Can someone identify these rather dodgy-looking tools

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.

Tweezers could be for removing those plastic covers on wheel nuts....maybe.