I can too, my son is a machanic. He has lost his own and the one that he âborrowedâ off me 
Late husband, built and rebuilt classic cars - still finding duplicate tools. Good memories! 
âMe Fourâ re lost tools
Links to âbe careful lending a tradesperson your tools if they attend without the right one as they can walk off with yours if youâre not carefulâ
If a trades person does not have the right tools !!!
Send him away and get a real professional to do the job.
Got a phone call from a Skoda main dealer half an hour after a service to say could I please look under the bonnet because they thought theyâd left a spanner in there.
It was nowhere to be seen, so was probably on the M4 from the trip home.
Duplicate Tools [and everything]
ditto late father RAF Engineer/Horologist [did all his own maintenance & repairs on everything from his vehicles to radios, clocks, watches, washing machinesâŚyou name it] but post his heart attack which left him brain damagedâŚduplicates of everythingâŚtook me years to slowly sell or give to charity after moving in as his carer. Hard work but some very funny moments and the closest weâd ever been 
My comment was following the trend of the PosterâŚHumour 
But indeed I have âsent a tradesperson awayâ especially âMike the Leakâ who was taking advantage of my late vulnerable father. Oh was that fun when he tried to sue me/Dad. Needless to say we won 
f.y.i. wasnât the minor missing toolsâŚâMike the Leakâ didnât connect the waste pipe from the new bathroom so new neighbour below got the benefit of my bath water before heâd insured the property
âWelcome to the neighbourhoodâŚwe share everythingâ 
No such thing as duplicate tools, they all have a necessary time and place.
I would expect most mechanically minded old hands to have many of the following probabilities.
Spanners, Metric and possibly Imperial or even Whitworth, and almost always supplied in sets:
Open-ended both ends, short shaft
Open-ended both ends, long shaft
Ring both ends, short shaft
Ring both ends, long shaft
Ring offset both ends, long shaft
Ring one end and Open-ended other end, twice (different size ranges in the sets)
Ring ratchet both ends, twice (different size ranges in the sets)
From these it is usually possible to have at least one for each hand of each size of ring and open-ended. But they always come in sets with a crucial size missing on the next job, so another set including it will appear.
There there are the specials, usually in odd sizes, eg:
a sacrificial set (ex-jumble sale) to damage or for a helper to lose bits from
one ground down to fit under a locknut
one slimmed and trimmed as a key to fit camshaft locking-flats
some cut and re-welded with suitable angles to reach around corners
assorted brake spanners
Drain-Plug spanners
Spark-plug spanners
Then think about sockets, no donâtâŚ
But one might almost have more screwdrivers
Flat, Phillips, Posi, JIS, Hex, Torx, Spline (not Torx) in various sizes from jewellers upwards, again often in sets, some of which were bound to have been bought in a hurry knowing they were probably soft as butter but might last just one vital job.
Thatâs the tool chest on wheels, but, thereâs more; woodworking and building and the big stuff.
And then thereâs the no-longer manufactured irreplaceable inherited stuffâŚ
No wonder thereâs no room in an average domestic garage for a car.
Donât disagree with you 
Sensible List 
Duplicates occur [of everything] when an individual suffers e.g. dementia and they canât remember buying an item or where it is located
When I moved in as my late Dadsâ Carer he had 12 bars of soap and 15 tubes of toothpaste for example and would regularly tell me heâd run out of shower gel when it was half fullâŚbecause his damaged brain could not register that the shower gel was still half full. Folk being paid to care for him were not challenging his perception of reality and e.g. he remembered he used to be able to fix things like central heating but couldnât remember how so after he disconnected the gas supply and nearly blew him self up
Thatâs the humorous version !
I could bore everyone rigid with more but I wonât as this intended as a light-hearted post
Thanks RichardFXâŚKnew Youâd Understand 
[Suzi Q final antibiotics tomorrow. She happy catty 
]
Kindest
My late husband had full Mechanics Snap-on set as above - usually kept in order, and extra socket sets in the lorry, the van and the motorhome- but somehow the one required was always somewhere else at the time - probably because he was called away for an order at the crucial time and had to down tools! Had so many specialist tools for specific jobs and bits for various projects - but no time to put stuff away! 
Glad I had mates to help me sort it out. They also helped me get the MX-5 as he instructed
If it is an old car and mechanic, more likely to be 1/2 inch AF (Across Flats)!
Soooo envious!
Yeap they just seem to evaporate into a different realm , one minute they are there and the next they are gone , which can mean searching for it takes longer than the original job in the first place.
M-m
So true, but I reckon thereâs some kind of spanner/socket elf/brownie/goblin, that nests on shredded Snap-on receipts, deep within tool boxes (invisible during the day)
-it only comes out when the garage is locked, and moves the tools from where you left them⌠
Only explanation - isnât it? 
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