Unfortunately I even have some of those....Need um to work on my wife's washing machine.I also found a British 3/8-7/16 Withworth box wrench that I don't have any idea where it came from.Must have just creeped into my box!
if they're phiips they're mine. seems like through the years I buy a mix set here and there, but there are only flats in the box.
My problem is that I like the old stuff. Some of which will never be of use in the modern era but I still love 'em!
Every Christmas Sears sells a large screw driver gift set and over the years my kids probably gave me several of them. I have three full drawers in my number 2 roll chest with just screw drivers. I have one drawer full of tools that were made for one off uses, you know the type of heated and bent wrenches so you could reach into a tight space. I made a puller to remove a torque converter from an Austin America in 1973 but if I toss it out who knows.....
I didn't know their was a name for it but it sure happened in my garage. When I was younger I could build anything with a socket and wrench set, a grinder, and oxy. It sure is nice now when you can be working on somethin with your buddies, run into a snag,and have just the tool for that pesky little problem. My true weakness is old school monkey wrenches, can never seem to have enough and they look damn cool.BD
I had the same problem when I lived in dallas. I had a oversized one car garage to work in and too much shit. LUCKILY I was single so I just put the once-in-a-while tools and all the extra crap in the house
I always have to move a tool from my bench in order to work there, the little creeps hate to go home.
I prefer the term "Gear Junkie"...I'm this way with everything I do (hunting, fishing, leather work, etc...) Its natural to want ll the nicest tools, gear, parts, etc. The quest never ends, you will never have enough "gear"
There is also reverse creep. I can never figure out where I lose so many 1/2 inch combination wrenches and sockets. Same with 10 and 13 mm stuff. I am constantly replacing just those sizes out of my tool sets and I rarely find the originals although I know they have to be inside the 4 walls of our shop somewhere. It has to be Gremlins. Don
i have two stages of 'tool creep', first stage is at work [wrench for a living], this is the dangerous stage [3 tool trucks a week show up], this stage is out of control....kinda....well,....maybe not....... stage two is stuff for side work at home, has the same apperance as stage one tool creep, but after close scrutiny, stage two seems to be a bit lighter on the 'one off' tools that you only need once a year, BUT, stage two is also coupled with [my son] 'hey dad, i can't find [insert tool name here], have you seen it?' [me] 'no, did you use it last?' [him] 'ya, probably..' [me] 'guess that's lost forever now...' and off to get a replacement we go.....
I had an old body grinder like that, that I used until last year. My shop flooded and the box it was in was the one thing I didn't get picked up in time. I have a drill about the same vintage as yours that I still use at work for mixing thinset and grout. That testlite is cool!
Those are great stories! I have to agree with all of them, the screw driver issue is something that happens everywhere. I have a drawer full of screw drivers and only one good Philips. It seems that if I don't make a gasket scraper, hot wrench formed pry bar or brake adjuster out of my flat blades I accumulate tons of them. Never seem to have a good Philips though. I feel for the guy who he his shop burn down, I had to put my entire shop in a storage unit, just enough room to get to my tool box, sucks.
I'm having a yard sale in the spring to get rid of some of the extra tools, that I don't use anymore. Like I have 8 14" pipe wrenches.
It is not my fault that I have so many tools. I was sitting in my office one day and looking across the street, I spotted a 8' foot 16 Ga. metal shear. I said to myself, lucky guy, he scored a nice tool. Well it sat there for a few weeks and I wondered why he hadent brought it inside. I had to ask, is it for sale? Yes in the answer! So far, I have figured it has only cost me just a little over $365 for each cut that I have made with it. I guess that I will have to get another project to get the cost per cut down.
I just bought a large Craftsman 14 drawer bottom chest. Was getting tired of my tools being in small toolboxes scattered between the garage, basement, and garden shed. I didn't realize how many screw drivers, pliers, and crescent wrenches I had until I put them all in one place! And I very seldom touch a crescent wrench.
I have the opposite problem. I keep finding out about tools I didnt know I needed until I found out about them...