The Greatest Tool Ever is The Mechanical Pick-up Tool

Years I've spent languishing in the garage after dropping a nut, socket, screw, or bolt within any and all deep automotive holes. I've used magnets stuck to screwdrivers, and wrenches with duct tape. And I've battered, bruised, and cut my knuckles trying to snag those items with just my bare hands. What the hell was I thinking?

After dropping a number of bolts and washers into my Can-Am's nigh-accessible skid-plate installing the Yoshimura exhaust, I finally lamented and picked up a retrieval set from my local Ace Hardware. It was a revelation.

It didn't matter that I had sausage fingers or that my finger grip has become progressively worse over the years due to me almost never using gloves—I barely have fingerprints at this point. All I needed to do was grab the grabbers, snake it through whatever obstacles that lay in front of me, and snag the fastener or socket. It's been a huge help in the garage.

And it's been instrumental inside our house as my children have found ingenious ways of sticking small things in even smaller openings.

There have been hotdogs rolled underneath our refrigerator, beads thrown into sinks and down the pipes, and all manner of felt, foam, and Play-Doh stuck into the gullet of my youngest son's toy beluga whale. But instead of having to remove wall panels, grates, or dissecting the animals, I just have to walk into the garage and pickup the grabber. It's been a breeze.

This humble tool has become the one tool I can't live without, whether that's in my garage wrenching or inside doing an endoscopy on a toy. And best of all, unlike all those other can't-live-without tools, this one is cheap. You'll never spend more than $20 on it or a kit.

I love my mechanical pick-up tool and I should've picked one up years ago. Don't be like me, grab a mechanical pick-up tool and stop cursing out dropped fasteners. You'll thank me.

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