In my shed I am a very messy worker . One reason I maintain this painful approach is I rarely lose anything - if ever. That changed on Good Friday when I lost a pawl spring and a tiny 1/16 bolt onto the floor.
Here is a picture of my work-bench.

You should see the floor!

Anyways I spent hours on my hands and knees searching for the lost bits. I ended up fabricating a new tiny bolt but alas the pawl spring was irreplaceable.
Disgusted with myself I had a big and thorough clean-down - keeping a hopeful eye out on the too numerous to mention sweeping. No dice.
I ploughed on with the job (K6 Strumey Archer 3 speed) on a refurbed man's 1947 Sunbeam to go as a matching pair with the lady's already done.
I reconciled to my loss after a few days and took considerably solace from not falling over crap at every turn and marvelled at my uncluttered floorspace and bench!


1930s K6 in bits minus a pawl spring.
On the third day I had the need for a large screwdriver and fumbled it (my arthritis makes this more likely these days). I irritably retrieved the screwdriver from behind a small cabinet against the wall and went out to use it. Proceeded to attack a struck screw when a valediction forbidding mourning revealed itself on the end of my slightly magnetized screwdriver.

Hallelujah! (good job I didn't hoover up after my clean-down)

My question to the Forum has anyone else found something dropped/misplaced when all hope was lost.

You found it on Easter Day? Wow!

Found things I thought lost forever a few times - after I'd already given up and found or purchased a replacement of course. Finagle's Constant is in full force in my workshop.

I've lost so many single ball bearings, even when being careful, I couldn't count them all. Then, after spending an enormous amount of time looking for one, it suddenly appears like an angel had dropped it right in my face. It's pretty annoying actually, especially when I've dug up a replacement and sized it using my digital calipers. Arrgh!

I don't know which is worse, not finding something small in a "busy" area, purchasing a tool or bike part that I already had and forgot, or not seeing what I a looking for that is right in front of me and finding it after several days. All of which are show stoppers. My dad could never find the tool he needed so he bought what he needed. After his passing there were a lot of lost tools found and now there is an excess of them.

Having said that, I think the ops situation is the worst, loosing an original part that is not easily replaced.

I now use a magnet that is ball shaped with a long handle and a release to search the floor. A gift from my sister.
P1030160, on Flickr

Inspired me to get one for the bench.
P1030162, on Flickr

I hate when I drop something on a clean floor and the part vanishes. It's really frustrating when I saw the part fall and heard it hit the floor, but it's nowhere to be found. I have eventually found things caught on my shoes, wrinkles in my pants, or stuck on a lower part on the bike, but not before searching for a long time on the floor.

Great story.

My old freewheel fell apart, and lots of tiny balls fell all over the place, most of them irretrievably. I reassembled the freewheel with as many as I could find. It was fine. That's very different from a pawl spring.

I can't remember what material people used, but I've read stories of people fabricating their own Sturmey-Archer pawl springs out of some kind of wire.

Saint John's Street Cycles sell them for about a buck each.

You have bucks in the UK?

Does too.

If I bought one, from that moment forward, every part I lost would be aluminum or brass....

Glad you found that pawl spring! That thing is so thin and wispy that most of us would have given up too if we had one ping off on us. I guess it's good that most of these small things on the bike are made of steel, not aluminum, so the magnets are a good last resort tool if we cannot find them visually.

Out in the Pacific we were in rolling seas and I was overhauling the headset on a 1970 Super Course. Had everything out and on the bench when for some unknown reason the ship rolled sharply and the balls went to the floor rolling everywhere in the space. Took a long time, but I found all of them except two. A day later my shipmate came to me with the two missing balls asking me what I thought they came from. Miracle on the Pacific.

I keep a couple old metal fenders under my work bench (concave, under-side facing out toward my feet). They work as a great trap for dropped parts. I can slide them out and trawl for flotsam. Plus, if I hear a little metal ping sound, it's a clue where to look.

I think I found your jar of homemade pickles, [MENTION=449717]Johno59[/MENTION]!

I have searched for a small part, usually a small nut or bolt only to find it stuck to the underside of a magnetized parts bowl...do I bought more and formed a magnetic corral of sorts...works especially well on the metal topped bench, passable on the wooden bench...closer ranks...extendable magnetic p’ups and larger magnetized p’ups are my most important tools!

Never do bicycle work in a room with a terrazzo floor. 'Nuff said.

Oh, yes. I dropped one of the proprietary tapered spacers used to mount the inner ring on an Avocet triple crank:



Searched everywhere, swept the shop, etc.;no joy. Eventually gave up and resigned myself to not having a working Avocet triple crank. Bought another entire Avocet triple crank instead. Literally years later I found it when tidying the shop.

You should have hidden something on the floor for us to find...or maybe you did...hmmm?

Or stainless steel

"Oh, yes. I dropped one of the proprietary tapered spacers used to mount the inner ring on an Avocet triple crank: "
There is a special place in hell for those who afflicted upon us proprietary specified ANYTHING!

I think it might have been more instructive if you'd taken the photo before you threw up on the floor...…. Just saying.

At our LBS I was tasked to install a set of fenders. Went well until I dropped one of the wee stainless steel washers for the rear. I spent way too long searching for it, across the hardwood floor boards, all over the black rubber mat below the work stand. The owner got involved as did another employee. Swept, searched, cussed n fussed. The black rubber mat had a CycleOps logo on it - after way too long I found the tiny SS washer dead center on the white 'eye of the tornado' part of that logo. Quite embarrassing.

I use a flashlight for those items. Lay it on the floor with the beam parallel, just slightly lighting the floor. It is amazing what shows up!
Note that there are some SS parts that are magnetic. My tumbler uses tiny one that are easy to pick up with a magnet. I keep finding them after a cleaning cycle!
P1030165, on Flickr

+1 for me, was installing Euro headlights and servicing transmission on my 82 300SD last week. Upon reassembly, discovered I had a missing pan bolt. Spent a few hours crawling around garage with flashlight and magnetic probe with no joy. Eventually went outside and pulled a bolt off my parts car. Next day, cleaning up, noticed the missing bolt laying against base of the trash can. No idea how it got to far corner of my 3 car garage. Don

Euro Headlight Install