Such a bonehead mistake I had to start a new thread for it...

[Michael Dunn]

So I had all of my router bits in the nice foam pads designed to hold and protect them. I had a pretty big job several weeks ago in which I thought it might be good to bring them to. Ended up not using them, no big deal. So I put the foam pads in a large Amazon box along with a bunch of misc small parts and hardware from the previous job. Then a few weeks passed and stuff was moved in and out of my van and into the shop and what not.

So my latest job is a guitar modification. I'll detail this in another thread soon. So I reached the point in the process where I need a pattern bit to route for a battery box and a rabbet bit to route for a cavity cover. I searched and searched for my bits.

Being a woodworker and an avid purchaser of all sorts of stuff from Amazon I had several Amazon boxes to be recycled. After sitting down with my head in my hands pondering deeply as to where they could possibly be...

I came to the conclusion that I tossed them ALL out with the recycle trash.

I called Waste Management and they opened a case. The lady said there may be a slight chance of retrieving some of the items since recycle waste is sorted by hand.

So I ordered some new CMT bits today. Just what I need to get by on the next confirmed projects.

ARGH!!!!

[Wade Lippman]

Oh, I can beat that.
After talking about it for over a year, a friend finally gave me a drawing of a bookcase he wanted. Problem was, I was moving and had all my tools for sale. I managed to cut up all the wood, figuring I could finish up with hand tools once I moved.
Half the shelves just disappeared. Just vanished. Poof. I thought it was the guy I hired to help me move, but nothing else was missing and I doubted he would want to steal some butternut shelves.
I remember putting them in a box. Best I can figure is that my wife put some "junk" on top of them, and took the box to goodwill.

I had a happier ending than you did though. I had to pick my son up at college and a guy near there that I found (on another forum far inferior to SMC...) let me use his tools for a few hours and I was able to make new shelves.
But hey, you get all new router bits!

I hope you have better luck with WM than I did. When I moved I kept my service and put stuff out about once a month. After the first month they stopped picking anything up, so I stopped paying them and canceled my service. They said they would credit me as a courtesy, but then called me back and said that if I didn't pay them $15 they would sue me. Yeah, right. So good luck...

[Stephen Cherry]

Just skimmed it. Can't manage to read the whole thing. Hurts just thinking about it.

[Michael Dunn]

What really sucks is the other misc stuff that I can't even remember. When I first packed up for the job in late June I put a whole crapload of misc Festool accessories in there. The. I bought some systainers to store them properly and more cool... (Mmmmm... Kool-Aid...) funny thing is I even bought the router bit systainer, but never got around to putting them in there.

[David Hawxhurst]

so i guess your new cmt bits will reside in the systainer, and not in a amazon box. compared to some i have a relatively small collection of router bits as i buy them as needed for projects.

[Dan Hintz]

ALL boxes get broken down before being placed into recycling bins... avoids such instances from happening. Caught my wife preparing to do such a cleanup... box had just arrived, unopened, and she set it with the recycle pile. One instance was all it took for me to change my behavior on breaking stuff down.

[Michael Dunn]

That's a good practice. I'll now call it my own. Thanx man!!!


ALL boxes get broken down before being placed into recycling bins... avoids such instances from happening. Caught my wife preparing to do such a cleanup... box had just arrived, unopened, and she set it with the recycle pile. One instance was all it took for me to change my behavior on breaking stuff down.

[Larry Fox]

That stinks Michael - hope it doesn't end up costing you too much coin.

I once tore in half and threw in the garbage 10 crisp $100 bills. My habit when cleaning out our mail holder is to tear things in half before throwing them in the trash. What my wife didn't tell me is that was where she put the $$ I asked her to set aside for me for some purchase I was making.

Another example - I am friends with a couple who managed to toss BOTH of their pretty much brand new iPhones in the garbage. They did not get them back.

[Isaac Clarke]

Another example - I am friends with a couple who managed to toss BOTH of their pretty much brand new iPhones in the garbage. They did not get them back.

Apples favorite type of customer ;)

[Don Morris]

You didn't tell your wife did you?

[Don Morris]

Forgot to add, I never tell mine when I do that

[Tom Ewell]

Don't want to leave a box of bits on the roof of the truck and head out to the job site either.

[Michael Dunn]

It's a start... More on the way. T&G and a bull nose for some custom angled stair treads.

[Michael Dunn]

Oh, and a nice rabbet set. All CMT. I've heard those are pretty reputable.

Most of my old bits were Ryobi, some were Bosch, Freud, white side, etc... Overall not a big loss. Fortunately I have a couple good paying projects confirmed. (Yay SketchUp!!!)

[Rick Fisher]

Wow .. what a sad thread.. I cant imagine.. I have a systainer for my bits .. love the organization..

Worst I ever did was leave an envelope in the seat back of a plane which contained $2000 in cash along with my passport.. Oddly neither ever turned up ..

I stuffed them in to get organized.. had a little nap .. got off the plane and left them behind..

[Michael Dunn]

Well, I have the bits I currently need for my next couple projects... Last night I was going to route for a battery box in a guitar for a customer when I suddenly realized one of the other items that I threw away...

My Festool OF-1400 collets. Fortunately I had the 1/2" collet in the chuck at the time. However, the 1/4" and the 8mm did not fare as well. I've never used the 8mm so no biggie. No plans to replace it now. I had to order a new 1/4" from Amazon. Not available for prime though. Bummer!!! $60!!!!!!!! Now I have to wait an undisclosed amount of time...

[John Piwaron]

All? I'm so sorry for you. :( I tremble when I think of the aggregate sum my bits come to. Big money. Big. Money. :( :(


All of my bits reside in slide out shelves in my router table's base. Alternate collets for non-Festool routers are in one of the drawers of a parts bin. Festool collets are in the systainer for the router they go with.

Actually, easy stuff to lose since they're small.

[Mark Bolton]

Well, I have the bits I currently need for my next couple projects...

I wonder why they dont punch the foam out farther towards the edge? You have to carry around that steamer trunk to handle 40 1/2" shank bits? Seems like an awful waste? You can see room for perhaps another 30 or so 1/2" shank bits in there.

Weird that whom ever would unload a sealed amazon box that weighed a-lot... heh, a doozy for sure.

Sounds like a "slow down" moment.

[Michael Dunn]

To clarify, if this is what you were under impression of, the box I threw out was not sealed. It was opened and used for storage temporarily. I foolishly put other empty boxes to be recycled on top of this particular box and then 'recycled' them all.

[Jim Becker]

"D'oh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"