What is the longest time you have had a tool missing and then found it...
 

...and how many replacements did you buy in that time?

I found a loupe that I had for quite awhile yesterday in a box on a shelf with various types of wire in it. Saw the loupe there after probably 10 years. I have bought a photo contact sheet viewer and 2 boxes of the HF ones that come in various strengths to replace. None compare to a real loupe good enough to examine precious stones.

Surprisingly, it wasn't scratched nor that dirty.

That's my all time record. I've found many tools after months if not a year or so, but this takes the cake. I think the one other time was a pair of small side cutting pliers that I found maybe after 5 years in the dirt. They cleaned up just fine. You don't see mini side cutters every day.

Not that long for me, but probably one with the most mileage. When I worked on VWs in our college town back in ‘69-‘72 I did some work on a car that involved removing the engine. There is a special magnetic wrench tool that you use on the hard-to-reach starter bolt. When I put the engine back in I forgot to remove the tool. The guy went to California for a work-study job right after, and I know for sure of a later w-s job in Chicago. He came back for regular service many times over the years, but I never had a reason to access that area (no starter or engine r&r). The year he graduated he came in for another job that required engine r&r. There was my tool, a little rusty but still there after four years on the road.
I have two of them now, one is stuck on my Speedster and the other is waiting for me to need it to take out the engine in my ‘65 VW.

Hmm, still haven't found it, but I'm holding onto hope that I'll find that 10mm socket someday.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1563321531.jpg

I'm pretty sure that I traded in my Silverado with a 10mm under the hood...

Hmmm... never had any problems with sockets, 10mm or whatever. I know the joke but it's a boring one. I did leave a 9mm combination wrench on the rear valance shelf of a VW after tightening the muffler bolts. That one fell out on the street somewhere so my set has an orphan in it and looks stupid. Anyone have a spare Thorsen 9MM? It's about 6.5 inches long.

never a problem because I keep my garage well organized...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1563322698.JPG

^^^ Ha ha ha.....mea culpa.....

Do pruning shears count? Not sure how long but they were so rusty they couldn't be put back into service --- so it was a while.

Twenty years and then I found it in my brothers garage one day. Guess it never crossed his mind to return it after borrowing it without asking

Mmmyeah, no. Those "my mancave" threads? I won't be posting my garage in one of those anytime soon. I have tools that I have lent out that will never come back. Wrenches that have fallen off the tractor, and lots of stuff stolen. Only twice have I ever gotten tools back, and that was from finding a Vise Grip pliers and a box cutter knife in the dirt a year later. I have found neat stuff that others lost, like a super old soda bottle and a horse shoe. They called the soda fruit acid drink or something like that. I guess the term "soda pop" had not been invented yet.

Left a rack of sockets on the intercooler of my wrx for about 6 weeks and 1000 plus miles. I noticed a bit of a strange rattle for a while but it took me a while to pop the hood to discover the.

Left a socket on the upper-strut mount.
But good thing it was discovered as soon as I slammed the hood. :(

I found somebody else's 9/16 craftsman wrench, and a shop rag under the intake of a 1972 ss camaro .
Never would have known, the car ran beautiful . Did not look like it had been apart in a looong time . Maybe even happened at the dealer .

I've seriously lost two 10mm sockets in the past 2 years. Yes, it's a meme, but it's based on truth.

Golden.

Several times just after experiencing the dreaded panic pocket patting I’ve pulled over and found whatever it was I thought I lost sitting on the rear bumper happy as a clam.

I lost my 10mm socket in a parts car years ago. The next parts car I got I found someone else's 10mm socket identical to the Craftsman socket I lost in the car before. Since then I've found 2 more 10mm's in various cars, both Snap-On. It's the only tool I find in old cars.

However I am still lacking a 10mm combination wrench that was left somewhere. The space has been empty in my toolbox for years. Never found the need to replace it. Yet. And it's the only empty space in my set.

For me it is tubing cutters. I always need one, but can't find it. Buy one, then find the old one. I have about 1/2 dozen

When I bought my house in 1975 I decided to insulate the attic rafters. I used a window squeegee on a 10 foot piece of sprinkler pipe to push the unraveled roll of insulation out to the narrowing space where the roof rafter came down to the ceiling joists where they met at the exterior wall. Toward the end of the process, the squeegee came off the pole and I just left it in place because it was inaccessible.

Fast forward to 2014. I'm doing the roof shingles and pulled up the 1'x12'' lumber on the roofing eaves outside the house. One board uncovered part of the attic and there lay my squeegee buried in the insulation after 39 years. Rubber was a little dried out.

If I end up losing tools, they usually show up in my daughter's house, or my son's car. I'm usually good about putting away things when I am finished. I still have 98% of the Craftsman set my Dad got me for high school graduation 36 years ago.

It wasn't missin'....I knew exactly where it wuz....10 mm socket rolled around in the bowels of my bass boat fer at least 15...mebbe 20 yrs. Boat's gone...still have the 10 mm socket....for now ;).