Tools you've found at the roadside...

[somewhatfoolish]

On 26/04/2024 at 20:36, Soundwave said:

Found this in a ditch on a country lane today. Given how overgrown and stuck in the ground it was, it's been there a good while. I'm guessing it was accidentally left behind by a roadwork crew at some point in the past. 

Probably looked a right nutter hefting this down the road in the middle of nowhere.

No idea what I'm going to do with it though, it's gone in the shed for now. 

 

Any BT infrastructure nearby? The cable bods use it to pull new stuff into underground conduits.

[stuboy]

7 hours ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

Found this in a road ditch today.

nice find

[eddyramrod]

I found a 19/21mm ratchet spanner recently, round the corner from the vet.  One tool supplier I won't need to go back to!

Of course it's in the back of the Jag at the moment.  I think it was just habit that made me pick it up; I don't really do any DIY now and I've already got far more tools than I need/can use.

[maxxo]

Just found one of these today at the side of the road still in its packaging

of course, grabbed it

good bit of kit really, will come in handy

[High Jetter]

Just now, maxxo said:

Just found one of these today at the side of the road still in its packaging

of course, grabbed it

good bit of kit really, will come in handy

An firm of electricians kindly left one similar when doing a job for me. Have used it a few times.

[maxxo]

Just now, High Jetter said:

A firm of electricians kindly left one similar when doing a job for me. Have used it a few times.

I’ve already got one but it’s been very well used so has gone quite slack now so this was quite a perfect find

[bunglebus]

On 06/12/2024 at 20:53, somewhatfoolish said:

Any BT infrastructure nearby? The cable bods use it to pull new stuff into underground conduits.

I saw several blokes and a woman looking like they were doing a tug o' war the other day using that stuff, and a bloke further down the road feeding cables into a manhole 

[morrisoxide]

I found this at the side of the road. The traffic had stopped, I looked down at the roadside (I usually do because I'm a womble) and noticed it. I couldn't have timed it better, I opened the car door lent out and bingo.

[Snake Charmer]

9 hours ago, maxxo said:

I’ve already got one but it’s been very well used so has gone quite slack now so this was quite a perfect find

I had two pairs of those in orange from RS Components made in the late 80's, one pair was smooth and consistent and the other would occasionally for no reason tear a huge number of strands from multicore wire or dig into single core. It would always manage to do it on a wire where you had little to no slack for a redo! I still have one pair, it lives on a toolboard and used occasionally, the other pair l gave away with a warning it may be the good pair or bad. Both pairs cost me the same as your find due to redundancy. 😎

[Boycie]

Well it's that time of year , defleet , however I doubt anything will beat the motability repo Golf I dealt with mid Dec , recovered with the left side panned in , inside more boxes of trainers than sports direct , a sledge hammer , baseball bat ( but strangely no baseball ) a five iron ( again no ball , this time of the golf variety ) 6 Apple watches , 7 mobile phones , £7.43 in loose change ( id say 3 months in a vinegar/bleach/acid mix would make it useable again ) rope , petrol can , a jacket so rancid Worzel Gummidge wouldn't wear it and various t shirts ( ditto ) , cust currently no answering to my offer to collect his belongings , I'm guessing he's away doing a triathlon or similar ....

[ianb Sierra]

I've lost and found tools on the side of thr Road.

For 15 years I was a roadside technician for Mercedes-Benz on the outskirts of London, but this did include part of the Northern sections of the M25.

I found a whole toolbox once, no clue how you could could loose that!

I've left numerous torches attached to trucks on 6 week inspections with a handful being found 6 weeks later!

other things found, randem shoes, a bag of sex toys with dress up stuff ( it was a large size too!) And a bag of money....(it was a lot and we had to hand it in as it contained talcum powder.....)

 

[Boycie]

1 minute ago, ianb Sierra said:

I've lost and found tools on the side of thr Road.

For 15 years I was a roadside technician for Mercedes-Benz on the outskirts of London, but this did include part of the Northern sections of the M25.

I found a whole toolbox once, no clue how you could could loose that!

I've left numerous torches attached to trucks on 6 week inspections with a handful being found 6 weeks later!

other things found, randem shoes, a bag of sex toys with dress up stuff ( it was a large size too!) And a bag of money....(it was a lot and we had to hand it in as it contained talcum powder.....)

 

Talc powder ...I'd have left that , prob left for a reason....

[ianb Sierra]

2 hours ago, Boycie said:

Talc powder ...I'd have left that , prob left for a reason....

Probably just lobbed out the window on route into London.

[Boycie]

If left with cash is say more likely a pickup

[beko1987]

The bit came running in excitedly earlier, he'd found a tool in a car park (there's loads of little gravel unadopted parking areas in my estate) and indeed he had found a thing

Some adjustable grips! I tried them in a stuck set of vacuum wands I have and it bent the thin aluminum very easily! (but didn't seperate the tubes sadly)

Could see some sort of markings on them 

The pivot pin is a small threaded thumb bolt and the whole thing comes apart

So I got the bench grinder out and cleaned it up a bit and found markings! Chipped a load of mud and shite out of inside them too, they've been lost a long while

Even the little thumb screw has the Footprint logo

Was a great test of my black and decker work box I got from the car boot last weekend too! Everything inside the box vibrates to fuck but the whole thing is rock solid to use 👌 

Can see these being very handy indeed, will give them  coating in oil/hold them when I next do my oil change to stop it rusting so much again one day

[ETCHY]

4 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

The bit came running in excitedly earlier, he'd found a tool in a car park (there's loads of little gravel unadopted parking areas in my estate) and indeed he had found a thing

Some adjustable grips! I tried them in a stuck set of vacuum wands I have and it bent the thin aluminum very easily! (but didn't seperate the tubes sadly)

Could see some sort of markings on them 

The pivot pin is a small threaded thumb bolt and the whole thing comes apart

So I got the bench grinder out and cleaned it up a bit and found markings! Chipped a load of mud and shite out of inside them too, they've been lost a long while

Even the little thumb screw has the Footprint logo

Was a great test of my black and decker work box I got from the car boot last weekend too! Everything inside the box vibrates to fuck but the whole thing is rock solid to use 👌 

Can see these being very handy indeed, will give them  coating in oil/hold them when I next do my oil change to stop it rusting so much again one day

Nice find. Those little footprint wrenches can be useful.

Those Black & Decker workboxes are very handy. Does the little lid prop still work on yours ?

[catsinthewelder]

They have a prop?

I've had mine about 30 years, my dad got me it for Christmas when I was about 14.  Last year I replaced the chipboard top with plywood.  It's out with me most days at work.

[beko1987]

Yes the prop was there and works fine! Came with the pegs and manual too.

I have removed the stop prop though... Cos it was a bit annoying 😂 

[beko1987]

More pics of it here!

 

[High Jetter]

3 hours ago, beko1987 said:

The bit came running in excitedly earlier, he'd found a tool in a car park (there's loads of little gravel unadopted parking areas in my estate) and indeed he had found a thing

Some adjustable grips! I tried them in a stuck set of vacuum wands I have and it bent the thin aluminum very easily! (but didn't seperate the tubes sadly)

Could see some sort of markings on them 

The pivot pin is a small threaded thumb bolt and the whole thing comes apart

So I got the bench grinder out and cleaned it up a bit and found markings! Chipped a load of mud and shite out of inside them too, they've been lost a long while

Even the little thumb screw has the Footprint logo

Was a great test of my black and decker work box I got from the car boot last weekend too! Everything inside the box vibrates to fuck but the whole thing is rock solid to use 👌 

Can see these being very handy indeed, will give them  coating in oil/hold them when I next do my oil change to stop it rusting so much again one day

I haz Footprint wrenches my Dad had. He's been dead 35 years.

[Datsuncog]

I found a Footprint wrench like that in the attic of our house when we moved in, hidden under some very old insulation.

Suspect some plumber in 1985 was fruitlessly searching under the seat in his Bedford CF or Vauxhall Chevanne for it...

But like others have said, handy to have.

[ETCHY]

13 hours ago, catsinthewelder said:

They have a prop?

I've had mine about 30 years, my dad got me it for Christmas when I was about 14.  Last year I replaced the chipboard top with plywood.  It's out with me most days at work.

Yeah top rhs an orange bar that pops in & you release manually.

Looks like an afterthought. As I have a feeling it was ready for production , somebody noticed the heavy lid could slam shut so hastily came up with it !

[bunglebus]

Borrowed this out of my parent's toolbox when I was a teenager. Must remember to put it back one day

[catsinthewelder]

9 hours ago, ETCHY said:

Yeah top rhs an orange bar that pops in & you release manually.

Looks like an afterthought. As I have a feeling it was ready for production , somebody noticed the heavy lid could slam shut so hastily came up with it !

My 30 year old one didn't come with that, presumably added after complaints from people with sore fingers.

[stuboy]

i used to flog many of these work boxes back in the 90s at b&Q

[High Jetter]

3 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Borrowed this out of my parent's toolbox when I was a teenager. Must remember to put it back one day

Beaker? 🤣

[Lord Sterling]

Mustard mitt, I've never ever found anything at the roadside that could be useful. If ever I have, I'm often travelling at speed or simply unable to retrieve it.

However, back when I was a trade-plater, picking up old work vans did sometimes find things that were useful. The only tools I ever really found where spirit levels, of which I have two, one magnetic and one standard large spirit level.

I think, my most treasured finds were generally clothes, usually fleece/work tops I could use. I currently have a 'OneFM' fleece that was found in a van I got from Sellafields, I still use this fleece as a work fleece. I also got an unused towel from that van:

I also have a 'Royal Mail' beanie, unused, was still in packet. Plus other odds and sods:

[bunglebus]

4 hours ago, Lord Sterling said:

I also have a 'Royal Mail' beanie

I've got a couple of RM jumpers that were chucked in the skip at the VW dealer where I worked, still sealed in plastic. Not very thick but remarkably warm, but my god it's annoying the amount of people that ask if I work for Royal Mail when I wear it, bearing in mind I'm either working on a car or doing a shop fit or exhibition stand. I painted over the logo in the end and people still ask

[Lord Sterling]

29 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

I've got a couple of RM jumpers that were chucked in the skip at the VW dealer where I worked, still sealed in plastic. Not very thick but remarkably warm, but my god it's annoying the amount of people that ask if I work for Royal Mail when I wear it, bearing in mind I'm either working on a car or doing a shop fit or exhibition stand. I painted over the logo in the end and people still ask

That's why I never wear it. One outfit I worked for in Trade Plating had red fleeces, so if we were driving their vans (transferring them from place to place) we would ALWAYS get flashed by RM truck drivers. It was nice, but we weren't postmen, but we looked like them because of the red fleece.

[warninglight]

11 hours ago, Lord Sterling said:

I think, my most treasured finds were generally clothes, usually fleece/work tops I could use. I currently have a 'OneFM' fleece that was found in a van I got from Sellafields, I still use this fleece as a work fleece. I also got an unused towel from that van:

 

 

I guarantee that towel has been used many times!

Possibly even used it myself.

Grim.