Lost and Found. Lets hear your Story

In 1980 I was climbing a peak above BYU and had a Gerber Mark 1 clipped to my daypack shoulder strap. It was winter and we were in deep snow. As the day wore on, I discovered that the knife was gone, the sheath clip apparently wasn't secure enough. I thought it was lost for good. That following spring, my brother was on the same mountain and found it, a little pitted but otherwise in good condition.
 
Several years ago I lost my Kershaw Blackout while working in my garage. I spent hours looking for the thing, and knew it had to be somewhere close. I few months later I manually lift up my garage door and the knife falls down and hits me in the head. I suddenly remembered using the pocket clip to secure it to the door's track while I was working on it.
 
sailfish said:
Last summer I went out for a motorcycle ride all day and during the ride home on the highway, I just reached down to feel my small carbon fiber scale Sebenza 21 insingo clipped to my pocket and realized it wasn't there. My heart immediately sank and I began patting my thighs to see if it slipped into my pocket. Nothing. I pulled over and checked all my pants pockets and jacket pockets but it wasn't in any of them.

I jumped back on the bike and rode right across the median and retraced every single mile I rode that day, scanning the road from shoulder to shoulder. Stopped at the gas station I fueled up at and checked the area around the pump I used and everywhere else in the parking lot. Thought about going in and asking if anyone turned a knife in but didn't bother. Went back home with a black hole in my stomach. When into my bedroom to hang my gear up and the knife was laying there on the bed. Never brought it with me in the first place...

Ever since that day though I never ride with my knife clipped. Bottom of my pants pocket or zipped in a jacket pocket.
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These are supposed to be happy lost and found stories with a good ending lol, that just makes me sad to hear. For real though, I'm always sorry to hear something like that, especially when it's a great high end knife like that. Hopefully someone found it and loves it and takes care of it, if it's lost then that could atleast be a good outcome instead of thinking about it forever in the dirt on a road side. Sorry you lost that :/
 
Weasipoint said:
These are supposed to be happy lost and found stories with a good ending lol, that just makes me sad to hear. For real though, I'm always sorry to hear something like that, especially when it's a great high end knife like that. Hopefully someone found it and loves it and takes care of it, if it's lost then that could atleast be a good outcome instead of thinking about it forever in the dirt on a road side. Sorry you lost that :/
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You uh, didn't finish the story, did you?
 
I have a pretty embarrassing one that I shared in the EDC thread earlier this summer. It's a bit of a long winded story, but I think some of you may find it amusing.

I was camping with my family by the creek. This campsite is near a few great trails, one of which is about 11 miles up to an alpine lake, with some stunning waterfalls in between, which my son and I usually hike while we're camping there. It's also close to a really short trail (3-4mi) with little to no elevation gain that happens to have a pretty impressive waterfall at the end itself. It's really more of a glorified nature walk, and consequently it is often crowded with people that drive in from the city to post instagram pics of themselves being "outdoorsy" (nothing wrong with that just setting the scene). Therefore we often avoid this trail, but I like to get up early when camping (PNW summer sunrise is around 5:30), and this gives me an opportunity to walk this trail early and get the waterfall at the end to myself.

On our final day of camping, I get up before everyone else, make a fresh cup of coffee (perhaps imbibe something else), and set off for the solitude of a solo walk in nature. Since the trail is short, I don't take a backpack, but just put my phone in my pocket and carry my small camera in its case in my hand. The walk went fine; I get to the waterfall, have it all to myself as planned, take some pictures, soak in the scenery, and head back down the trail. About halfway back I see an inviting spot to sit on a log over the edge of the creek (the trail runs along the creek), and decide to enjoy the area for a bit.

When I sit down, I transfer my phone from my back pocket to one on the side of my pants so I'm not sitting on it. I sit there for a while, just enjoying the beauty having a perfect morning. Eventually I realize what a good opportunity this area is for a knife pic, so I take my Jurassic out, stick it the log I was sitting on, and snap a few shots. I sit there for a good while, just enjoying the scenery, and finally decide it's time to head back to the camp and start packing up. I stand up from the log and hear, "KERPLUK!"

It was not my knife, but MY PHONE had slipped out of that side pocket and went in the creek. I turned around to look behind me, but it was nowhere to be found. I frantically set my camera and everything else I had in my hands down on the rocks and searched for it. It took about 5 minutes but I was able to find my phone about 10 feet further down the creek between some rocks where the water had carried it. Luckily its waterproof (Sony).

Relieved, I gather my things together that I had set on the ground and start to walk back to the trail. As I'm walking, I do the pocket check that I'm sure you all are familiar with and, GASP...NO JURASSIC!!!

Needless to say I panicked a bit. I wasn't sure if it had fallen out of my pocket at the same time as my phone, or if I had set it down on the rocks to look for my phone and it blended in too perfectly to find. Either way finding it was going to be near impossible. The whole place is rocks, there's no way to remember the specific rocks where you set something down. Not to mention the running creek. I searched for what seemed like forever (half hour or so), even combed the area like a grid, checking every crevice, to no avail.

Finally, discouraged, I sit back down on the log to contemplate what to do next and perhaps come to grips with the idea that I had idiotically while taking pictures lost my beloved Jurassic that had been on so many adventures with me. For a moment, I lift my head up, look over, and what do I see?...

CQwsDzi.jpg



MY JURASSIC! Right next to me! It was still stuck right there in the log where I was taking the picture 🤣🤣🤣🤓. It just blended in with the scenery and wasn't in the line of sight where I was looking.

I was so relieved, packing up the camp was actually a joy. At least I got a good picture out of it. I'm just glad some early morning hiker didn't happen along and ask me what I was looking for. I would've felt really dumb when they said, "You mean that giant knife sticking in the log right there?!" 🤣🤣
 
My lost story happened on our fishing boat over about 600' of water in Lake Ontario. Had used my First Edge fixed blade, the large one with the ELMAX steel as I recall. Had it sitting on the transom which is a couple of feet wide so thought it was safe. It wasn't. Over the stern it went down to the depths of Lake O. The found is again fishing late fall for browns and steelhead in a small stream in a suburb or Roch NY. Went down to the "hole" as I called it as it seemed to be the deepest part of the creek about 8' or so. I was nymphing for browns when I just glanced to my right and sticking in a tree was a gorgeous folder ala Reeves. Holy shite I says. Pull it out of the tree and figured I'd be here pretty much for the next several hours wandering up and down the creek spot fishing and if the feller showed back up I'd give it to him. Fished til late afternoon from about 0800. No one showed up and bingo one nice ass folder. The other thing is that right below the knife on the ground was a multi tool. I still have that somewhere too. I actually posted a pic of this knife a few yrs relating the story.

Thats' about it except for the time I bought a new EKI mini Commander and lost it in the same creek when it was pretty high. Stripped down to my underwear in freezing weather and searched around for that knife in the water til I found it. Had my waders on though and it was right next to the bank. MY daughter still keeps that in her nite stand. stay safe
 
I'm enjoying this thread. :)

I often open carry any of several knives that have orange handles. People comment on them, and when I say I collect orange knives, everybody understands why. Lots of stories ensue about lost and sometimes found knives in all kinds of places.

I lost my hay string knife twice. Once in a sheep pen, where I found it a couple months later. Washed off the sand and mud and sheep Scheiß (as Bastler said) and it was good as new. Later on it disappeared for a year. I eventually stumbled on it out in the middle of a pasture. It has a green and brown camo pattern, so it was not easy to see. The scales were slightly cracked, presumably by a hoof, but I used it for several more years. Best $5 my wife ever spent on a knife (she got it for me on ebay). It still cuts hay strings just as well as the Spyderco Pacific Salt 2 LC200N I bought to replace it.
 
Several years back I'd been in Houston suburb during hurricane Ike. I'd managed to keep one sentimental old SAK with me at all times. That knife disappeared while cleaned out the fridge/freezers after the power had been off for several weeks. (you can imagine how bad that was-toting all the drippy, stinky bags back & forth to the dumpster). Somewhere between emptying freezers & dumpster trips my old SAK disappeared. I'd used it every day/most days during that time and was truly bummed bc it had been given to me by a dear relative many years pryor. A few wks after the power had been restored, one of the landscapers knocked on my door and asked if I knew who this muddy knife belonged to. It was laying just outside where my truck was parked and thankfully he'd seen me many times at & knew my truck. I could not believe it had been found! I'd honestly figured it was accidentally tossed into dumpsters while lugging all that back & forth. I remembered I'd gotten stung by fire ants, right where my truck was parked and THAT was exactly where it was found. For once, those dang fire ants had actually turned out to have a positive outcome for me. No matter how cruddy that knife looked, I was thrilled to get it back.
 
I lose stuff, including knives, all the time.
I used to claim somebody stole it.
My wife (39 yr anni today) always finds them.
I don't say "stolen" any more.
I love that wife.
 
This was back in 2016, and I was at work:

"Thank you for calling tech support, this is David, what can I help you with today"
"Thank you for calling tech support, this is David, what can I help you with today"
"Thank you for calling tech support, this is David, what can I help you with today"

[.....]

Lunch time, finally! Out the door for a little run to the park, squats, pushups, then sit on the bench and eat my lunch. Back to work.... and an hour or so later I noticed my Cold Steel Tuff Lite I had been carrying in my breast pocket was gone! Well I slipped into "Aux 4" (personal time, used for bathroom breaks or emergencies, like a missing knife!) and ran back to the park, pulled out my flashlight (at the time, a PD35) and scoured the area near the bench, and actually found it within about two minutes. Didn't get any hassle from the management about taking 8 minutes of personal time, either (because I was not in the habit of doing so, and had good call handling and resolution stats).

And like a dummy, I carried it in that pocket another time, a couple years later while working as a chicken catcher in a hay filled barn, of all places. Hours of bending over and picking up four chickens at a time to hand them to the tagger. Needless to say the knife escaped again, and I didn't find it that time. I did eventually replace it with another though (blue handle instead of black), which I ended up giving to a friend.
 
As summer changed to fall shorts around the house changed to sweatpants I lost my beloved, birth year serial number and everything, Emerson CQC-8 hard chrome coated combo edge. I have better knives and knives that perform EDC talks better but I was in a funk over it.

The following spring, as some summer like days happened upon us, I started getting shorts ready. In the RF pocket of a pair of shorts that I must have thrown into a corner rather than into the wash was by beloved CQC-8. Life is good!
 
Sonnydaze said:
I lose stuff, including knives, all the time.
I used to claim somebody stole it.
My wife (39 yr anni today) always finds them.
I don't say "stolen" any more.
I love that wife.
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In my house, nothing is officially "lost" until my wife can't find it.
 
I found this Buck 110 in either 2003 or 2004 while stationed in South Carolina. I was on a bicycle ride. It was laying open in the road. It had been run over, had road rash on both sides, a broken tip, and some pitting on the blade.

I mailed it back to Buck, told them how I found it, and they fixed it up for free and sent it back to me. I told them I wanted to keep the character marks. I don’t know if they would have replaced the scales or not, but this knife earned them. They’re part of it’s story.

https://flic.kr/p/2rvXqCe
 
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