What do you misplace/lose the most?

[Denee007]

I have a horrible time finding my 1/2" and 9/16's sockets! Mostly 1/4" drive,but also 3/8"drive! not so bad with wrenches, but sockets must be where my husbands mismatched socks are!! I need to go to sears and buy a dozen or more of these sizes!

What tool or tools do you misplace the most?

 

[TheGrooveking]

13mm 3/8" drive sockets, don't know why just do.

TheGrooveking

 

[Jack Olsen]

The tape measure used to go missing for long stretches. I guess because it's something you always bring somewhere else. The solution was to buy five from HF and assign three conspicuous shelf spots where one is (should be) always kept.

 

[boomerangg22]

What ever tool I need, and was just in my hands

 

[babzog]

Anything within reach of my kids.

 

[Denee007]

My husband will ask me for a tape measure, i usually have at least two on my workbench~ I tell him just go LOOK! He's says there aren't any there! argh! and sure enough, they're gone/misplaced! Nothing is ever peranently lost, just permanently misplaced! lol Next thing I know, I have 3 or 4~ I don't know where the others came from!
But boomerang~ I can relate~~!! "I just had it in my hand"
or how about this!!!!! I was looking for some needle nose pliers and about to pull my hair out looking for em! and it was in my hand with a couple other tools! Kind of like having sunglasses on top of your head and you can't find em! lol

 

[jduncan459]

Whatever tool I need the most will be the one that goes missing. It's worse right now since we are getting settled our new house and my shop.

 

[chadster1]

My mind.......

 

[I can fix anything]

cell phone and tv remote

 

[db130]

the 6-point 1/2" 19mm socket is always missing when it's time to take the lug nuts off

the "good" spark plug socket that has the rubber insert that stay inside the tool once the spark plug is inside it is always missing

 

[waltmcq]

reading glasses

 

[DRhodes]

My beer. I swear I will be working on something and set it down and I can never seem to remember where I set it.

 

[Davefr]

reading glasses

^^^ definately and they're usually on my head.

 

[RRmech]

Sockets

I would drop one, and OF COURSE, they'd always find the narrow gap between the shop floor, and the train body lift.
They would drop down to that evil dark hole, known as a basement, never to be seen again............................................

Steve

 

[Brad54]

Whatever tool was just in my hand a couple minutes ago.

I've got ten 7/16, 1/2 and 9/16 wrenches on my wall, and at least two of every other size, plus two in the tool box.

I get to the bottom of those three at least once during every project. When I pull the last one off the wall, I stop, pick up my tools, organize a little bit, and start over.

It's just quicker than playing "Hunt for the Wrench" every 15 minutes.

-Brad

 

[eborcim]

money x 10

 

[Theloniousmonk]

10mm sockets, i have 5 in each drive shallow/deep these days just for that reason... they all turn up sooner or later though, and i have a bag full of found 3/8 10mm shallow in bottom drawer also due to my problem.

 

[dabirdguy]

This is a difficult question to answer....
The gremlin that inhabits my shop and hides things takes a fancey to all sorts of tools...

 

[Denee007]

I have found that when I really organize and put things where they belong, I'm a very happy woman! I'm more productive for sure, but then further into what I'm doing, I'm cursed! Frustration evolves and I become counterproductive! So, at least once a week, put things back where they belong~ eventually lost things rematerialize!

Whatever tool was just in my hand a couple minutes ago.

I've got ten 7/16, 1/2 and 9/16 wrenches on my wall, and at least two of every other size, plus two in the tool box.

I get to the bottom of those three at least once during every project. When I pull the last one off the wall, I stop, pick up my tools, organize a little bit, and start over.

It's just quicker than playing "Hunt for the Wrench" every 15 minutes.

-Brad

 

[kams1973]

What ever tool I need, and was just in my hands

I'm that way too! It's funny, I always remember putting it there when I find it.

 

[mrholeshot]

Tape measures and vise grips. I'll be in the middle of a fab job and forget I have 7 pairs of vice grips holding something together in one spot 3 in another and then I reach for a pair and it takes me 20 minutes to figure out where they are. My tape measures have a mind and feet of thier own but can usually be found over making out with the vice grips.

 

[Crizzle]

9 times out of 10 it is the tape measure. ALWAYS the tape measure. If it isn't the tape measure then it is the carpenter's pencil I just had in my hand while LOOKING for the tape measure. And every once in a while I will misplace the drill or piece of wood while trying to find the pencil and or the tape measure.

 

[LEVE]

Everything! I have to have two sets of tools when working. One I'm finding, and the other I'm using... and then the tools change places.

 

[Knipper]

If i'm working on something becasue I want to (scenario a) it's usually the tool i will need after the one i am currently using.

If i'm working on something becasue I have to (scenario b) it's typically my neighbor's respect becuase i just de-flowered his daughter's virgin ears, again. "Why won't this motherf$%@ bolt line up with the GD hole?!". That is usually followed by a brief apology and my walking across the street to retrieve whateve tool i just tossed out the garage door (see scenario a) from my other neighbor's bushes.

 

[PaulR]

safety glasses, and I usually find them by stepping on them.

I have doubles of most stuff: wrenches(goes without saying), tape measures, safety glasses. When I lose one, rather than go nuts all over the garage I just go for the second one.

 

[chadster1]

When I lose one, rather than go nuts all over the garage I just go for the second one.

The problem with that for me, is that my truck is parked in the driveway.

 

[littlekillertoad]

Mostly it's whatever was in my hand last. Lately though, it's been #2 philips screwdrivers.

 

[Kev442]

10mm sockets, i have 5 in each drive shallow/deep these days just for that reason... they all turn up sooner or later though, and i have a bag full of found 3/8 10mm shallow in bottom drawer also due to my problem.

I'll +1 the 10mm. Thank god they are on the 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 rails. I always have all three in play on every project. Sometimes I'm into a whole second group when I'm really messy.

 

[ihredo4]

Its usually the socket or wrench that I drop while laying on a creeper holding something heavy up under my truck. How I manage to drop the item gets me but then how it ends up directly underneath the creeper really gets me.

The worst one was when I was working on my Datsun 310. I was working on the back of the engine with a 14mm polished CM wrench. I think putting the manifold back on after a head gasket. Any way doing everything by feel when the wrench flips out of my hand and I hear the tink of metal on metal but never hear the metal off cement. I looked EVERYWHERE for that GD wrench. I finished putting that together figuring it was hung up on the chassis some where and it would fall out in a block or two. Fast forward about 10 years my muffler goes bad so I pull the down pipe and hear a rattle IN the exhaust pipe. Guess what I find? A beautifully heat treated, polished with a golden bronze colored 14mm CM wrench. How that SOB that is 6 inch long flipped thru the air only to go straight down that exhaust pipe I will never now. It has a well deserved spot in my box with a nice story to tell.

 

[bsaint]

Panel keys

 

[JayL]

Pencils when woodworking. During a WIP ( work in progress ) I notice that I involuntarily distribute a few around the work area but then I still find myself looking for one when it's needed. Maybe I need to do something about this. Thanks for reminding me.

 

[woody 73]

I would vote on the pencils and tape measure, I put them down turn around and they are lost. six weeks later in 20 different places I will find 20 pencils and at least that many tape measures.

 

[lowbucktruck]

My carpenter's pencil while I'm woodworking (usually tucked behind my ear instead of in my apron pocket)... my grease pencil or chalk... my favorite pair of safety glasses (oh, they're perched on my hat brim)... and I seem to have misplaced my beer... darn it, I'm thirsty too!

 

[ImportTuner]

My glasses; I take them off to look at something close and don't remember where I put them afterwards ..

 

[OldCarGuy]

My mind.......

Of all the things I've lost, it's my mind I miss the most...

.

 

[bczygan]

My beer. I swear I will be working on something and set it down and I can never seem to remember where I set it.

My cans of pop. I just found one that I put down on a workbench last summer! I was disappointed that the fizz was gone.....

 

[Griff93]

My mind.......

That's the first thing I thought when I saw this post as well.

I usually misplace my tape measure or dial calipers. I have three of each floating around my shop just for this reason. I seem to misplace my sharpies and gloves a lot as well.

 

[usdemt]

7/16ths combo wrenches. I have bought so many but putting in Dish Network systems I always have 2 on me yet I go through a dozen a year leaving them behind receivers and such. Or my boss likes to put them in his pocket, every now and then he comes to work and hands me 3 or 4 that have been sitting on his dresser from him pocketing.

Also I do mainly 12v wiring, for whatever reason I will be working with a stripper, crimper, dykes, and a #2 phillips and when I go for one I just put down it takes me 2 minutes to find where the stupid thing fell to or is hiding. I usually have to get up stand back and look to find the stupid thing.

 

[KCarGuy]

My Regular Glasses.
I always take them off when I am working, or to put safety glasses on.
I set them down and always forget where I put them...of course it help to be able to see well when your looking for them again!
I am Far sighted, so I hate them when I work, eat, read or Draw!

 

[Theloniousmonk]

once misplaced a xzn during a head job on a mb, looked all over for it when ready to throw the head bolts back in - long story short; I had "placed" it on the #4 cyl. for "safe keeping" while moving things around, forgot about it and threw the head back on the block - good thing I had only 1 at the time or I would have torqued the bolts down and fired her up... jeeze. at least i don't do surgery.

I also misplace my pint o guinness when doing work at home (probably the only guy in the neighborhood that leaves a pint glass in the yard after mowing)