Today's Road Find

Jake von Slatt — Fri, 06/12/2009 - 11:00

Today's road finds, a #2 Phillips screwdriver with tip in excellent condition and a partial roll of electrical tape. Electrical tape is a very common find, I think they must fall of off linemen's and phone company worker's trucks.

BTW: You should really throw out your worn Phillips drivers, they will only cause you aggravation and damage screw heads - better yet, grind them into a nice set of awls!

Check under your hood

Cy — Sat, 06/20/2009 - 22:19

<obama>Let me be clear</obama>

Having been in the HVAC and electrical businesses for nearly 30 years, I can assure you that linemen and telco pros are not the sorts of type to lose track of their friction tape. For us service workers, losing a roll would be like a doctor misplacing a stethoscope. Those little black circles of ever shrinking diameter are an extension of our bodies.

The most likely suspects are the auto mechanic and aftermarket audio/alarm installers. Consider the following:

An engine compartment is dark - even in broad daylight - and most everything in it is painted black
There is an average of 6,732 surfaces pitched 45 degrees or less to the horizontal throughout the engine compartment and underside (there was a study, I believe it was a German chap with OCD)
Mechanics loathe to troubleshoot and repair wiring problems. Alas, they do not respect The Tape
I have yet to meet a top-notch 12 volt guy who doesn't do his best work without a couple of bong hits

I think that you are

Jake von Slatt — Sun, 06/21/2009 - 10:19

I think that you are probably correct ! Though I think that, in addition to auto-mechanics, the cable guys probably loose their fair share of the black rolls.

road finds

Punkerpan — Fri, 06/12/2009 - 20:43

i too bike a lot. and i have found wallets, rings, tools, one complete toolbox(full of tools), and lots of misc. crushed stuff, like cellphones, and scratched cd's. i sent you several pics of my personally customized bike, jake. did you ever get them?

making use of it

craig — Sat, 06/13/2009 - 10:02

I used the home remedy tricks to remove scratches in CDs found in the street. It works but the CD is usually some music I can't stand. If screwdrivers wear out, awls are not the only use. You can take any odd socket from your collection of 2 1/2 incomplete socket sets and weld a socket onto a screwdriver to make a nutdriver for that special need, such as boat, ATV, snowmobile, etc... all those 11mm on your dirtbike, keep it in the bike's tool pouch