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LOOK OUT–tool thieves are out there!

PegHead | Posted in General Discussion on August 20, 2005 06:11am

Hey gang,

I’d just like to spread the word about our tool theft. We were ripped off about 2 weeks ago in SE PA, just west of philly.

They took all the power stuff including some very special saws (14″-16″)….we are a timber framing company, so the stuff is not your run of the mill skill saws.

Would you keep an eye out, please. I figure the only way to stop this is to cut off the sales/buyer end of the deal.

Yea, by the way…it really sucks. If you buy suspect stuff that might be stolen from another carpenter, may all your nails be forever bent and you burn in the cut-off pile!

Any questions or comments, please reply here!  Yup. I’d pay a reward.

Reply

Replies

  1. ANDYSZ2 | Aug 20, 2005 07:31pm | #1

    Wifes van got broke into last night while we were outside eating less than a 100' away and didn't hear a thing.  They got the VCR and TV funny thing is both were broke but still have to pay 250 deductible.

    ANDYSZ2

    I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.

    Remodeler/Punchout

  2. TJK | Aug 20, 2005 08:23pm | #2

    Sorry for your loss - I wonder, can Karma put thieving fingers in the wrong place when the stolen item is a saw?

    I live in Grand Junction CO, and sometimes I think they should rename it Grand Larceny for all the property crimes that happen in and around town. Meth addicts and other assorted low lifes regularly make off with everthing from tools in sheds to $150K loaders on a flat bed trailer. The sad part is the police really don't seem to care about property crime or auto theft. Victims get a piece of paper they can file with the insurance company.

    1. Danno | Aug 20, 2005 08:30pm | #3

      Well, the Supreme Court has ruled that cops don't have to stop others from doing bodily harm either, so.... And people wonder why we feel the need to be armed!

      1. User avater
        bstcrpntr | Aug 20, 2005 11:57pm | #4

        Sorry about your loss, hope you get things back.  Reminds me of a few times.

        A few years back I was loading tools in the back door of my enclosed trailer.  About the third trip out I noticed that things were missing.  What was missing was everything from the first two trips.  As I put things in the back door, then walked away, he reached in the side door grabbed and stored things around the other corner of a next door  building.  I shut and locked the back door, walked all the way around the garage, then smashed his legs with teh side door he was reaching in.  Cathcing him off guard was good, as he fell in the trailer, I locked the other door, and called 911 with burglery in progress.  The cops chewed my azz out, smacked him on the hand, and asked him if he wanted topress charges on me for harming him.  No charges were filed, I got my tools back, but guess we can't protect our stuff.

        The other good one was when Dad was working two doors down from me.  Some guy comes up and ask me if I want to buy some tools.  I notice the tools are my dads.  I hold him off call dad to take a look at them and he calls 911 on the way.  Stalled would be theif till police came.  That guy got in some trouble at least, since I/we didnt beat him.

        Be careful out there, lots of theives everywhere.An inch to short.  That's the story of my life !

        bstcrpntr ---   I hope to grow into this name.

        1. gregb | Aug 21, 2005 12:41am | #5

          Reminds me of a story that supposedly happened to a friend of a friend about 15 years ago...My buddy's friend & his dad come home one night, & find an intruder in the house. They proceed to beat the hell out of the guy, & then call the cops. When the cops get there, they look at the bloodied burglar, & ask what happened to him. The father says "he fell down the stairs". Cop asks "How many times?" The father replies "Till he got it right!" LOL!I can totally sympathize with being ripped off. It's happened to me a few times over the years, & it sucks that the tools you make your living with are stolen, & usually sold for pennies on the dollar. Talk about a crime with a real victim... You'd think the cops would understand that ripping off a tradesman's tools is a lot different than someone having a bike, or lawnmower stolen from their garage.

        2. Shep | Aug 21, 2005 01:50am | #6

          your problem was not getting rid of the evidence!

          Ya shoulda drove that guy 100 miles out of town and dropped his a** off in the middle of nowhere.

          1. Dave45 | Aug 21, 2005 04:21am | #7

            That would be satisfying until the SOB filed kidnapping charges.

          2. 4Lorn1 | Aug 21, 2005 04:55am | #8

            Tradesmen start making thieves disappear and the milk cartons are going to start to look mighty ugly. Ugly enough to ruin breakfast. Those crack and crank addicts are not widely considered to be 'easy on the eyes'.Amber alerts may go down a little differently also. A general call to rescue 'a scraggly, unshaven, crackhead wearing dirty old cloths' is likely to create a dragnet that brings in every derelict , wino and bum for miles around.Brought to the police station there is sure to be a shortage of air freshener and complaint from citizens down wind. At the very least. On the up side it would likely speed trafic through the highway off ramps.

          3. Shep | Aug 21, 2005 04:12pm | #11

            Just make sure he never returns, then.

            I kinda feel that tool theives should be treated like horse rustlers in the old west :)

          4. TJK | Aug 21, 2005 07:30pm | #16

            "I kinda feel that tool theives should be treated like horse rustlers in the old west :)"The "Call me Lefty", Islamic approach to punishing thievery also has its merits!

          5. Shep | Aug 21, 2005 08:20pm | #17

            Both are effective!

            Unfortunately, I'm more bark than bite.

          6. DenverKevin | Aug 21, 2005 09:54pm | #19

            DeWalt is starting to get on the right track, but the Sitelock system seems expensive.

            http://www.dewalt.com/us/articles/article.asp?Site=woodworking&ID=1345

            Are there any other systems?  LoJack is also too expensive.

    2. PegHead | Aug 21, 2005 03:52pm | #10

      We asked the state cop who took the report about finger prints....he said we watched too much TV.

      I posted here as my stuff is probably on it way to Florida or something.

      Fear is the thief that keeps you from treading where you might have won....Shakespeare.

      1. TJK | Aug 21, 2005 07:25pm | #15

        After a compressor was stolen from my garage in '00, the cop told me it was probably the work of a local gang who specialized in stealing tools. Gangs have territories, and the clever ones have their girlfriends working at the police station, jail, and alarm companies. If you notice tagging around your house or work area, you can assume that your stuff is being watched. Politicians in small towns like to deny the presence of gang activity because it indicates they are not doing their job. Gangs move in on small communities because the police are usually understaffed, clue less, or both. Mark your tools and keep the insurance current.

  3. User avater
    LEMONJELLO | Aug 21, 2005 01:30pm | #9

    Yep it sucks, whole job site got ripped off about two months ago, although we left the digging bar, shovels and sledge in the closet ironically they used them to break in to the knack and the greenlee boxes, Hmmm that was smart! Good news though, they left ricks new X5 Delta tablesaw (too heavy i suspect) but with a sledge smashed through the extension table. Ice is a big problem here in Hawaii and costing a lot of people a lot of money and heartache.
    I feel for you man. Good luck with recovery, sometimes they end up sold to another guy then end up at the swapmeet, I found my festool saw there and bought it back for 100 bucks, nothing else though...

    I cut the board twice and its still too short ! ! !
    1. User avater
      basswood | Aug 21, 2005 05:41pm | #12

      "Ice is a big problem here in Hawaii"I thought that sounded hilarious...of course I know it is not.

      1. FastEddie | Aug 21, 2005 05:44pm | #13

        Yeah.  But what is ice?  Some kinda new drug?

          

        "When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it."  T. Roosevelt

      2. User avater
        LEMONJELLO | Aug 21, 2005 06:53pm | #14

        I didn't think about how that sounded!! HA! Ice is crytal meth, and is pretty nasty around hereAs for my cooler, I keep a bag of ice in there, though nobody stole the igloo water cooler yet!I cut the board twice and its still too short ! ! !

  4. dirtstirrer | Aug 21, 2005 09:44pm | #18

    Afternoon,

    A search brought me over here from Knots, and this tread reminds me of an incident I was in.  I farmed for 16 years, and gradually the meth problem has gotten worse here.  They seem to come out here in the sticks to set up their "labs".  One of the ferlilizers we use, anhydrous amonia, apparently has something to do with meth manufacture, so the tanks are a theft target. 

    I had a string of tanks sitting by a county road one night, and when I went out to shut off a pivot, I noticed car come over the hill, and kill its lights.  I was on a four wheeler, so I went back to my house, and grabbed a rifle, an AR-15, and with lights off, drove right up behind the car where the would be tank drainers were doing something in the trunk.  I switched on the lights about 50 ft. behind the car and the look those morons gave me was priceless.  Kind of like a deer before he meets a semi.  I made it obvious that I had the rifle, and told them to get the hell off my property.  They got into there car very quickly, but it didn't start right away.  I just moved off in the dark and killed the engine.  Judging by the cussing, that freaked them out pretty badly.  Poor things.  The plates on the car were from Colorado, and I doubt they stayed in this area very long.

    Hope you get some recourse from the law, but I wouldn't bet on it.  Cops have more "important" things to do.  Like setting up sobriety checkpoints and writting tickets for bad taillamps. 

     

    Steve

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