Sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself!

[rp77469]

Buy a cheap U shape Magnet and suspend it from a long string (when not in use keep it magnetically locked on to something Iron or Steel to preserve its Magnetic integrity).

Bad stereo speakers are often donated to thrift shops, where they are put in the dumpster. Rarely are they worth fixing, but you can salvage the rather powerful magnets from them. I put them in quart freezer bags and peel the bags off to minimize the steel fuzz the magnets would pick up otherwise, but IME, replacements are easy to find when they get too fuzzy.

 

[BackDraft]

My pills are always rolling off the counter, never find them…

My bane is putting something "some place safe". I will never see it again. "Some place safe" must be the biggest room in the house, but I don't know where it is.

Boy, glad I’m not the only one!

 

[springfield art]

That would put a spring in your step! I have heard of this sort of thing happening to others but never to me.

Could be as deadly as the proverbial 'chicken bone in the throat'. Good that you found it early!

 

[springfield art]

They have these super magnets now that would attract the whole darn gun itself!

 

[TFoley]

When dismantling smaller items, I've learned to do it with my working hand and the item inside a clear plastic bag. I first tried it out around fifty years ago, when taking apart a little Erma .22cal semiauto pistol. The ejector - that usually flew off into dimension X - was safely captured in the bag.

 

[BackDraft]

When dismantling smaller items, I've learned to do it with my working hand and the item inside a clear plastic bag. I first tried it out around fifty years ago, when taking apart a little Erma .22cal semiauto pistol. The ejector - that usually flew off into dimension X - was safely captured in the bag.

I definitely have to remember that!

 

[BackDraft]

They have these super magnets now that would attract the whole darn gun itself!

Like these?:

 

[Century to late]

Like these?:

Oh my! Put those in your front pockets then run.

 

[Rob M.]

Sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself! Was taking apart a double set trigger this morning getting everything ready to brown the parts when the trigger return spring launched itself into the air. I heard it clink on something solid so for the next hour I hunted for it. If a drawer on one of the toolboxes was open it was emptied out, I cleaned parts of the work bench that haven't been cleaned in months, I swept the sawdust off the floor and from under benches then went over the dust with a magnet. Finally I admitted defeat and considered the spring lost. Now those who know me can testify that my coffee cup almost is never empty...when it gets down to about a quarter full it gets topped off. Was about to break for lunch so gulped the last mouthful and nearly choked,,,there was the spring right where it had been all morning even after multiple refills.

Great post ... The Fusil I'm building now has given me SO many headaches . Ive misplaced two different screws and the trigger so far , among other things ... After searching in vain for over an hour for each item ive made a new part from scratch ...then each one I found the next day ...So frustrating. At least the shop floor and under the bench is the cleanest its ever been !! Lordy .... LOL

 

[SOLANCO]

One fellow I talked with spreads a king size white bed sheet under his work area.

 

[Sidney Smith]

Oh yes. Seems every time I drop something small at my workbench, it winds up in the Twilight Zone under the table, and all the way up against the wall. The table base sits only a few inches off the floor (drawers on either side), so it's the same procedure, grab the flashlight and something long and slim to fish the part out, get down on hands and knees to get it, then hope I dont have to push the "Ive fallen and cant get up button!". Never fails.

 

[Okurok]

A buddy and searched for a half hour once for an errant detent spring when I looked up and noticed it stuck to his beard.

 

[XVIIc Wheelock]

Off subject a little; I live in a street legal golf cart (no I don't play golf) community and doing a little top speed increase on the Yamaha engine, you have to pull off the forward, reverse lever which is held on by a cir-clip. Well, using a screwdriver to snap the cir-clip off, it flew into the great beyond. For a .10 cent replacement it cost $10 delivered. As soon as I received the replacement two weeks later, my wife asked what is that dangling from the fluorescent light fixture...yep, you guessed it! It was embedded in the fixture plastic cover. Sure glad it was not my eye!

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

I have a magnet on wheels I keep handy.

Ya, but does it do coffee cups?
Larry

 

[Abarnes]

We may have to discuss your "proven" browning methods.
Great story!
I had a similar thing happen with a screw and found it later in the washer, it must have landed in my shirt pocket.

 

[Century to late]

You find a part on the shop floor and have no clue what it is or what came from.

 

[Mulemauler]

Glad I posted the story, seems it is a universal thing and have enjoyed hearing others tales of woe.

 

[windini]

You find a part on the shop floor and have no clue what it is or what came from.

That's usually one that some other guy launched - and it turned sideways & slipped through a different dimension onto to your floor.

I know that's what happened to several parts I've lost hold of...

 

[Frontier Buddy]

I was cleaning my Remington 1100 before dove season once. My three year old son scattered the part. I found everything except the magazine spring. I found it mowing the yard three days later. It wrapped around the shaft. It was not easy to remove!

 

[SOLANCO]

One thing which helps me somewhat is a magnetic steel bowl to put small parts in. It is no help when I launch something into the twilight zone during assembly or disassembly, but otherwise keeps things put where I will know where they are. Because of eye disease I have come to put great store in good, strong lighting. And in magnifiers.
Learned the hard way and sometimes forgotten: Declutter your worktop. Miscellaneous unrelated stuff is just an invitation to problems.