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Ok so what have you lost or misplaced recently that the shop pirate made off with? I had big plans of a hot date with a Tenor all boxed up.

I'll go first....... I was all hot to bend some Tenor Ukulele sides this evening and someone made off off with a special extension (me) that I need to use my heating blanket. I can't even blame the employees as they don't have access to the luthier shop.

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Wet mil gauge! I gave up and ordered a few more. Very frustrating.

I am very very strict about knowing where EVERYTHING goes in my shop. There is a spot for everything and I know exactly where it is. Sadly I rarely put tools back in their spot where I know they belong. But if I did my life would be so easy.

I spend an awful lot of downtime looking for the calipers…that I had just a moment ago…

Had an LP Special in for a setup last week.

I forgot to check if the tuner bushings were loose after slacking the strings. Picked it up off the bench and turned it on its side to inspect a fret ends and PING! six tuner bushings fell onto the floor and scattered to the four corners of the shop. After an extensive search, I only found five.

Luckily I had a spare exact match in the miscellaneous junk and parts drawer.

Also I have purchased my favourite 1/2” violin knife three times in the last year, each time finding the knife I lost within days of the replacement arriving …

The worst is when a project comes to a standstill do to a misplaced tool or part and while searching I forget what it is I’m looking for.

I can’t blame anyone but myself. My wife borrows things, but they are easy to find if that’s what happens. Remembering where I put things is the real problem.

Yeah, a dropped screw (or other small thingamabob) is a real problem in my shop, for two reasons: I might never find it, and I almost always hit my head on something made of cast iron when I go rooting around for it. So, I am hyper aware of the danger of dropping the little stuff, and do all I can to avoid it. It happens anyway.

I have twice now opened a package from StewMac containing some little tool and thinking “I know exactly where I’ll store this” I head to the location where this new tool will live only to find one there already that I ordered a year ago.

Worst part, it’s used. So not only did I not remember I had already purchased the same tool, but I had also not remembered using it! I blame working too much and long gaps in between shop time.


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I find that as I have gotten older, several items need to be dropped before I will get down on the floor and pick them up. I am like: "Well, I really need that tuner bushing and screwdriver, but I'll just wait until I drop something else." :>)

Hope I’m not the only one that put things in a special place that I WILL REMEMBER only to later forget the place I was supposed to remember. So frustrating. Getting old is a ich.

All very familiar and comforting to know one is not alone.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

For me, it's the phone. Where the hell is that dang phone! Could be in the house, under a pile of wood on my tablesaw, in the wood shed, out in the garden, in the refrigerator (that happened). It seldom is in the cradle on the wall. A close second is my optivisor. which I take on and off all day long. I need to paint it red!

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“ The meaning of life is to find your gift and the purpose of life is to give it away” Pablo Picasso

If anyone hasn't seen this before, it perfectly conveys the message of this thread (with a great deal of cussing)

I had a Girlfriend about 15 years ago that was a jeweler, she was working on a piece and was like oh dang it I dropped a diamond. I crawled under the bench to help her look for a Diamond she had dropped. And we were both crawling around looking for diamonds and rubies, w found about 25 tiny ones. Granted these tiny ones are not worth big bucks.I have to admit it had to be one of the most romantic moments in my life.

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For magnifiers I have this pair that are kinda like regular glasses but with replaceable lenses of different strength and twin bright LED lights. They are lightweight and comfortable and when you don’t need them you can just put ‘em up on your head like sunglasses. But this actually makes them harder to find than optivisors! I’ll search the shop for them only to eventually realise they’ve been perched on top of my head the whole time! Even worse, I’ll lock up the shop and head into town at the end of the day. Walking past a store window I’ll see my reflection and realise I’ve been grocery shopping or something with illuminated LEDs shining off the top of my head at the roof

You just described my morning.

I sometimes put my glasses on top of my head like that and forget that they are there. The other day I went into the supply store to get a filter for my A/C. When the guy handed me the invoice, I said: "How much is it? I don't have my glasses". He looked at me kinda funny and told me the amount. When I got into my car, I realized that my glasses had been stuck on top of my head the whole time. He probably tells that story to his buddies on his coffee break.

We've recently moved from central FL to southwest GA. Somewhere along the way I've misplaced three deep throat clamps. I need them right now to re-glue a bridge. Aggravating.

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Jim Womack

"Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for. "
Will Rogers

This and falling tuner bushings. My life, really.


Pierre
Guitares Torvisse

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Pierre Castonguay

When the kids were young I'd frequently reach for a tool that was suddenly missing. No one seemed to know where it went, and magically a few days later it would reappear. I outsmarted them by buying some cheaper replacement tools and hiding the good ones elsewhere in the shop. Now that they are grown I only have myself to blame for missing tools. I have taken to numbering the replacements (#2, #3, etc.) on the handles so I'll know when the original is found (which is often just after I complete the task it would have been used for anyway).

GUILTY !!!

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Comforting to know that i am not alone in the search for a tool that is not where it is supposed to be.

The counter to this is of course that if you do put the tool away properly, especially if it is on the other side of the shop, then that is precisely the one you need two minutes later!

Dave

I bought a set of the SM Gaged Nut Slot files. After moving three years ago, I couldn't find two of them. Hmmm. Well, the cost of moving chaos. So I replaced the missing two. Now those have disappeared! All my setup tools are in a single drawer, so how I could have "lost" two sets of the same two files is beyond me. I even check the freezer!

Other things disappear within seconds of using them. Setup gage, scalpel, caliper, whatever. And it's usually right on the bench in front of me when I "find" it.

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Tony Thatcher
Bozeman, Montana

Last tool I went on a treasure hunt to find (no joy) was my nice four-foot level in a case. Four days ago. Still looking.

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Peter Havriluk