Gravity

[Dorsetmike]

I'm sure gravity gets stronger as I get older, more and more bits seem to fall off my bench or out of my hands than used to when I was younger.

Associated with this the fallen items also tend roll &/or bounce much further once having reached the floor and have a knack of disappearing from view until one struggles down onto ones knees to search, with a subsequent much bigger struggle to regain a normal position.

I do wish someone would invent magnets that attract brass and plastic, it'd make life a lot easier.

[Bob Tidbury]

You couldnt have said a truer word Mike ,see you sometime  at Brockenhurst this weekend .
BobTidbury

[Newportnobby]

A couple of tools you might find handy if you haven't already got them...........

http://www.halfords.com/workshop-tools/tools/hand-tools/rolson-magnetic-led-pick-up-tool?cm_mmc=Google+PLA-_-Tools-_-Hand+Tools-_-227186&_$ja=tsid:60494%7Ccgn:GoogleShopping%7Ckw:227186&istCompanyId=b8708c57-7a02-4cf6-b2c0-dc36b54a327e&istItemId=mqrptqa&istBid=tztx&_$ja=tsid:35522|cid:344535484|agid:25437357364|tid:pla-227393614084|crid:89797547524|nw:g|rnd:12404244243968662602|dvc:c|adp:1o3&gclid=CMPGiMvFiNQCFdAV0woddF0M4Q#

http://www.manageathome.co.uk/pd/Helping-Hand-Classic-Reacher_11938.htm?utm_source=Google_Shopping&utm_medium=PPC&utm_campaign=ns1:Reachers--Grabbers&gclid=CKeHxpvGiNQCFcW4GwodEDIB-A

As someone who often ends up like a tortoise on its back I'm afraid I can't help with getting down and up again

[Dorsetmike]

Had both of them for a few years already (suspect I'm older than you) The magnetic one is fine for iron or steel drops, but when working with brass 12, 14 and 16BA nuts and bolts they don't succunb to the attraction. Similarly with the reacher  they work fine on bigger stuff, it's the small bits that are the problem.

The cloth hung from the neck and fastened to the bench works fine - when one remembers to use it, but for those "this won't take a minute" jobs that's when one can't be bothered and disaster strikes, the minute job becomes half an hour ... ... ...

[Newportnobby]

Similarly with the reacher  they work fine on bigger stuff, it's the small bits that are the problem.

I'm constantly amazed at how easy it is to pick up quite small things. If one should pea on the floor whilst eating dinner (that is, drop a petit pois) it's the only way I can pick it up without a great deal of faffing/cursing. Oh, and never drop one during dinner in front of the good lady, especially if it's her turn

[keithfre]

I guess the operate-inside-a-transparent-plastic-bag approach is the only foolproof solution, but I have to admit I've hardly ever used it 

[javlinfaw7]

A cane with a lump of blue tack can sometimes be useful.

[dannyboy]

A cane with a lump of blue tack can sometimes be useful.

There is also something called a 'Pick up Pencil', (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pick-Up-Pencil-Non-Sticky-Gems-Rhinestones-Diamontes-Pins-Needles-Pick-Up-Tool-/152447297616?hash=item237e912850:g:q9gAAOSwTuJYrv6w), which, if fastened to the said cane, would also work. That is provided you can see the bit that has defied gravity!

[daffy]

One method I have used for many years now when something drops to the floor and scuttles away is to ask, ever so politely,

"Now where have you gone to, eh?"

Or

"Okay, now lets not play silly devils" (N.B. I do not actually use the word 'devils.)'

So far it seems to work far more than 50% of the time and the nut/washer/plastic gubbins/brass tack or whatchamacallit is swiftly recovered without any more than a bit of joint pain and a hernia or two.

I have noted also that sometimes these comments of mine are reduced to a single word or maybe two, usually of the 'W' kind, such as "Whoops!" and "What?" and even the untranslatable "Waaaa!".  But the result is much the same so the offending articles seem to get the point and come readily to hand. As I said, far more than 50% of the time, so it works. Doesn't it? 

P.S. I have similarly noted that the use of single or double expletives (no examples offered), used either alone or in combination with the above mentioned pleas, has the opposite effect, and that items remain lost either for far longer or forever. In these cases no device offers any real assistance.

[woodbury22uk]

I offer this as a catch all (well catch most) solution. Take one king size bed fitted sheet with an elasticated perimeter. Lay it on the floor and place work area in the centre. Ues a pile of old railway magazines at each corner to create a raised perimeter. Pray that anthing you drop stays within the perimeter.

[StormyOutlook]

My solution to locating bits that have fallen on the floor is a very bright LED torch.  A coupling spring pinged away on Sunday and while I didn't find the one that pinged away, in my search I did find two armature springs which had disappeared on previous occasions, which I considered a small win.  I guess having spare spares is a saving grace, as is not hoovering 

[tutenkhamunsleeping]

Take one king size bed fitted sheet with an elasticated perimeter. Lay it on the floor and place work area in the centre. Ues a pile of old railway magazines at each corner to create a raised perimeter. Pray that anthing you drop stays within the perimeter.

As you get older, a rubberised sheet offers a multi-purpose solution

[The Q]

I'm sure I typed this one in before but maybe my memory is failing as well...

As my railway shed nears completion, the colour of the floor has been discussed with the "authorities. At the moment the likelyhood is it will be blue, Not much of the  stuff that may escape is blue, and the colour will not upset SWMBOs painting (artwork).
When I get round to doing the floor, it may require something from Ransomes and Rapier to get me back up off the floor...