tools that have a way of hiding themselves

[Frank S]

Does any body else ever experience this?
I know many of you have only small spaces in which you must do your work and many have a limited number of tools so you are able keep them well organized, even if friends happen to borrow or use them on their projects at your homes or work shops I am currently much more spread out and have storage or work areas in a much more diverse way part of my reason for wanting to complete my shop but even then there will be as many as 10 or more work stations
I have many tool boxes located in more than one location
there are some tools that I rarely ever use then when I want them they never seem to be where I thought they were located.
I call these my migratory tools. Things like a favorite screwdriver or pair of pliers maybe an adjustable wrench are just a few examples of migrating tools but these usually wind up in a tool box with a drawer of like items just not always in the same box as I had them located. Much of the time these are inadvertently relocated by myself or in many cases others who come by to work on their own stuff then borrow tools from several different boxes or they just leave them on a table for me of my wife to put away She does not recognize every tools as to its place of origin and some I will relocate thinking this is a better location than where I had them before then forgetting I had placed them in the new location.
However there is 1 specific tool I rarely need to use that for some reason I can almost never find them even though I have at least 6 of them located in various boxes somewhere that I know of At one time I know I had all 6 of them in 1 single drawer. Yesterday I was looking for a pickle fork most will recognize it as a tool to remove tie rod ends on the steering of a vehicle some may even call it a tuning fork or have other names for them.
I searched through 8 tool boxes and didn't find them. not a single one was located in the drawer where I am sure I had put every one I could find a couple years ago. that drawer has prybars and large punches. So the wife and I searched and searched until we came up with 2 of them a large one with the tines close together and a shorter one with the forks much wider apart that was the one I was needing and it wasn't even in a tool box at all but a box of parts that a neighbor had disassembled a while back.
We still haven't found the other 4 of these

[Philip Davies]

It happens very frequently, Frank.
The item that goes missing most frequently is the pencil. I can’t keep it behind my ear, so my method is to put it in my back pocket, but actually I usually leave it where I last marked something. Then all too often something rolls off the bench, or whatnot, and disappears into shadow or debris. I took off my dungarees just now and found the pencil I spent several swear words looking for yesterday, yes, you guessed it, in my back left pocket, not the right.
Question is, if I’d had a proper apprenticeship, would it happen less often?

[Frank S]

It happens very frequently, Frank.
The item that goes missing most frequently is the pencil. I can’t keep it behind my ear, so my method is to put it in my back pocket, but actually I usually leave it where I last marked something. Then all too often something rolls off the bench, or whatnot, and disappears into shadow or debris. I took off my dungarees just now and found the pencil I spent several swear words looking for yesterday, yes, you guessed it, in my back left pocket, not the right.
Question is, if I’d had a proper apprenticeship, would it happen less often?

Not necessarily

[Toolmaker51]

Frank S's missing pickle forks. Common use separates auto ball joints and tie rods.
Upon closer to clearing shop floor, I've thought of redistributing tools by use, auto, plumbing, machining of course, fabricating, welding, rigging, trailer, wood construction, masonry, etc.
At present separated by type fairly well, say all the hammers, SAE wrenches, and so on. Used to seem efficient. Couple weeks back, friend needed a little sheet metal cover. Took awhile rounding up scriber, combination square, hand punch, snips, tinner hammer, rivet setter bla-bla.
Surprising issue is larger items so adept in hide-and-seek. Until ceiling is in can't hang permanent lighting; being able SEE is #1 .

Companies use means to store in perfectly designated spaces, and each station identical. BS, not everyone is right handed or capable in just limited skills.

[Frank S]

Strangest thing is this evening after dark a neighbor needed a plumbers snake, so tell her that I have one but not even the almighty would know where it could be hiding since snakes always try to hide and reach out to bite you when you don't expect it. But we have a go at trying to dig through stacks of boxes stored in a make shift mezzanine in the machine shop trailer, the last place I think I remembered seeing it. as soon as I step up on the ledge of a tool box my foot lands on another pickle fork laying right there in plain sight where I had searched through thae very same box yesterday I guess I hadn't spotted it because only the round end was sticking out. I ignore it and finish climbing up to yhr storage area box by box I send one down she goes through it and places it aside now down to the last box nadda ziltch nothing Ok lift all the boxes back up and stack them start searching somewhere else I finally locate the snake and she says OH I can't use that it won't fit through what I need to clean out. I need one of the small hand held ones.
Well I have one of those as well but not even the creator of the whole universe's great grand father would know where that thing would be located. All I know is it has a blue plastic housing a handle with gorilla tape on it and a little 1/4 cable that is about 25 feet long I have a 20" diameter red one too with a 100 foot long 1/2" cable and a cutter head on the end for going through tree roots in a sewer line, but I know exactly where it is stowed away in the very front of a 53 foot dry van next to a 450 amp 3 phase mig welder the only reason I know where it is was because of my pickle fork search yesterday in a toolbox in that van. The little blue plastic one well that thing could be anywhere since I've never used it I only know that I have it.
So I went with her to her rent house and we forced a 1/2" garden hose with the end cut off through the line using water pressure to jet the clog out. it made a big mess but at least it wasn't the toliet that was clogged, only a mass of hair in the tub drain. Her city folk renter had trimmed her hair while standing in the tub taking a shower
Anyway I now know where 3 of my 6 pickle forks are LOL

[Philip Davies]

Good to know it’s not just me! Nevertheless, I am undisciplined in my methods compared to others.

[Frank S]

Good to know it’s not just me! Nevertheless, I am undisciplined in my methods compared to others.

I fully understand where you are coming from Philip. My often times somewhat lagging disciplinary routine rears its head all too frequently and is more often than not brought about from my not establishing a single work area then sticking to the one area. Right now one of my biggest time eaters stems from having drill presses and lathes located in more than one place as well. I am constantly finding that the size drill bit I want is always at the other place. or sometimes I find that there will be 5 tape measures winding up in 1 place when they should be in 5 different places