original ways to wreck tools

I went to grab my trusty old pliers today
and discovered the ridiculous cat from next door had gone into my shed,
found the sports bag I lug tools to projects in and pissed in it!
My pliers were all rusted up and absolutely pong.
Apparently steel readily absorbs strong odours...
hopefully taking off the rust and a good long soak will help.
What about boiling them?
Argh, damn cat
Anyone lost/damaged a tool in an unusual way, as opposed to the good old 'burying it in a compost heap' trick?

Coca-cola.

The phosphoric acid found in Coca-cola is a very good metal etchant. If you soak your pliers in Coca-cola for a few minutes, then rinse them off, they will be ready and primed to take a coat of oil-based enamel paint. Leave the jaws bare for a better gripping surface, but for the body of the tool, a coat of paint will make cat piss easy to wash off.

It might be a bit loose with the definition of "tools" but I have a bad habit of taking off my glasses when doing close-up work and they wind up in some strange places. I have found them in the front yard, in the grass, totally mangled from intimate interaction with a lawn mower. Maybe I shouldn't just plop them down beside me when weeding flowerbeds (actually it was a potato bed)

Bill Ramsey wrote:It might be a bit loose with the definition of "tools" but I have a bad habit of taking off my glasses when doing close-up work and they wind up in some strange places. I have found them in the front yard, in the grass, totally mangled from intimate interaction with a lawn mower. Maybe I shouldn't just plop them down beside me when weeding flowerbeds (actually it was a potato bed)

Every 10 years or so I've been known to swat a bug away from my face, catching the frame of my glasses with the tip of my finger, and hurling them in whatever direction I was facing. Once I was facing a river. Damn.

Most of my tools just break from a combination of overuse, neglect, and/ or inappropriate re-purposing.

John Elliott wrote:Coca-cola

Call me old fashioned, but I won't buy that devil's juice, even for my cat-pissed pliers!
I'm happy to say soaking overnight got rid of the stench-now I'll work on the rust-factor.

I wrecked a lovely pair of loppers cutting through a small branch that just wouldn't...cut...
I really leaned into it, and eventually worked out that there was a strand of high-tensile wire embedded in the wood.
Ok, not really wrecked, but I had to file the blades back so far they never felt the same.

This past fall I butchered two pigs outside on the porch. I used the outdoor hose to wash things down but forgot to drain it and put it away. So it froze over night and I was stupid enough to pick it up early the next morning. It broke into many pieces. As soon as I heard it snap I said to myself "you're a fucking dummy, you know that?". Anyway... I have connectors around here so I can use the biggest pieces again.

A front door being a tool for ingress and egress , therefore :

My next door neighbor Rick had a 90+ year old brick home . The front door had a scrolled brass knob and 6 rectangular beveled glass panes which were lead soldered in place . Irreplaceable . On beautiful spring day I heard Rick stumble out the back door and yell "My house is on fire !" . It was . Black smoke rolling out of every opening . I had just seen Ricks mother-in-law Maude enter the front door about 15 minutes before . So , I yelled out " Hey , where's Maude ?! " Rick answers "I don't know " so I ran to the front door and kicked it down . The smoke was impenetrable . Maude as it turns out had only been inside a few moments and was safely in her own home down the road . The story ends well . The fire department putting out the flames . Insurance company paying for the remodeling . But after the flames were out Rick and I were walking around looking at the damages .We get to the front door and Rick stares at me with a sneer {Rick is intimidating at 6'6" and 350 lbs} "You broke my door" . I say "Ya , but I thought Maude was inside" . Rick gently turns the door knob and says "Ya , but it was unlocked !" All I could say was "Ya know , I always wanted to do that .Feels good . You should try it sometimes . Just not at my house ." He never has found a similar replacement for that door but we are still freinds .