The things I see

Ok. I was wondering what happened to that screw driver. Or was it the nut driver, or wood chisel that you borrowed? Give them back !🙂

Brings back memories.

First year in the business I worked for an oil company. So they had me out doing tune ups. I was working on an old H B Smith 24 the ones with the cast Iron headers on the supply and both return drums headers.

. One of the return drums had a 1" gate valve and when I opened the valve it broke right off at the nipple. I haden't even put normal hand pressure on it. All the water gushed out and flooded the basement. I9 year old kid I didn't have a clue. Friday afternoon in the summer and this apartment (4 family) used it for DHW.

Nipple was broke off inside a 2 x 1 bushing.

So I got a screwdriver and a rag and pounded it in their as tight as I could. Filled the boiler and tested the LWCO about 10 times and left.

Monday my boss sent someone over to make the repair. I asked him after the fact and he said I did good job. "the rag was as dry as a bone, not a drop of water on the floor"

It's to induce turbulent flow conditions.

This reminds me... Early in my career I was a computer repair tech - I worked on word processors - this was a few years before the IBM PC was released. The typical workstation had a five-slot card cage - with three, closely-spaced boards in it. You could buy a new Corvette for less than the price of a word processor and printer combo.

Every year, we would perform preventative maintenance for our contract customers - clean and align the daisy wheel printer, clean the keyboards and pull the rear cover to check the fan and reseat the circuit boards. The covers had two large Philips-head screws that were notoriously difficult to get out. Many a time the screw-head would strip. I had the perfect driver that worked really well on these stubborn screws.

At some point, I lost my favorite driver - couldn't find it anywhere. Nor could I find a replacement that worked as well. I looked everywhere I went, knowing I left it on a job somewhere.
Eventually, I quit looking.

A year or so later, I had to drive out to the farthest reaches of my territory to perform p.m. at this real-estate firm. I opened the cover on the first machine, and there was my trusty screwdriver, sitting precariously between two circuit boards. I must have dropped it, got distracted, and used another driver to reinstall the cover screws.

I was overjoyed - I had found my driver, and avoided the embarrassment of another tech discovering my mistake. I was really lucky that nobody tried moving that machine or bumped it with the power on - it could have shorted out the card cage and wreaked havoc.

After that experience, I learned to always put my tools, keys, and wallet in the same place - so I would notice anything missing before leaving a work site. Somehow though, I'm still looking for a few missing tools.

R.

Great story, @RonnieJ !! I was a copier tech when I was a young man in the 90s and we all had situations just like that, amazing the stuff that happens in those service professions.

RonnieJ said:

This reminds me... Early in my career I was a computer repair tech - I worked on word processors - this was a few years before the IBM PC was released. The typical workstation had a five-slot card cage - with three, closely-spaced boards in it. You could buy a new Corvette for less than the price of a word processor and printer combo.

Every year, we would perform preventative maintenance for our contract customers - clean and align the daisy wheel printer, clean the keyboards and pull the rear cover to check the fan and reseat the circuit boards. The covers had two large Philips-head screws that were notoriously difficult to get out. Many a time the screw-head would strip. I had the perfect driver that worked really well on these stubborn screws.

At some point, I lost my favorite driver - couldn't find it anywhere. Nor could I find a replacement that worked as well. I looked everywhere I went, knowing I left it on a job somewhere.
Eventually, I quit looking.

A year or so later, I had to drive out to the farthest reaches of my territory to perform p.m. at this real-estate firm. I opened the cover on the first machine, and there was my trusty screwdriver, sitting precariously between two circuit boards. I must have dropped it, got distracted, and used another driver to reinstall the cover screws.

I was overjoyed - I had found my driver, and avoided the embarrassment of another tech discovering my mistake. I was really lucky that nobody tried moving that machine or bumped it with the power on - it could have shorted out the card cage and wreaked havoc.

After that experience, I learned to always put my tools, keys, and wallet in the same place - so I would notice anything missing before leaving a work site. Somehow though, I'm still looking for a few missing tools.

R.

When I do service, especially for oil, I use a tool bucket buddy set-up with everything in it's place. When putting a burner back together, I put every tool back in it's place as I finish each task, even if I will need it again. This way I know I didn't forget anything. There's been a couple times where a wrench or driver wasn't in it's spot, I open the burner back up and forgot to tighten something.
And like you said, I can look at the inside or outside of the bucket at a glance and know if I left a tool on site before I leave (doesn't mean I know where I left it).

It was an anomaly...jk

I hate losing ridgid tubing cutters.

And HAND SEAMERS.. I’ve gone thru so many pairs I don’t care to remember

Jamie Hall said:

Cheer up. At my age, I'm quite capable of putting something down, not moving from the spot, and not be able to find it five minutes later...

I seem to do that all the time, @Jamie Hall ! When I'm working on a project I put all of my tools in a bucket. If I have anyone helping me, I always say "Put it back in the bucket". That has become my mantra. Whenever any of my friends/family helps me they all now say "Put it in the bucket!" We all laugh and move on.

I found a really nice 3-AA LED Maglight above a ceiling once, still lit up.

It was mine, I had left it there a week ago. Had no idea it was there!

I love the last picture that Steve left one an old beauty and inefficient monster at the same time. R.i.p.7/7 lol

Walk out to the truck and forget what you went out there for. Walk back into the job and then remember what you needed

55 years ago I used to fix TV's to make money after school, I can remember finding tools inside console TV's, I paid for that by leaving my tools inside them.

A few years ago a contractor left a 16ft ladder that can be bent into a work platform and it wasn't a cheap one. I called and left a msg TWICE, that ladder now lives in my garage.

Bob

@GroundUp

It was meant to be