..some small part goes SPRroooooiing and you wait for the tiniest sound of it hitting the floor (or wall, or ceiling) to try and narrow your hunt in that direction.

I knew better.

Disassembling a SK ratchet, I had not been in there before and there is a small pin (spring loaded of course) just WAITING to be released from its prison. It pressures the reversing mechanism to toggle. How was I to know it was in there? Well, it launched (I heard it), but didn't hear the resulting landing Dang! I saw it left a tiny greasy spot on my shirt that in my mind reassured me it had lost some momentum and might be on my left side.

15 minutes of searching, I was about to give up. I had painstaking gone through the trash bin which was nearby. Nope. I started moving equipment (I knew better than that)..nope. 30 more minutes of flashlight aided, magnet assisted searching....nada.

Taking a quick water break, I resumed the search. Right as I was walking up to the work bench I looked down.

Bingo!

Just goes to show, if you work with small parts.......please....try and keep them contained!

:-)

When I disassembled the Williams SUPERECTOR to photograph the innards, nothing went sproing when I opened it.  I took the two little conical springs out from behind the ratchets very carefully. I set them aside while I cleaned things up inside the wrench.  I did all this on a mini bench that clamps in my big bench vice. It brings thing up closer to trifocal eye level and doesn't require a major archeological dig on the main bench. When I started putting the ratchet back together, one of the springs was not to be found. I dumped the trash can and wound up cleaning about 25 % of the shop looking for it. About an hour went by. I moved the big wrench and there it was, hiding under the wrench. By noting that my shop was a bunch cleaner, my attitude improved a bit. Point is, I think it happens to all of us who are not obsessive about shop neatness.
If a cluttered workbench is a sign of a cluttered mind, what is a clean workbench a sign of?

When my shop was a working shop I bought four different assorted springs running from tiny to about 1 in. there were supposed to have 100 springs in each paper bag .i got a clear plastic shoe box with a cover to store them in . I opened each bag and emptied them carefully into the shoe box . put the box on the  top shelf where they would be safe.About  the second or third time i looked into the box for a spring I stood on a milk crate and reached for the box. This was about four years ago and I feel that what happened next had a lot to do with me finding springs this past fall when i cleaned the garage. I would not bet anyone against finding more today.
  bob w.

I once made the mistake of prying up the little fingers that hold the cover on a chevy ignition switch. All the little balls escaped merrily bouncing off various walls and things....

I handed the switch back to the fellow who owned it and just said...:I guess I'm buying you another one of these"