Projects WHERE ARE MY TOOLS?

Tools I got, no problem there ... what I want to know is where the damn hydro parts went, and how my '54 235 block ended up with a '56 up main cap on the thrust ...

 

I change a fender on an OT car, had to use my 9/16 deep SnapOn socket and a swivel, both of them left in the car…I knew it, but couldn’t get to them, with the socket or swivel blocked access to the bolt when I tried to take the fender off again.
I still think about that from time to time.

 

Gravity places all my tools onto the same plain...I simply sweep them into a pile and go-a-rootin'. Sometimes I even find what I'm looking for.

 

THIS! Unless I am under the car.

Ben

 

I can identify! And it doesn’t alleviate the problem by adding more of either.

Years ago, I was at Sears and being a tool junkie, like a lot of you HAMBers , bought a set of Craftsman metric (gasp) combo wrenches. Was sure proud of myself for having the foresight to tackle ANY metric-based car that would have been foolish enough to enter my shop.

Looking for a place in the Snap-on rollaway to store the new treasure, I opened a lower drawer and found an almost new set of S-K Wayne metric combo wrenches.
What? The? Heck?
The only plus was that one set had a wrench that the other didn’t.
They sure look nice, tho’

 

I found it at the last place I look, if I could only look there first

 

I got lost one time so I went out to look for myself and figured that If I returned before I got back that I would ask myself to wait...

 

I worked as a line mechanic for a few years also . It has never left me as Bones described : everything has its place , and is in its place in the tool box before the day in the garage is done .

Working on the pipeline truck , same thing tools and gloves . I had mine for years and years , loose your gloves and it was a trip to the blood bank for sure .

 

Used to know a guy who had so much unorganized crap piled in his garage and workshop that he could never find any of his tools. It was easier for him to go up the street to the hardware store to buy another wrench than to find one (or possibly several) that he already had.

 

I never had a problem with loosing tools when I was working in shops as a mechanic for a living and every tool had it's spot in the tool box. I used a yard sale TV tray to set my wrenches on next to what ever car I was working on rather than set anything on the car. I used it for years until JD Fikes decided that he could set a pair of Chevy heads on it one day. Then I had to go hunt for another one.

I have a plastic tray out of the top of a smaller tool box that I snagged at Habitat for a buck or two that I put my wrenches and sockets in, carry them to the car to work on it and put them back in the tray when I go to set them down. That is a big help. Cleaning out my one car garage to the walls would probably let me find about 200 lost tools though. That thing is such a mess that every time I leave the doors open Fema workers stop with their clipboards and start asking about the damage.

 

Dana Barlow's "Tool Gremlins" and Mimilan's time pie chart hit the nail on the head for me, also when working on my cars I can't see tools after I set them down. I have lots of tools, Way above the norm and when I clean up after a project I will have several multiple same size wrenches/sockets/whatevers, also as a side note I have bought MANY screwdrivers, all types, side cutters, pliers, replacement small sockets as that Tool Gremlin must live with me.

 

I have my most used hand tools hanging on the wall above my bench, this allows me to see what’s missing. However during the coarse of a project they get scattered around the shop and when I can’t find one I know it’s time to have a few adult beverages, clean up and start over again.

 

Six months ago I got promoted to Service Manager at work and my giant Mac toolbox came home to my farm shop. I still work on stuff at home on the weekends. It’s been cold here for a month or so, and I’ve been working on my Harleys in the basement. Last weekend I went out to the farm shop to change the oil in the wife’s Caravan and couldn’t remember where the socket for the oil filter was in my work toolbox. I worked everyday out of that box for 23 years, and a month later I had to look through the drawers for that special socket. They say the mind is the first thing that goes……

 

At work I try to put the tools back in the box after every job so I can find any that are missing but at home its not like that.

 

Starting to worry about you. Really looked forward to the " beer of the day ".

 

Because you have those clear acetate handled Craftsman screwdrivers from Sears. They break down and off-gas that stink. Using solvent to clean them makes it worse.

 

OK, I see you're organized... at least we can see the bottom of the drawers. Any photos of my tool boxes would look like a total nightmare! And no, I can't see the bottoms of my drawers.

 

Back in the 90s I overhauled my Dads 351, in his OT Farm truck. When I pulled the intake off there was a pair of needle nose pliers in the valley pan! I thought what a dumb ass the last guy was , that was in that engine! ……..Then remembered ….I did all my Dad’s work!

I still have those pliers!




Bones

 

Sockets.. :

 

Well, this thread has been most welcome! Really reduces my level of Shame!

Like going to a meeting of "Cluttered Shop Anonymous" ......Phew!!

Really therapeutic......Thanks, Guys

Ray

 

It would help if I would/could work on one thing at a time. I have the wiring on my truck about 80% done, am rebuilding a 350 that I picked up for $40 to swap into it, the snowblower died so I have it 1/2 apart and my better half wants me to work in her office a couple of days this week. There are tools in too many places, I am going to take a day and put as many away as I can, clean up the various work areas, and clean out/organize my trucks this week.

 

Let us know how that goes

 

I have no choice, I have to get everything off her Miata before she feels it is warm enough to come out to see the car in the garage, or I will be sleeping there!

 

So run out and take pics of what you are going to clean up. Then next Saturday show the after pics. I’m just bustin on ya!

 

LOL...sadly, my mind was the second thing to go...

 

I worked out of one of those small Craftsmen tote boxes for years. Everything just piled in on top of everything else, you need a certain wrench you took 10 minutes to dig it out. Then I got a used 6 drawer upper box and two drawer bottom box with a large door for tall stuff. Was able to separate wrenches and sockets and plyers, but everything was still a mess. Wife got me a three drawer Craftsmen middle box at a scratch and dent sale at Sears, so again I separated tools and spread them out. Worked OK for a while, but after a few yard sale and flea market buys of full boxes, again I was out of room and unorgainzied. So, I broke down and bought a mid sized rolling box, and again, sorted tools by type and size. I kept the top and mid boxes as well, putting them on top of the roller.

Guess what? I'm out of space again! After culling a bunch of crap tools and keeping the best, most in multiples, the wrenches and socket drawers look pretty good. The plyars and screwdrivers look OK, too. It's the larger stuff, my air tools, electric and battery powered tools, and specialized stuff like pullers and AC stuff that I don't have enough room for. When I need my jigsaw or my nail gun, I have to remember where I stuck them!

Guess I'll have to get another rolling box. It can go beside the old fridge full of welding stuff I guess. Even the two old mini fridges under my work table are full. Not to mention the old kitchen cabinets on the wall. I've got too much stuff!

 

One of these in each car and one roll a way at home and you are set. $29 at Harbor Freight

 

I have an uncle who was a tv repair man. Back in the seventies he gave my mother and I a console tv he had fixed. Some time later it quit working so he came to fix it and found a flashlight he left inside it 5 years prior.