And there it was

[Mike Schwing]

I installed the Bosch 1617EVS router in the table/lift that came with the cabinet saw, but at the time I mostly only had 1/4" router bits, so I installed, of course, the 1/4" collet. I put the 1/2" away for future use. My first router - my grandfather's 45 or so years old Sears router was my first and it only had a 1/4" collet, so I had accumulated a good number of 1/4" bits.

Started buying only 1/2" router bits and soon had a good sized collection. Wanted to start using them - that danged 1/2" collet could not be found. I spent TONS of time looking for it. No good. Figured I threw it out with something, started looking for a new one. Posted on WC about where to buy one, even went to a few websites looking to order, but something kept me from actually buying.

I finally gave up and decided to put the PC 690 in the router table, since I had the 1/2" for that one. Took the lift out, took it apart, got out the PC router from storage and then went to the documentation drawer to look for the proper mounting holes to use for the PC - AND THERE IT WAS, sitting in the baggie with the router lift documentation.

So I took the whole danged thing apart for nothing. 'course I cleaned it up while it was there....

[Noah Alkinburgh]

Oh man, I know exaclty what you mean. The other night I needed my compass to lay out a radius. Its not where I think that it belongs. I spent two evenings cleaning trying to find it. (on a positive I got a lot of shavings, sawdust, and trash out.) Still nothing. I go to buy one but decide to wait, work on something else and pick up a cloth I have on the window sill and there it is. I looked at that window sill in the first 5 minutes of my search and said to myslef, "Nah I wouldn't have put it there". DOH :B

Noah

[Mike Schwing]

Oh yeah, I can't find my compass either!

Thanks for sharing, I'm glad I'm not the only one.

[Keith Starosta]

That happened to me with my depth gauge. I had used it, put it where I just knew I would find it again in a moments notice. next thing I know...it's gone. Or so I thought. My seven year old son came out into the shop while I was tearing things apart and asked what I was looking for. Just to "appease" him, I showed him a picture of the guage and said, "If you find it, I'll give you five dollars." Not five minutes later he came walking back to me with the guage in one hand, his other hand held out open in front of him, and a big 'ol smile on his face. Gotta love that boy... :D

Keith

[Jim Becker]

Yesterday, I couldn't find the brand new countersinks I had recently purchased. I looked and looked, but no joy. So I pulled out the old ones and started working. Partway through, I went back to the drawer for a different drill bit, and there they were. Those countersinks were right there in plain sight and in exactly the same place I already looked several times. Sheesh!!

[Dan Stuewe]

I haven't been able to find the flashlight that came with my cordless drill for about a year now. Worse, it had a battery in it, so I only have one battery. There is a complete set on ebay, but I know once I pay for it, that flashlight will re-appear!

[Dave Arbuckle]

There is a complete set on ebay, but I know once I pay for it, that flashlight will re-appear!

That's the only way I can find a lost item too, Dan. Frankly, I think these other guys who are finding things without buying the replacement are violating some Law of Nature, probably going to come back to haunt them... ;)

Dave

[Phil Phelps]

...course now they are duplicates and I can't find either one of "em!!!

[Tom Sweeney]

My "shop" is in such a state of disarray right now that on Sunday I walked out of my house to work in the shop . . .

. . . AND I COULDN'T FIND IT! :p :D ;)

Sorry I couldn't resist - but the shop really is a royal mess from just throwing all my tools in there when I got back from my trip to W VA. :rolleyes:

[Mac McAtee]

Well, I think I can top all the stories so far.

About 25 years ago I purchased a Disstion Back Saw. It had a brass back. I bought it in an Antique/Junk store in Savannah, Ga. where I was living at the time. I paid $35 for it. It had come out of an old Victorian house that was being torn down. Who ever put it in the store had found it inside the stair casing when it was being torn down. The house had been built in 1890.

The guy that sold it to me almost choked when I told him I was buying it to use, not to hang on the wall. I used it for about 18 years. I kept it in a old wood cabinet in my work shop that had some shelving in it and all of my handsaws hung on hooks on the door. When you opened the door there were the handsaws. One day I was working on building a storage shed here in Oak Ridge, NC. I went to the cabinet to get my fathers old handsaw to make a couple of cuts. When I took Tink's saw out it hung up on the Disston back saw and pulled it off of the hook and it fell and hit the floor. I just knew it was going to do that one day. So I made a decision then and there. I put that saw somewhere else in my workshop where I just knew that it wouldn't fall on the floor any more.

I haven't found it since. I have dug and looked and cleaned and even disassembled the cabinet for the old pine boards that it was made of and I have never found that dang saw. It likes to kill me even writing this.

I have accused my two sons of taking it out in the woods and leaving it and looked under that storage shed to see if I took it instead of Tink's saw. They insist that they don't even know what the thing looks like and one of them is now 25 years old and still says he never saw it.

It sure does hurt every time I go to cut a dove tail or some other precise cut that only a good quality back saw will make. DANG! I miss that saw.

[Ed Falis]

Mac,

You just _know_ that saw is going to turn up sometime when you think you're beyond nostalgia, and you need it too. Just wait and see. It's the way things work.

- Ed

[Dave Arbuckle]

I'm telling you Mac, buy another and you'll find that saw. Works for me every time.

Dave