Loosing Stuff

[Eric Krewson]

I am inletting the ramrod pipes on my Kibler kit, do the first one, it came out well, inlet the second one, nice fit and start on the third one. I have to file a lot off the tab to get the pipes in and not hit the barrel so I reach for pipe #2 to compare the tab with pipe #3 after a bit if filing. Where is pipe #2, I put it on my work bench, I keep my workbench clean, it is gone. I shift a few things around knowing it got under a piece of paper, no pipe. I did hear something hit the floor while I was bent over the gun in my optivisors, I have a pick-up bed mat in front of my workbench for anything to fall on and be easily found, no ramrod pipe is on the mat.

I enlarged my search, under the bandsaw, under the work bench, I crawl on my hands and knees all over the shop floor, no ramrod pipe. I look in the house where I took a coffee break earlier, no pipe.

I walk to the mailbox and check the driveway because I did walk down and get the mail while I was working on the pipes.

I am sitting in my house scratching my head, I have turned out the lights in my shop, I get my super bright tactical flashlight and go back to the shop, I search with the lights off and my spotlight bright flashlight that really isolates individual things, no pipe.

I must have a ghost messing with me is all I can think, I guess I will order another pipe.

On things like this in the past I often find the item months later in a perfectly obvious location, go figure........

[B.Habermehl]

There wasn’t a open drawer it could have bounced into? Or pants cuff? I have found parts in amazing places. Dang gremlins! BJH
 PS Guarenteed you’ll find it the day you fit the new one!

[Stoner creek]

When something falls off the front of my bench it grows legs and runs way back beneath the bench. I always know where to look (unless it’s a fly from a lock). 

[Nordnecker]

Oh Man, I loose stuff ALL the time! I mean, I just had it. I didn't even take a step. It has to be right here. Where did it go? Most of the time, I have to quit looking for it and do something else like go get a piece of firewood or get a sip of water, then I'll see it.

[Three balls]

Did you check your pockets?

[David Rase]

I always know where to look (unless it’s a fly from a lock).

I lost a fly a couple of weeks ago.  Kept it in y magnetic bowl in lieu of attaching it to a piece of masking tape.  Never found it, but on Tuesday evenings I host an open shop.  Last Tuesday I mentioned the lost fly to the group of guys that came over.  They spent a good 30 to 45 minutes sweeping the floor and sifting through the chips and dust by hand and with a magnet helping me look for the fly.  Never did find the fly but my shop floor is immaculate.    I feel a little bit like Tom Sawyer.  Can't wait lose something again. 
David 

[Tim Crosby]

I keep my workbench clean,

 There in lies the problem, now if it looked like this...you would find it right away

   



 Tim

[Eric Krewson]

I had a bad switch on my beltsander, while putting the new switch in I dropped one of the screws, it was just gone, no where to be found. 6 months later i was turning a file handle on my lathe, looked down and the lost screw was within a foot of the band saw leg. I wonder what kind of journey it took before I kicked it out of hiding and back to where it could be found.

As for the pipe, I emptied the front of all the drawers, pants pockets, everything. I will look again this morning with a clear head.

A friend said he put down the original drum and nipple off an Bean rifle he was refurbishing. He said both parts walked off his workbench, he tore his shop apart looking for the parts but to this day and a zillion projects later they has never been found.

My shop looks like this with the exception of an oil lamp, a few chisels, files and a legal pad for taking notes. Not too many places for a part to go without being seen.



I found a current picture, a little more clutter but not much.

[t.caster]

Did you empty out & sift through your dust filter?

[Pukka Bundook]

Eric,

This from a very good mate (who spent the last 50 years in Australia), sadly now passed on, on the subject of losing things. I can relate Sooo Well! and I think you will too!;

"When they are lost they are LOST! there must be tons and tons of lost bits in the world. Perhaps a thousand years from now some of them will turn up in an Archaeologists screen miles from where they were dropped and who knows what interpretation will be put on them
 Two things brought this to a head with me.
The first was that a couple of months ago I came across my grandfathers pocket watch and chain in a drawer. '' I must put this in a safe place'' thought I because it might get swiped-big mistake! I knew where it was in the drawer but now The place where I put it must be the safest bl--dy place in the world I can't remember what place my genius selected but I can't find it anywhere.
 The second thing was when I was working on a small metal component in my workshop-[Not the tidiest place in the world] When I dropped it I saw it land on the floor and bounce into some wood shavings.
When I bent down to pick it up it was'nt there It was'nt anywhere. I swept everthing on the floor up into a heap and sifted it by hand. This got out the files, screw drivers, wrenches, hammers, lathes bench grinders drill presses etc-all good and useful tools I then sifted what was left with a coarse sieve, this produced a bunch of metal bits not of much use.
I then got a flour sifter from the kitchen and set to work with that [a certain mood of sheer bl--dy minded determination had set in by now] Still nothing Well sod it I said to myself I'll get out my prospector's pan and wash the bloody dirt.  [paranoia taking a grip] So I actually went out to my car and got the pan. When I walked back into my workshop there in the middle of the floor twinkling and shining in the light with what seemed like a cheeky gin on its face was the component.
Relief and joy you may think- no such bl--dy thing!! I was not in a playful mood, in fact I was ready to kill.
 I had it on the anvil with a four pound hammer in my hand in a trice It came That close to paying the ultimate price for its mischief and it was at that moment, gentlemen, that I realised that I needed the counsel and comfort of my friends on the forum.
 Two things I have learned and yet not learned.
 1-Never work on small bits when your workshop floor is knee deep in woodshavings and dust.
 2-Never put anything in a safe place unless you indicate the spot with a six foot square placard with the legend-'' VALUABLE ARTIFACT LOCATED HERE printed on it in dayglow orange."

When I read the above, I nearly died laughing, as I know the feeling of wanting to "kill" the errant part if it turns up smiling like that!
Eric,
I too lost a ramrod pipe I'd just made.  All filed up and it just disappeared.  After a long and bad-tempered search, (It didn't start out bad tempered but got that way!)  I made another.
The shop is about 200 yards from the house.  That spring when the snow melted, I Found the pipe, over at the house, just outside the porch.  I didn't have to age it al all.  It's still sitting in a tool -box waiting for a suitable build.   (Or it Was at any rate!)

My shop.

[Justin Urbantas]

what on earth are you working on there, Pukka? Looks like a very interesting shape.

[tallbear]

A few years ago I went through a period of losing flys(I think I lost 3 in a 6 month period) .Frustrated I ordered a dozen from Chambers to keep on hand.I hav'nt lost one since ,still have the original dozen ..........Try it !!! It works 


Mitch

[far55]

About a year ago I was making a wooden patchbox cover, and was using a piece of the same extra stock wood from my rifle. It somehow came up missing. My gun bench is in a now unused bedroom since the kids are out of the house and I had gone to the wood shop to do the preliminary sawing on the bandsaw and put the piece in my coat pocket. We got a new border collie puppy last year and she was picking up and chewing everything in sight. Since I fed the chickens and did a few other things outside before heading back to the house, I had no idea where it could be. After much searching and backtracking  I figured I had dropped it and the dog had used it for a chew toy, or just carried it off. About 2 weeks ago, I was looking in a cupboard in the kitchen where assorted junk and treasures are kept, and there it was. I know from being married for 45 years that my wife has a habit of picking up anything I let laying in the kitchen and stashing it out of site. Enough said.  Roland

[smallpatch]

Tim,
I just want to know how you got n my shop to get that photo?

[Pukka Bundook]

what on earth are you working on there, Pukka? Looks like a very interesting shape.

Justin,

It's a 1520's snaplock.
Linked below if you would like a look.

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=46539.msg457802#msg457802

Tallbear,
When I go for parts like chain joiners, if I need one I buy three, then I can break one and loose one and stil be OK!  :-)

[David Rase]

I keep my workbench clean,

 There in lies the problem, now if it looked like this...you would find it right away

   



 Tim

Tim,
Your shop looks pretty neat by horner standards.
David

[Clark Badgett]

I know from being married for 45 years that my wife has a habit of picking up anything I let laying in the kitchen and stashing it out of site. Enough said.  Roland

My wife does that to me too. Once I sit something somewhere, I can remember forever where I sat it. My wife is an OCD type that wants everything absolutely perfect looking at all times, so she moves stuff that I sit around and she can't ever remember where she puts things. To make it worse, she has no clue what tools really are, so when I ask her where she put that tool I bought a few days ago she has no idea what I'm talking about.

She looks at my work bench and asks me how on earth I can find anything in the mess that it always has, but I know exactly where everything is, and I rarely loose any parts.

[Stoner creek]

Just look to the bottom of the pile. Whatever you’re looking for is there.

[Scota4570]

I loose stuff often.  I tend to run on autopilot.  It makes it tough to remember where I put things, or if I did something,  because it is so routine.   I used to think my grandparents were obsessively neat.  I'm pretty sure they kept things super organized to prevent misplacing and make finding easier. 

I use magnetic dishes for small parts.  That helps a lot.  I also have a roll of white butcher's paper hung on the side of the large work bench.  Periodically I change the paper, like the doctor does on the exam table.  The clean white surface makes it easier to see things.  The total purge of the work surface forces me to clean up. 

My shop floor is covered with 1' institutional type linoleum tiles.  It is a checker board pattern of white an gray.  IT is easy to sweep up.  I have a 12" bar magnet for finding small parts on the floor.  Once in a while a little thing finds itself under the toe kick of the bench. The magnet gets little things I can't see under there. 


Perhaps the ramrod pipe fell to the floor and got kicked under there?  Sometimes I put stuff down in a strange spot and get distracted, and forget.  A fresh set of eyes finds these things often. 

That is an easy pipe to make, you may not need to order one. 

Now,  where are my calipers?

[ClaudeH]

We bought my wife's old family place.  To create a swale across the lawn to better drain the driveway I tilled a depression and raked it out.  Doing so I found an odd part, an elaborately shaped cast brass section with a hinged threaded brass rod and a couple of other detailed features.  I left it on the picnic table for the forces of nature to clean the dirt off.

A  brother in law stopped by, saw that piece and said "Oh, you found it!"  He couldn't remember what it was or what it was from, but he could remember his dad having all five kids searching for it for what seemed like hours many, many years earlier!

[WKevinD]

I bought one of Dave Rases beautiful, handy little depth gauges and rely on it for a number of tasks. About a year ago I lost it and I came to a stand still in my shop. I scoured every place it could and should not have been. I finally broke down and ordered a new one, great tool couldn't see how I could continue without it. It arrived a week later and I was using it at the drill press aligning pin locations and placed it in a high shelf so I could drill the holes. I placed it on top of the "lost" one.
I now have a sign in my shop. "Don't put it down- Put it away"
It doesn't help.
I still put stuff down and loose it.
I use both depth gauges.
Kevin

[Nate McKenzie]

I get help loosing things from my shop gremlin.  She has four furry legs and purrs.

[Metalshaper]

Well I must be doing  something  right  then? Cuz it sounds like my shop is set up
Like a lot of yours  complete with the black hole, that sucks parts and tools
Off into an alternative  universe

Laurie Fenton told me, "when working on a fly, always tie a bright  colored thread to it."
He thought was you'd always see the thread?? When I put it to the test  found the thread 
But the @!*% fly was missing?

Respect  Always 
Metalshaper /Jonathan 

[Majorjoel]

That thing called OCD goes many ways!  My late FIL kept an immaculate shop. All of his tools had a special place where they were either hung on the wall board or in their labeled drawer.   

Each tool had an outline of itself drawn on the wall's peg board behind it, where if it were not in place, the outline would show up like a neon sign!  In his tool drawers, they all rested upon a wooden cut out in the perfect shape of the tool.   

When we used to work on projects together I quickly learned how important it was (for him) that everything always got not only put back where it came from, but got a good swabbing over with an oily rag. I always respected his wishes and desires and did my best to maintain a close relationship.  I came to understand that his upbringing during the great depression along with his work history starting from the ground up into an executive position in the industrial grinding supply business made him who he was.

He is very much missed in my life today, but if he was to see what my shop looks like......  

[PPatch]

What's WRONG with you guys! Haven't you learned to have a place for everything and everything in it's place? 



dave