Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

After three years the tools clearly are abandoned. Also a verbal statement that they are a gift to you is perfectly valid; with only a few exceptions, a verbal contract is just as biding as a written one, it just is much easier to prove the terms of a written contract than an oral one.

No. The abandonment theory doesn't work as well as the gift theory, in my book, but an oral gift is valid, and after three years a judge or jury is likely to believe you.