and replaced. Then I'll think of something I need, I'm 100% sure I had one and it's missing.
Curious how often that happens, you spend hours looking and it drives you crazy! Lots of times it will be something sentimental or odd, something you can't replace.[emoji848]

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[DadsTools]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

Old school Klein lineman pliers, the big size, needed it.Wife and I searched high and low, behind benches, tool chests, furniture. Gone. Looked at the prices on new Kleins...no way, not even as good as the old ones IMO. Whimpered down to HF to look through a whole row of them to find two barely acceptable, and lived with it.

Couple years later, my wife decided the pasture fence needed a little work. She has a room in the barn where she keeps those materials.

 

[Higgins]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

When in doubt, just go order a replacement. Not worth the grief and aggravation to ones self !! When and if you find the ordinal, you now have a spare!

 

[PelicanPines]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

It's why I own 3 to 5 of many many tools. Plus I used to own 3 houses... Never remembered where something was... so I just bought another after 10 minutes of looking.

NOW... I have 72 drawers... ALL labelled... Everything is together with their brothers.

I did give away a few copies of things to needy relatives and friends.

It's also why I'm a LABEL FREAK now. Seriously...

 

[plinker]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

There are times where I know I have something, but have not needed it in a considerable amount of time and end up rediscovering a number of other things when looking. Not usually a problem if said item actually get put back where it is supposed to go. Tape measures & utility knives are their own separate problem/topic.

This weeks adventure,
I brought home my m12 ratchet last friday to put a bed cover on a truck. Afterwards I set it with some other stuff to take to work monday. Monday happens and I forgot to bring it. Ok tuesday then. Forgot it again and then later that day went looking for it as it wasnt where I thought it was. Didnt find it. Now I'm getting annoyed because I kinda need it at work.

Today, searched at work and home plus vehicles and didnt find it. Turns out it was in a storage van I have and once I found it remembered why it was in there (some project that never happened on sunday). Mystery solved. :facepalm

 

[RTM]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

Yeah, the joys of multiple tools.

Unfortunately, I am searching for my thread ID tool, no idea which corner of the garage I was using it in.

Finally found my container of the blue metal polish, after looking for weeks. What the heck was it doing in the Laundry Room. (Besides being en route to the garage?)

 

[ssdave]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

.....

 

[bczygan]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

I know where everything in my house is..................It's in my house!

Bill

 

[LeeG]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

I have an inventory app on my phone. I have probably 95% of my stuff entered on it, and usually do a good job of keeping the locations accurate. It also forces me to have a "home" for everything. So at times like this when I am in the midst of a reorganization from a large machine purchase (mill), a bunch of stuff lost their homes, so I am trying to it it all in.

I need a tesseract to fit everything into my space.

 

[oldwino]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

Now that I’m working at home and not in the field I never seem to misplace tools. I’m not really that organized but I do work out of my box and put things back when I’m done

I even know where my 10mm socket is

 

[Gotcha640]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

I think it totally depends on how spread out your world is. Right now, I have my "real" tools totally organized in my tool chest, because I'll be recovering from surgery for another 4 months and I needed to know they were put away and available in case my dad comes to work on the house or the cars in that time.

When I'm working on the race car at my neighbors house, half my tools are in bags in his garage, meticulously tagged with mustache duct tape by his wife as they come out of the bag. His gear has orange stripes, hers has purple camo (she's the only one with a 3/4 inch breaker bar and sockets).

My daughters buy me American flag combo screw drivers from the school store every Christmas. I think I have them in my desk at home, at work (haven't been to the plant in 6 months), bathroom, kitchen, and coffee table, but I don't keep track of them. Some things I have enough that one or two can go missing for a bit and come back later, no biggie.

I keep meaning to replace the gearwrench ratcheting 16mm that seems to be missing, but I can't remember what I used it on, and I have two others, so it's hard to spend the money.

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

Never really happens to me because I don’t let anything get unorganized in my toolbox whether it be at home or work. I did have a set of sockets setting out that I was piecing together at home from the pawn shop and my dog knocked the rail off and spilt them everywhere and I didn’t find the 8 or 9mm unfortunately at least it wasn’t the 10mm though but now I am extremely bothered because I can’t stand blank spaces in the socket rail I have more sockets in 1/4 drive it’s just I want them to be the same ones I lost


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[Danglerb]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

Part of getting older, can't find what you are sure you have 2 or 3 of. I think it actually gets worse the more organized your tools are.

 

[darkzero]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

Get rid of any 1018. If you have Cold Rolled Steel around you'll get infected with Can't Remember ****.

I'm usually pretty good at remembering where I put things but sometimes I'll forget what I have. I had a 5/8" carbide end mill go missing once. Got to the point where I started to think I never had one, ended purchasing another one. A year later I found the container for it but empty. Turns out I put into a clear tube for easier indentification. Another year goes by & I found the damn thing in my box of acid brushes which is no where near where I store end mills. How the damn thing ended up in there I still have no idea.

 

[lardy1]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

I am an ******* when it comes to my shop and tools. I spent countless hours organizing and storing tools & material after I built the building. I hate looking for things. My lady is a semi experienced wrench with a machining background. No stranger to tools. But, here;s the thing. If you don't take care of the shop or home tools when done with them, you don't get to use them anymore. Buy another and put it in your box. You look all over hell for yours because you didn't take care of it. I know where mine is (usually).

I don't play that ****. That and every flat surface in the building occupied because it was a convenient place to set something down and walk away.

 

[bdbecker]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

I used to always read threads like this and laugh to myself about how you guys always seem to be losing stuff. Then, a month or two ago, I could not find my dial indicator. How the heck do you lose something like that? I know where I was using it last, but cannot for the life of me figure out where it ended up. Not a huge deal, its just a cheapy from HF. I think what bugs me more is that I can't figure out what happened to it. Now that I've got another one, I suppose its just a matter of time before the old one turns up.

 

[McFarmer]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

I’m 66, been on the farm all my life. I can think of three tools I’ve lost. A sears hammer I’m sure my son left somewhere on a fence line. A sears pocket knife I know I left on a grain drill over 40 years ago. (I know the spot, I still look when there), a Craftsman 9/16 combo that when into a grain truck, but not before poking a hole in the auger tube and a sweet pair of Klein pliers.

Those pliers were old and I’ve never seen a pair like them, the one handle was bent the other way, made it very comfortable to use but they had to be used that one way.

Still miss those.

 

[Sevenhills1952]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

I had this double Cresent wrench, and spending hours looking. I have I guarantee 40 adjustable wrenches every size, but this was unique. Maybe I'll find it someday unless someone here needed it more than me.

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[Noworries]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

I’m 66, been on the farm all my life. I can think of three tools I’ve lost. A sears hammer I’m sure my son left somewhere on a fence line. A sears pocket knife I know I left on a grain drill over 40 years ago. (I know the spot, I still look when there), a Craftsman 9/16 combo that when into a grain truck, but not before poking a hole in the auger tube and a sweet pair of Klein pliers.

Those pliers were old and I’ve never seen a pair like them, the one handle was bent the other way, made it very comfortable to use but they had to be used that one way.

Still miss those.

Bent like this??? Not even sure where I got these but in those rare times I need slip-joints, these are the ****

 

[joe_padavano]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

The easiest, fastest way to find a lost tool is to buy a replacement. That guarantees that the original will immediately materialize at your feet. The most recent incident of this phenomena happened about a week ago. As I was putting away all my tools after completing a repair, one of my C-man combo wrenches was MIA. I looked everywhere for it. Finally gave up. That night, I searched ebay for a replacement and purchased one with Buy It Now. About half an hour after clicking "BUY", I found the original.

 

[McFarmer]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

Bent like this??? Not even sure where I got these but in those rare times I need slip-joints, these are the ****

Similar but the entire bottom handle was the same as the top. In other words looking at them from the side both handles had the same curve.

 

[AA/FC]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

I know where everything in my house is..................It's in my house!

Bill

Same here. I know EXACTLY where everything is...... but I'm very forgetful. Lol. Once I find what I'm looking for, I will then remember setting it there the last time I used it.

 

[seber]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

Long term is not a big problem but short term wow. I have a habit of putting something down while I'm using it, turn around and can't find it 60 second later. Some days I'll do that five or six times. It can take ten or fifteen minutes to come up with something I lost 30 seconds ago. I hate getting old.

 

[Kevdynamitre]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

I put my tools away immediately at the completion of a job at work. At home, i may leave the tools I'm using for a project in a homer bucket in the workshop so I can pick it back up the next day. Even still, I need to put them back at the end of a project. The only things I tend to lose are pen lights that I keep in my pocket. I'm on the 4th light now, same model and everything. If I so much as lose a 1/4" Phillips bit, I'll dwell on it it all week. I spent 2 days last week loosely looking for and thinking about a cheap pair of wiss snips I couldn't find. I finally remembered cutting something and the blade shattering the last time I used them.

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[Ton ton]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

All the time unfortunately.

 

[Wrench97]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

This is why I have 10 tape rulers and 6 10mm sockets.......................

 

[Downwindtracker 2]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

When I was young I had a powerful photographic memory. I could leave things in mess and know where I left it years later. Now there are times when I can't remember where I left it half a hour later. I'm learning to put away. I saves facing that fear of oldtimers.

 

[Sevenhills1952]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

Long term is not a big problem but short term wow. I have a habit of putting something down while I'm using it, turn around and can't find it 60 second later. Some days I'll do that five or six times. It can take ten or fifteen minutes to come up with something I lost 30 seconds ago. I hate getting old.

A friend my age 68 went to his doctor about this. His doctor said not knowing where you put your car keys is ok...picking them up not knowing what they're FOR is a problem [emoji38].

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[Woodetal]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

Just found the missing oscillating tool that I replaced. Looked everywhere. Found it in a box that I know I did not place it in. Replaced with a HF tool. Now I have two....

 

[TailGunner3000]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

Surely you guys are aware of the dreaded shop gremlin. He is a relative of the house gremlin who steals single socks from the dryer and ensures all your pairs of gloves are left handed only.

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

Surely you guys are aware of the dreaded shop gremlin. He is a relative of the house gremlin who steals single socks from the dryer and ensures all your pairs of gloves are left handed only.

That’s why I keep my gloves both work gloves and rubber gloves locked in my toolbox lol [emoji23] I can’t stand people who just take one glove that drives me insane even though they are provided for us we each get our own box


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[m6z]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

I've started asking the wife first. She's always rearranging things in the house.

The garage is safe, but if I bring something into the house there's a chance she "put it away" for me.

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[Semi-hole mechanic]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

This spring I replaced a couple of brake lines on my '93 f150 and could not find my 3/8 combo wrench that I was using on the bleeders. Looked all over the driveway and couldn't find them. Ordered a replacement from ebay. The day after the replacement was delivered I was backing out of the drive to leave for work and see something shiny in the gravel in my mirror. I swear I walked past it everyday for about a week. Pretty sure I didn't see it because I was looking for it.

 

[ovilla]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

I don’t really lose my own stuff but I’m starting to forget who I loaned stuff to. So, what I do now is take a pic of anybody borrowing a tool - yes, a pic of them holding up the tool(s) they borrowed. It works! Try it!

 

[ovilla]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

Oh I’ve lost my battery charger more times than I can count - in my own garage. My garage was a mess so I kept moving stuff around, including the charger. I finally said screw it and put up a new wall cabinet right by the big garage doors. Now all the stuff I use all the time is right there.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

I know I have a couple of duplicates because I "lost" a tool that I needed for a job. Of course it turned up later !

I just "found" my second set of slip joint pliers. They have been hiding in the wrong drawer for a couple of months. (First set are Dad's. One of the few tools I rescued after the neighbors picked through his tool box.)

 

[bwringer]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

No, here's the real scientific answer to this:

Tools get lonely and depressed, then they hide.

The only way to bring them out of hiding is to buy them a friend of the same type of tool.

Then they get happy and come out of hiding in order to meet the new friend.

It's all quite logical.


I have covered my environs with dozens of tape measures, Phillips screwdrivers, and pairs of magnifying glasses to ensure I can find one when needed. I also have a large assortment of 10mm tools.

The tools have lots of friends, so they're happy, they don't get depressed and hide, and so there's always one visible when I need it.

 

[BD1]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

No, here's the real scientific answer to this:

Tools get lonely and depressed, then they hide.

The only way to bring them out of hiding is to buy them a friend of the same type of tool.

Then they get happy and come out of hiding in order to meet the new friend.

It's all quite logical.


I have covered my environs with dozens of tape measures, Phillips screwdrivers, and pairs of magnifying glasses to ensure I can find one when needed. I also have a large assortment of 10mm tools.

The tools have lots of friends, so they're happy, they don't get depressed and hide, and so there's always one visible when I need it.

Above is, the answer. You need multiple of everything . By having many duplicates you don't have to remember where you left one.
[emoji23]


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[bdbecker]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

This spring I replaced a couple of brake lines on my '93 f150 and could not find my 3/8 combo wrench that I was using on the bleeders. Looked all over the driveway and couldn't find them. Ordered a replacement from ebay. The day after the replacement was delivered I was backing out of the drive to leave for work and see something shiny in the gravel in my mirror. I swear I walked past it everyday for about a week. Pretty sure I didn't see it because I was looking for it.

Don't feel too bad about that... When we were kids, my Dad couldn't find his binoculars and was asking us kids what we did with them. We had no idea because we didn't take them, but he suspected us anyway. Fast forward nearly a year, one day I notice the binoculars sitting on this big rock that was near one of our outbuildings. This rock was maybe 30' from the driveway, and fully visible from the garage, shop, house, etc. We'd all walked/driven by the binoculars probably hundreds of times - literally hiding in plain sight for nearly a year. When I told Dad where I found them, he then remembered that he was looking at some deer in our grove of trees and must have set them down. I'll give it to the 1970's era Bushnell binocular quality - even after sitting outside for a year, the glass was (still is) crystal clear.

 

[Robbie B]

Re: Missing tool...hope I'm not alone![emoji38]

I’ve been majorly suffering from this lately. I’m in the midst of organizing my shop and integrating my late brother’s tools in with what I have. I’ve had a lot of projects this year and with the chaos in the shop and so much going on I have to hunt for most everything at this point. Most of it’s still there somewhere, except the 10mm who knows where it is. I’m hoping when it cools off and this damn chicken coop is built I’ll run my power and organize my building.