Huh. A bunch of crap ended up being piled in a disused corner of the patio over the years. A couple of weeks ago I gave away some car parts I was never going to use, and I’ve been itching to do a general cleanup. So I got to it this morning. I thought it would be nice to pull the chainsaw out from the shelf and do a bit of tree trimming. It’s not there. Someone, sometime, decided he wanted it more than I did. (They left the electric leaf-blower.) It was a cheap electric chainsaw, and it wasn’t very good. I’m not really upset that it’s gone, only I’m a bit miffed that someone would take something that didn’t belong to him. (Of course it could be in the shed. I looked, but didn’t see it; and I kept it on a shelf under the patio roof anyway.)
The weather hear can be a bit blustery from Autumn to Spring, and power outages are not especially uncommon. The SO said she doesn’t know if she can carry my Honda EP3000 generator to the patio if she needs it when I’m not here. So I thought, ‘Hey, I can clean out that corner and keep it under the patio roof. Then if we need it we can start it where it is and bring a power cord inside. Cable, TV, Internet, lights, and even a space heater if we need it!’ Now I’m wondering if I should move it there. Maybe I can lock it to a post, or drill a hole through the counter thing and chain it to that. Not that we’ll actually need it until October or November, anyway.
I can’t believe how many tools I’ve had disappear. Of course it’s my own fault for not bringing everything in and locking them up. But it’s the usual story, I planned to use it again the next day and the next day it rained, and next thing you know months have gone by, and it’s gone. I never lost a chainsaw, but most recently a handtruck, a sledge hammer, jack stands, extension ladder (idiots took the wrong one, it was a piece of crap). I’ve lost track of things taken from my car, electronic tools I’ve taken in to work, the list just goes on. I wish someone would steal my stick welder, I wrecked my knees dragging that thing around.
I had two gas chain saw stolen myself and I pretty much know who took them. About all you can do is tighten up your game and move on. It reminds me of the story Tom and Ray the Car Talk guys tell of having a battery stolen in Boston on the street. Thieves steal them so they can then steal the new replacement later. Tom replaced his stolen battery with a defective battery that he cleaned up to look new. The clean-old battery soon disappeared and he got to laugh over it. Maybe you could use your patio as a dumping ground for defective items that you shine up.
PS. I had a friend who had a system of storing everything in one huge pile of stuff. He had tons of tools, but had to borrow mine when he really needed something because he could never find a 17mm wrench or whatever. He was virtually theft proof because of his devious plan. Sounds like you already tried that on your patio though and it did not work. The jury is still out though because an old electric saw is not much worth stealing. Maybe you will find it yet.
People who steal tools need to be on the business end of a firing squad. Especially when they’re the tools of someone who makes their meager living using said tools.
I’m looking at you, you bastard window breaking weed whacker thieves!!:mad: