Tools you have forgotten

[lowell holmes]

Do you have tools you have forgotten?

I do, I just found a Mortise Pal jig I had forgotten about in my closet.
I have not used it in years, maybe because I tend to chop mortises with chisels.
I really don't do mortise and tenon joints much as I use to.

I probably should put it on the auction site.

[Peter Christensen]

I don't remember.

[Ron Kellison]

I've been running a large project in Abu Dhabi for most of the last 3 years. When I get time away from the project I'm usually doing some sort of traveling with my wife e.g., visiting the kids who live down in the States or just going to a cottage for a few days of fishing and relaxing. I'm sure that when I actually get back into the shop I'll find that all my old tools are like new tools! I just hope I remember how to use them!
:)

[Bill Dindner]

Loads. Every few months I look through my tool storage and always find things I forgot about. Worst thing is buying twice. I've done it more than a few times.

[Jerry Miner]

My problem is that I remember I have the tool, I just don't remember where I put it!

[Bill Berklich]

Loads. Every few months I look through my tool storage and always find things I forgot about. Worst thing is buying twice. I've done it more than a few times.


So true! I bought a new lathe chuck "On Sale" from Woodcraft thinking of a specific project I wanted to use it on. I got it then broke the lathe out of the chest and found the exact same one I had bought several years earlier still in its box. To my defense I haven't seen the lathe in a very long time due moves and no real need - it's been in the shipping crate.

[John McClanahan]

My problem is that I remember I have the tool, I just don't remember where I put it!

I have that problem a lot. Seems to be getting worse!

[lowell holmes]

It happens if you live long enough:)

[Andrew Pitonyak]

My problem is that I remember I have the tool, I just don't remember where I put it!

I put forward for your consideration, that this problem is much better than...... remembering that you have the tool, remembering where you put the tool, but, when you go to get the tool, you forget what you are there to get.

"I know I came in here to get something......."

For me, it is more likely to be.... "Hey, I have this tool, and I always keep it in that container.... but I can't find it now, Did I sell it, give it away, or fail to put it away last time I used it?"

My inner hoarder wants me to keep everything. My small shop wants me to get rid of everything that I don't use on a regular basis.

[William Adams]

Yeah, this has gotten to be something of an agonizing thing for me ---still trying to work out which tools to put in what toolchest using what logic. Currently have:

- small bag ostensibly for my bike handlebars which I have all my precious small tools which are sturdy enough to carry regularly
- small tool roll for my other most frequently used tools (Stanley Odd Jobs and brass-bound folding, pliers, Felo T-handle 1/4" driver, brass gunsmithing hammer w/ screwdrivers in handle, small saw, 4-in-1 rasp, Schroeder Yankee screwdriver, Lufkin tape measure)
- small cigar box w/ the delicate precision measuring tools I have of my father (Brown & Sharpe Micrometer, Mitutoyo caliper) and various other tools which were intended for working on my first CNC: https://www.shapeoko.com/wiki/images/5/53/Wfa-so-toolbox.jpg
- coffin toolbox which I'm currently putting all my bike and electrical tools in
- Craftsman machinist toolbox for sockets (except for the ones in the coffin toolbox --- see the problem?) and other mechanical and metalworking tools (except for the set of punches hanging on the pegboard)
- 3 different woodworking toolboxes, a small open one w/ a pair of closed boxes in it, a medium sized joiners chest w/ most of the drills and bits in it, and a large chest which I'm keeping all the planes and everything else except
- all the stuff hanging on the pegboard

Seriously thinking I'm going to bag the three woodworking chests and switch over to a hanging tool cabinet in my living room, and a small combination woodworking bench / toolbox which I need to design and build to hold _everything_ else for woodworking.

[Mike Cutler]

I found a dado set I don't remember buying. A pretty nice one too.
I always forget that I have a router MicroFence, until after I've made a jig to perform it's basic function. :o

[rudy de haas]

Not yet - but I do something related to the discussion. Sometimes I'll need something (cheap and small) I know I have but can't find and so will go buy new instead of looking for it. Last week I needed some light wire and I know i have some, somewhere...

[Charles Wiggins]

My problem is that I remember I have the tool, I just don't remember where I put it!

Ditto! Or I never put them into service and don't have time when I "need" them. I have a Incra TS miter gauge that I won like three years ago. Still in the box.

[Darcy Warner]

I found a 24" planer the other day I had forgotten about.

[Jerome Sidley]

When I was packing up the old shop to move here I found quite a few things that were must haves unopened, and some I don't even remember the projects I needed them so badly for.

[Brandon Speaks]

I moved just under 2 years ago. I quickly unpacked maybe 10% of my tools, the ones I used the most but the rest are in rubber made totes in my basement. Also 3-4 totes of tools from my dad that I dont even know what is in there.

I just finished setting up my shops (basement shop for some operations and 1/2 garage for others) and my project for the weekend is to sort through and put away all of them. So by Sunday I should have a long list.

I will also likely have tons to either sell, donate, or throw away.

[Brian Lefort]

I just uncovered a brand new set of plug cutters I purchased and promptly forgot about.

[Gene Takae]

I found a 24" planer the other day I had forgotten about.


:eek: You must have a huge shop!

[Darcy Warner]

:eek: You must have a huge shop!

Up to 8k sqft now. All sorts of places to loose things.

[John Gulick]

I suppose all the above is good, has anybody woken up with a different wife ??

[Keith Weber]

I suppose all the above is good, has anybody woken up with a different wife ??

I have... a few times. Turns out she had schizophrenia. It was a short marriage!

[Johanna Johanson]

It's so annoying to open a drawer and find a tool you just replaced! I try to stay organized, but it's a losing battle.

[Johanna Johanson]

I found a 24" planer the other day I had forgotten about.
I believe you just won the prize for the biggest forgotten tool. Hard to misplace one of those!

[Mike Schnorr]

I moved 4 1/2 years ago and it is like Christmas around here every time I open a box and find something I forgot I owned. At this rate I'm going to need a bigger shop to house all of them!

[Mike Cutler]

I actually just found another one.
I bought a Keen Kutter Miter, and saw, many years ago from a fellow Creeker'.
Just this week I needed to cut a bunch of small 1/4" square parts from ebony. I actually started making a miter box jig to cut the parts with a backsaw, when I remembered that I already had one. First time I'd ever used it. Worked really well too.

[Chris Hachet]

I ahve purged my shop of most of what I do not use, so no, I do not.

[paul cottingham]

I have a signifant head injury, but despite that i dont have (many) duplicates. Just chisels. And hammers. On and saws.

[al heitz]

If it's small tools, I don't mind (often prefer) redundancy because I don't want to go to the basement for a project in the garage, etc. So I have a number of duplicates wherever I need them. My problem is knowing I "have" something (especially if it's the only one I have) but dear family has loaned it and never thought about getting it back. If I need it, I buy a new one and the loaner can go chase the missing items.