Start the timer.....

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I have a limited number of tools with which I hammer in my shop. I have a rubber mallet, a turned carving mallet, a dead blow hammer and I HAD a 40+ year old Stanley 16 oz. curved claw hammer. In my shed, I have a couple sledge hammers of different weights, a 27 oz. (IIRC) framing hammer, and two roofing hammers (think hachet made for roofing). My dearly appreciated 16 oz. Stanley disappeared a couple weeks ago. I have crawled all over my shop, opened all drawers, looked behind tools, cabinets, under tables and I can't find it. It's the one I use most often when I am building projects. Today I picked up the first load of materials for the shower remodel I am beginning tomorrow. It's stuff I ordered online from HD. The big stuff I had to special order and it's shipping to be delivered to my home. One thing I did pickup as part of the partial order today was a new Estwing 16 oz. claw hammer.


I am sure the Stanley will turn up soon now that I have bought it's replacement!:o:D

[Doug Garson]

It will show up the first time you put a mark on the new one (making it ineligible to return)or the return window on it expires, whichever comes last. :p

[Jim Koepke]

My wife borrows tools and then doesn't put them away. This is a real pain if much time passes before it is needed again. She seldom remembers where she was using it.

jtk

[Ronald Blue]

Isn't that Murphy's Law? Once you purchase a replacement the original will turn up? Usually it's a "oh I forgot I used it there" moment.

[Lee Schierer]

Don't worry Ken, it happens to all of us. I spent a hour yesterday looking for a partial spool of 1/8" braided nylon rope.

You will now have two 16 oz hammers as the original one will miraculously appear in a location where you thought you checked at least a dozen times.

[Jim Becker]

Fortunately...you can never have too many hammers. Well, maybe you can, but... :) :D

[Kevin Jenness]

If I could get back the time spent looking for misplaced tools my hair would be gray instead of white.

I recently had a helper for a day who used one of my earmuffs, which quickly disappeared. I usually go on the assumption that a lost tool will be on a visible horizontal surface and start scanning. A couple of days later I found it on a horizontal surface alright- at the bottom of a 4' high empty veneer box whose top flaps had given way under the muff's weight.

I still think it true that everything has to be somewhere.

[Stan Calow]

I keep a list on a clipboard of all the tools I can't find, and cross them off when they turned up. But now I can't find the list.

[Kevin Jenness]

The shop I used to work at has a signout list for borrowed tools. That cuts down a bit on fruitless searches.

[Malcolm McLeod]

So the progression in my shop goes something like this...
I need to (repair a gutter), so look for hammer in shop, and look, and look, and look - everywhere.
Four hours later, after combing thru the grass outside, I leave to buy a new one.
My father arrives. He looks for hammer in shop, and looks - - in all the same places I looked.
Assuming he lost it, he leaves to buy a new one.
We both arrive back at the shop with a new hammer.
I chastise him for needless trip.
He chastises me for needless trip.
Eight hours into effort, I take MY new hammer and grab the ladder for (repair).
Old hammer, willfully hiding out of sight on top step of 8' ladder, falls off and hits me in the head.
Repair is completed 4 minutes after return from ER.

[Bill Carey]

So the progression in my shop goes something like this...
I need to (repair a gutter), so look for hammer in shop, and look, and look, and look - everywhere.
Four hours later, after combing thru the grass outside, I leave to buy a new one.
My father arrives. He looks for hammer in shop, and looks - - in all the same places I looked.
Assuming he lost it, he leaves to buy a new one.
We both arrive back at the shop with a new hammer.
I chastise him for needless trip.
He chastises me for needless trip.
Eight hours into effort, I take MY new hammer and grab the ladder for (repair).
Old hammer, willfully hiding out of sight on top step of 8' ladder, falls off and hits me in the head.
Repair is completed 4 minutes after return from ER.


Sounds just about right. The only thing I would add is the money lost buying "just one more clamp" while at the tool store.

[Malcolm McLeod]

Sounds just about right. The only thing I would add is the money lost buying "just one more clamp" while at the tool store.

But I'll use the clamps. All of them.:cool:

The hammers, well... SWMBO will throw a heck on an estate sale. I think we've got ~37 claw hammers now. (I'd like to be more precise, but uhm, ...I can't seem to find....). I'll be right back!

[Derek Meyer]

I have about 10 different hammers, but that doesn't stop me from wanting to buy a Stiletto hammer. I have no need for one - I'm just a DiYer, but I'm pretty sure I'll end up with one, just because I think it's cool and I want it. That's how I ended up with a lot of tools, like my laser level and a Kreg Foreman pocket hole machine.

[Bill Dufour]

I have found it difficult to buy a claw hammer. Very few if any for sale mixed in with the claw hammers. I only use the wrong end for pulling nails and a cripping hammer is not designed for that. I use a chisel or crowbar, wonder bar etc if I need a ripping hammer.
I suppose they would be good for lath work or other crude jobs. Lath was gone after ww2 when drywall came out
Bill D

[Bruce Wrenn]

My wife borrows tools and then doesn't put them away. This is a real pain if much time passes before it is needed again. She seldom remembers where she was using it.

jtk


Just the other day, wife said "Let me get MY HAMMER." She comes back with a 22 oz, straight claw, Plumb, framing hammer, that looks just like the one I have been missing for years.