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Found in a child's bedroom. I have my suspicions as to what they are, but would like that confirmed!
Thank you
bottom one is a locking wheel nut from a car and it looks like a device that could be hammered over said nut to undo it without having the right shaped key?
Bing bong…
Nah, the bottom one is a set of tweezers.
bottom one is a locking wheel nut from a car and it looks like a device that could be hammered over said nut to undo it without having the right shaped key?
I would say the same - and pliers are to get the plastic covers off?
bottom photo!
on reflection the "key" is too small for my suggestion
Locking wheel nut, a pair of tweezers that could work for removing ticks...the t-piece could be for opening up gas meter cabinets - or for bleeding a radiator - does the radiator work ok in that room?
Unsure if you are thinking this is all drug-related, but in my naivety, I'm not sure the locking wheel nut could help with anything, the tweezers might be of some use and the t-piece looks like it has too many gaps to be used for smoking anything - but then I've no experience of this so could be completely wrong.
The T shaped one could be a key for opening up lamposts and such like
So what would use would all these have for a 12 year old child (who I assume is up to no good).
The tweezers look like some I've got for holding down microchips, etc whilst soldering them. What they are being used for in this instance, no idea!!! (could be used as a roach holder, for smoking joints, I guess?)
on reflection the “key” is too small for my suggestion
Yeah, I doubt that would provide anywhere near enough leverage to remove a wheel nut.
Looks to me like the sort of cheap box spanner supplied with motorcycles.
So ... Box spanner that's been mangled, locking wheel nut, tweezers.
The child has a new-found interest in cars so I am suspicious that it is part of some theft kit but it is certainly dodgy and he's certainly not trying to switch the radiator on in his room.
What are your suspicions?
What are your suspicions?
Definitely a locking wheel nut but the key looks too small to be anything connected to wheels.
T bar thing looks like a box spanner that has been abused either by trying to fit into the locking nut or something else.
If it's your 12 year old and you're wondering why they have them, I wouldn't worry in the least. My eldest and her friend are always finding random objects, usually metallic, in various spots outside and bringing them home cos they are 'interesting'. What did they say when you asked them? Why would you assume a child is up to no good? You sound like a really chilled parent.
So what would use would all these have for a 12 year old child (who I assume is up to no good).
If your child is anything like I was as a child, it could just be cool looking "treasure" they've found whilst out playing. I can't imagine your 12yr old has been out nicking and flogging car alloy wheels in the playground.
So what would use would all these have for a 12 year old child (who I assume is up to no good).
...perhaps he's dreaming of owning his own shed some day and he's starting young - this is the sort of tat he'd need to accumulate to achieve peak-shed by the time he's 30! 🙂
Seriously...
• Locking wheel nut key is pretty useless unless you know the exact car it fits. Not even sure it is one as it has no collar to extend over the nut.
• The T-Bar - no way you'd get enough leverage on that to remove a wheel-nut.
• Tweezers - no idea!
We have also just found a tin of spray paint and an empty tin of Carling.
Why would you assume a child is up to no good? You sound like a really chilled parent.
He is a Looked After Child (sorry, I thought this was pretty common-knowledge here now as it has come up a few times over the last year).
Tweezers - for removing the plastic caps that are on the wheel nuts of many cars, to allow access for a socket
empty tin of Carling
Now is the time for intervention.
The t handle looks like a key for some sort of lock, eg a train door (though I think they're male not female), lamp post, gas cupboard etc.
Locking wheel nut not a clue what you'd use that for but that being said I don't know how they lock... Could the tweezers be being used to perhaps pick that?
On reflection that is just a locking wheel nut - not the key...
https://www.mrtyre.com/help-and-advice/locking-wheel-nuts-explained/
T bar would open the electrical cabinets here on site by the looks of it
Does the thread and ramped/cone not suggest that it is in fact an anti tamper bolt or locking wheel nut? Not something for removing them. No marking on the side or face suggesting it has been beaten over something else.
The mangled box spanner looks like it has been made triangular inside so maybe for getting into gas meter boxes, lampposts, etc.
Can't think of any use for the wheelnut other than a) as a wheelnut, or b) for going to a car place and saying "I've lost the key to my locking wheel nuts, it's this pattern, can you get me a new one?"
Curious as to why it looks covered in soot until you get 1/2 way down the threads...
Tweezers? Could maybe used as part of a lock-picking kit?
Top one does look rather like it's been smacked into a shape to try and remove the wheel nut. (Imagine it's just trying to engage 3 of the points) the rubbing of the covering suggests it's been used a bit.
It's perfectly possible that it's just three random objects found while walking along a pavement. Depending on the child, perhaps it's just a collecting thing. A psychologist might have an insight into their desire to have some possessions, even a need to have secret possessions.
My brother once brought home bits of mortar shells. I don't think he was contemplating a career with Wagner.
Is he just collecting things that fascinate him? Found under a hedge?
There is a possibility of that (he does have a bit of a hoarding tendency, collecting stuff whenever we go out as a family). He has started hanging around near some garages/retail/industrial park so there is a possibility he's picked stuff up there, but I thought it all kinda looked like a set (obviously I could be way off the mark, hence me asking on here).
Were they hidden in his room or left out ?
If hidden, put them back , then play the long game and go a bit Columbo to see if he takes them out again with him.
If they are just innocent treasure, then chances are he won't have any use for them.
If he takes them with him, then escalate to next level.
Were they hidden in his room or left out ?
If hidden, put them back , then play the long game and go a bit Columbo to see if he takes them out again with him.
If they are just innocent treasure, then chances are he won’t have any use for them.
If he takes them with him, then escalate to next level.
They were in a drawer, hidden below other stuff. I tend to agree though - playing the long game is possibly the correct approach especially if they aren't clearly some very dodgy things that he could get into trouble with (ie, an obvious car theft kit that could get him into trouble even if he's just found with it on his person by the police).
Used to collect random stuff like that when we were kids...
Going by the last pic, none of them are nail clippers
That is my wife's hand 🤣
He is a Looked After Child (sorry, I thought this was pretty common-knowledge here now as it has come up a few times over the last year).
Ah right. I didn't know, sorry.
It could be that someone else used them to nick wheels and tossed them aside to be found by your kid. Does the turny thing fit into the locking wheel nut? That said, I'd be amazed if you could get enough torque through to actually undo a wheelnut like that.
scotroutes
Exactly what immediately came to mind 😆
100% the T bar is a street light key, use them most days.
Ah right. I didn’t know, sorry.
Not a problem - I just didn't say as I didn't really think it had a bearing on the question. By the sounds of the responses, it does seem they may well be innocuous, but the spray paint and empty beer tin, not so much. Kids (your own or otherwise) ehh!
Having had a looked after child in the family, I would say exactly what @scotroutes has said. He had a fascination with keys, any keys and now aged 23 still has.
If I was to guess, I’d say he’s just found them while out and about and having no idea what they are, just seen as treasure.
The "T" bar looks like a very worn Euro lift emergency landing door "triangle" release key.
an empty tin of Carling.
The youth of today, <sighs> what happened to plastics bottles of 20/20
The youth of today, <sighs> what happened to plastics bottles of 20/20
'Cos I didn't have any in the garage where I assume he stole it from. (I know, guilty as charged - I bought Carling once). Thankfully he didn't find the Leffe 🤣
You bought Carling once.... You know statements like that are likely to lead to the ban hammer coming down
Magnet fishing finds?
All the people suggesting the tshaped tool is a locknut key need to go outside and tighten their wheel nuts beyond finger tight.
My guesses - I doubt they fit a 12 yr old, mind. Does he have older friends ?
spanner - key to wherever the real stuff is hidden (meter box, lamppost, phone cabinet ...) ? (or has it been heated at one end ?)
tweezers - for a roach ?
Wheel nut - not even a guess. Oooh, might it weigh exactly "something" (can't be an ounce, surely)
Best summarised by; whut?
They're not tools, that's rubbish. Unless the tweezers smell like an old hippy they don't mean anything either.
Similarly folk partaking in illicit beer and spray painting tend not to bring the empties home.
11mm sockets, short lengths of hose and some drainpipe, that's something worth asking about.
Squirrelking - he’s a 12 yr old foster kid, not a 16 yr old offspring pissing around. I’m just trying to get my head around what he may be doing. And stealing/drinking my beer isn’t a good look for him, even if it was just Carling.
squirrelking
11mm sockets, short lengths of hose and some drainpipe, that’s something worth asking about.
Ok, I'll ask then?
Is it possible he was given the items to hide as a test?
Massive respect for what you're doing BTW.
They were in a drawer, hidden below other stuff. I tend to agree though – playing the long game is possibly the correct approach
I hope you took a photo. If I were 12 and had hidden something odd, I'd know 100% if someone had moved them. I'd probably have placed them very specifically.
The wheel nut is a wheel nut, as others have said. I cannot think how that's nefarious, I'd be more concerned if there were four of them.
The triangle drive crops up in a lot of places, I'd have gone with 'gas cupboard' but a previous poster seems certain it's for street lamps. It probably fits both. I'm liking Scardypants' "hiding place" idea but good luck finding that unless he's daft enough to stash stuff in the nearest place to home. It's had a bloody hard life in any case, it looks like it's been hammered into something it doesn't quite fit.
My first thought for the tweezers was a torque bar for picking double-sided wafer locks, but one would rather expect to find a pick or two also...
Squirrelking – he’s a 12 yr old foster kid, not a 16 yr old offspring pissing around.
You found some junk in a drawer and went straight to 'tooled up'.
And stealing/drinking my beer isn’t a good look for him, even if it was just Carling.
Did he though? You say you found a can, have you actually checked its yours?
Ok, I’ll ask then?
I hope you took a photo. If I were 12 and had hidden something odd, I’d know 100% if someone had moved them. I’d probably have placed them very specifically.
long story, but I doubt he marked it to that level of detail and he knew he was going away for a week ‘respite care’ (ie, so we could take stock of the last year) and he knew we were deep cleaning his bedroom (dodgy things aside, there was some revolting things we found that explained the smell (rotting food etc).
You found some junk in a drawer and went straight to ‘tooled up
No - I went to suspicions (as said in the OP), but I didn’t know what it could be so I have been asking for advice as to what it may have been.
Aren't the tweezers actually something to undo small Circlips or something?
he knew we were deep cleaning his bedroom
Right. Probably just random crap then? I had all manner of detritus when I was that age. (Hell, I still do.)
Possibly, but the actual leaving our home happened quickly (the long story) so he may not have had a chance to hide/remove things. It’s bleeding complicated!
Ah, fair enough. Well, good luck.
Oh yeah - someone questioned the bolt being two different colours. I'd assume that's down to half of it being threaded into the hub and the other half not threaded into anything through the wheel.
That is a locking wheel stud, ie the thing that keeps the wheel on, not a locking wheelnut remover/key. There's no completely normal reason for a kid to have one, but equally, it's not useful for anything except keeping wheels on. At a guess, it's volkswagen group but, that is definitely a guess.
So the absolute most nefarious explanation is that it's a trophy or got dropped in a pocket while nicking a wheel.
But who nicks wheels? That went out of fashion before he was born probably. All the other explanations I can think of are random weird ones like "I found this and thought it was interesting", but kids are weird. And the fact that people don't recognise it, maybe adds a bit of probability to "thought it was interesting"? That makes it mysterious.
The T handle thing is pretty mangled, looks old? The split in the crosspin is odd. Gest guess is it looks like it might have been some sort of really low security lock, like a utility key, or maybe it's something that's been adapted for that/hammered into a utility lock? Like, I'm not sure it's the right size for a white house external box that power meters go in but that sort of deal. It might just be the right size to get the inspection covers off an old street light, stuff like that. But as others say it can't undo anything tight, it's got no leverage and it doesn't look strong. Dunno. It gives decades-old vibes, it totally looks like something my grandad'd have had in his toolkit since 1940 and he probably wouldn't know what it was either.
Dunno, but do you have a utility box that the key fits? He possibly has/previously had a stash of personal things precious to him (not in the illicit sense)
Can of Carling? I would hazard that many 12-year olds have had a secret experiment with alcohol
Fostering is amazing work 👍
Possibly just stuff found by the side of a road/motorway. Spray can would lead me to assume some graffiti, perhaps the key thingy opens up access to motorway gantrys? No idea if they’re locked but we’ve all seen graffiti on motorway gantry’s so 🤷♂️.
Btw I did NOT put that effin’ apostrophe in gantrys. 🙄 Stupid autocorrect.
<p>T-key is a very abused valve core removal tool. The tweezers would work for pulling out nails and screws from a tyre and installing a mushroom plug. <br /><br /></p><p>has he got a Saturday job fitting tyres?</p>
Dunno, but do you have a utility box that the key fits? He possibly has/previously had a stash of personal things precious to him (not in the illicit sense)
Something which has just occurred to me,
That key is properly ancient. If he is actually using it to access a stash somewhere, that's not something where the starting point was "ooh, how do I get into there?" and obtaining that key to order. He's surely acquired the key first, which rather lessons the odds that it's "for" anything.
And frankly, the state of it, he's probably likely to have more success using the tweezers. 😁
Oh, I know.
You know those magazines which come out every new year where you can build a model Spitfire or something in monthly instalments? Maybe he's hoping for a car at 17 and the wheel bolt is the first issue.
Nothing odd about the roll pin, that's how they come. New cabinet key with roll pin handle;
https://www.cef.co.uk/catalogue/products/1855047-column-keys-for-lighting-column
It is odd it's mangled, covered in tape and in a kids bedroom though. Can't help there.
It's also odd that a lot of people on here think it would remove a wheel nut that's been tightened to 120Nm.
Dunno, but do you have a utility box that the key fits? He possibly has/previously had a stash of personal things precious to him (not in the illicit sense)
Yeah that is an interesting idea - but it's just the electricity and gas box on the side of the house which is in clear view of our Ring camera and I have never seen him interfere with them.
Spray can would lead me to assume some graffiti, perhaps the key thingy opens up access to motorway gantrys?
Again, a really good idea but we don't live anywhere remotely close to motorway gantries.
TBF, the more I read here, the more I am thinking it's just stuff he's collected at the retain/industrial park that he likes to hang around at with his mates.
The T bar is a utility key, ised for anything from gas cabinets (although they are smaller these days) to power covers.
Its not related to the wheel nut. Thats fine as well as its not been brayed off so unlikely to be stolen. probably out of someones toolbox after fitting a spare wheel.
tweezers are tweezers. but they are really sharp ones. Usually for seals or something. not something you would carry round for drug taking etc as it would put a hole in your leg.
Nothing to worry about. Its just stuff hes found.
Can of Carling? I would hazard that many 12-year olds have had a secret experiment with alcohol
We started with Special Brew!
We started with Special Brew!
35mm film canister taken into school and filled with whatever spirits we could nick from our parents drinks cabinet was our preferred method!
I've seen both of those types of keys fit utility boxes, however the threaded one does look like a locking wheel nut. Those tweezers are normally the sort of thing used to undo dust caps etc. All do look like they have been found at the bottom of a river !
At least drinking Carling will have put him off alcohol for life.
Encouraging is the wrong word, but we try and get our 13 yr old son to drink alcohol in the right social context with us ie if we are having some a family celebration etc and explain the pro's and con's, rather than him, discovering it for himself. Not sure what the right or wrong answer is though.....
35mm film cases were perfect for all sorts of shenanigans - playful, mundane and of questionable legality.
I hadn't thought much about this until I saw this thread, but god knows what my parents thought when they cleared my old room out. I'm pretty sure I cleansed the pron mags, but so many and so many hiding places - difficult to be sure. But anyone trying to make sense of the stuff in the top drawer of the desk...?
Off the top of my head:
Numerous keyrings
Piece of excavated viking timber from Jorvik
Really powerful pole magnet out of some old audio applince
Compass that didn’t work any more due to proximity of said magnet
Those funny ball bearing in a maze things where the balls no longer touched each other due to proximity of said magnet
Home-made top trumps cards where you could tell which card it was as I didn’t have enough card of the same type and couldn't cut them accurately anyway
Dinky toy models of a Gloster Meteor and a Messerschmidt 110
Corgi models of a ferrari and a corvette
Etc.
There were probably all sorts of things that you could construct a nefarious narrative around. Lloyd Grossman and David Frost would have been stumped.
if you're looking for potentially sinister uses of those objects;
lamp post key - stash hide
soot covered wheel locking nut - gang branding tool.
tweezers - I don't know. maybe a more manly way to get eyebrow lines? or removing fingernails...
your 12 year old likely to be involved in that sort of thing?
I watch too much crime drama.
Jesus, stop fuelling the guys fear with ignorant paranoia.
Lamp post key - mangled
Wheel locking nut - not mangled
Cheap fine tweezers - typically used for SMD components in electronics or beauty applications. Not strong enough to pull dust caps.
@johndoh sorry if my previous comment sounded accusitory, reread it and it sounded harsh.
Encouraging is the wrong word, but we try and get our 13 yr old son to drink alcohol in the right social context with us ie if we are having some a family celebration etc and explain the pro’s and con’s, rather than him, discovering it for himself.
We can't encourage him - we'd be off the Fostering roster in a flash if social services found out we were encouraging him to drink alcohol in any circumstances!!!
@squirrel - no problem, thank you 🙂
we’d be off the Fostering roster
Yeah, definitely a clash of brands there if they found out he'd been drinking Carling 🤣
LOLs!!!!
The socket wrench looks like a gas key and it's taped to reduce spark risk if knocked on things. Hopefully replaced by a brass non-sparking key. Any central heating engineers on here to give you the dimensions?
Edit: 9mm? If so it would fit electrical boards too which would also explain insulation tape.
Kids collect weird shit.
As a 42 year old kid I have an impressive collection of hammers I've found on sites, under bridges etc. I also have a 1/2 drive extension bar and torx not.... All rusty in the back of my van.... You never know when it'll come in handy.
That utility box key. They have uses all over.
I use a square key at work to open the gates at the ends of platforms.
Tweezers are just tweezers, they come in a variety of different sizes and shapes, I’ve got a set with several similar to those, the ends set at slightly different angles. The wheelnut key could have come from any of a wide range of cars, that’s possibly from a Nissan or a Kia, but they change over the years, I have seen a great many that look just like that one, they vary very slight in the shape of the key, just like any security key.
Believe me, I have spent stupid amounts of time trying to find a key to match one missing from a car, rummaging through a bucket full of orphaned keys; I’ve found them just lying around in the gravel of the various car parking areas.
Kids will pick up anything that looks interesting, I do it myself, working on the ‘that might come in handy sometime’ principle.