What to put in which drawer!!??

[e015475]

I go through my toolbox every few years and look for tools I don't use anymore and put them in boxes in the basement. I end up going down to look for something a couple of times a year to find something. If the boxes were stolen, I doubt I'd even miss them.

I had a belly-full of lean/kaizan in my working career too, but I'm hoping that by keeping my toolboxes organized I'll be able to stave off the inevitable a while longer and enjoy my shop. Frankly, foam drawer boxes are just a version of a memory aid to me.

I also see a time when I'm either not capable of working in the shop or deceased, and I'd like to see one of my sons or grandsons get a nice tool box/shop equipment. I inherited several guy's tools over the last 40 years and enjoyed the hell out of them, (for the most part - some was junk) and I'd like to do the same for somebody else.

I've done most of my tool drawers, and every winter I do one or two more (or redo ones that didn't work). Socket drawer - metric left, SAE right

Wrenches...........

Socket drivers...........

Most professional mechanics would cringe if they saw a box like this- tool density is very poor - but it helps me keep track of everything when it may be days or weeks between projects.

Working on a foam drawer for my taps and dies in my wife's kitchen right now - here it is laid out on the healing-mat grid. She doesn't understand this strange obsession, but is pretty tolerant (but she did tell me tomorrow was the last day she was going to put up with it)

 

[e015475]

On the portable tool box idea..............

I've made a few tool boxes for the road or for using in the junkyard. The latest is from a Pelican-like case from HF. There's about six layers of tools in foam, each glued to an aluminum backing. Weighs about 30# which is all I care to carry any distance.

This has worked great in the car for trips and at the junkyard, but you're probably looking for something bigger. There's a few videos on Youtube where guys are using the Milwaukee "packout" storage system, organized with foam, to bring their tools to job sites. You might think about that for your bus conversion.

 

[TucsonAZ]

This has been a great thread with so much insight into all of our minds and even how our thinking changes as we age. I'm in a place now where energy is a concern, I don't want to spend time looking for things. And, I'm naturally very disorganized so the foam triggers my OCD and makes me obsess on getting the "set" back to complete.

So, I'm focused on the least tools to do the most jobs, moved a lot to the Kinipex pliers wrenches and Cobra pliers in an effort to remove some tools they can serve dual function for while saving weight. In reality, I like having, buying, sorting tools more than I actually have a need for them. When people ask me about something obscure I have I always say "well, I only need one of these sockets but I don't know which one or when" and I find that to be true for so many of my tools.

This thread has certainly helped me a lot with adjusting my perspectives. Now I'm going to go open up my Knipex 16" pliers wrench that came today, what an amazing tool that cost more than every tool I owned at 20!

 

[LWB]

I go through my toolbox every few years and look for tools I don't use anymore and put them in boxes in the basement. I end up going down to look for something a couple of times a year to find something. If the boxes were stolen, I doubt I'd even miss them.

I had a belly-full of lean/kaizan in my working career too, but I'm hoping that by keeping my toolboxes organized I'll be able to stave off the inevitable a while longer and enjoy my shop. Frankly, foam drawer boxes are just a version of a memory aid to me.

I also see a time when I'm either not capable of working in the shop or deceased, and I'd like to see one of my sons or grandsons get a nice tool box/shop equipment. I inherited several guy's tools over the last 40 years and enjoyed the hell out of them, (for the most part - some was junk) and I'd like to do the same for somebody else.

I've done most of my tool drawers, and every winter I do one or two more (or redo ones that didn't work). Socket drawer - metric left, SAE right

Wrenches...........

Socket drivers...........

Most professional mechanics would cringe if they saw a box like this- tool density is very poor - but it helps me keep track of everything when it may be days or weeks between projects.

Working on a foam drawer for my taps and dies in my wife's kitchen right now - here it is laid out on the healing-mat grid. She doesn't understand this strange obsession, but is pretty tolerant (but she did tell me tomorrow was the last day she was going to put up with it)

Looks good! What do you use to cut the foam? The socket drawer must have taken forever but it's very artistic.

 

[e015475]

The socket drawer foam was cut on a CNC at FoamFitTools.

I gathered all my cats-and-dogs (Craftsman, Proto and Plumb) sockets and bought the missing pieces I needed. I then sat down one evening with a dial caliper and a laptop and measured all the diameters and put them in a spreadsheet that I sent to FoamFit.

They sent me back a full-size paper template of the layout to approve. After some minor changes they cut the final foam and shipped it to me.

All the other drawers I cut myself with an Xacto knife held directly against the object - no skinny pens for tracing like FastCap sells . Blades go dull fairly quickly in the foam so I keep a sharpening stone nearby to touch them up at the first sign of ripping instead of cutting. Unlike Kaizan foam, I usually cut all the way through then shave the piece I took out to bring the tool to the proper height

For finger pulls and round objects (like dies) I use various sizes of thinner tube out of the junk metal drawer, sharpen the end on the belt sander and use it as a hand punch.

Bought a cheap HF pin router last week and some stones on 1/4" arbors and it seems to do a pretty good job of making slots for my tap/die drawer - my next drawer organization project

 

[LWB]

The socket drawer foam was cut on a CNC at FoamFitTools.

I gathered all my cats-and-dogs (Craftsman, Proto and Plumb) sockets and bought the missing pieces I needed. I then sat down one evening with a dial caliper and a laptop and measured all the diameters and put them in a spreadsheet that I sent to FoamFit.

They sent me back a full-size paper template of the layout to approve. After some minor changes they cut the final foam and shipped it to me.

All the other drawers I cut myself with an Xacto knife held directly against the object - no skinny pens for tracing like FastCap sells . Blades go dull fairly quickly in the foam so I keep a sharpening stone nearby to touch them up at the first sign of ripping instead of cutting. Unlike Kaizan foam, I usually cut all the way through then shave the piece I took out to bring the tool to the proper height

For finger pulls and round objects (like dies) I use various sizes of thinner tube out of the junk metal drawer, sharpen the end on the belt sander and use it as a hand punch.

Bought a cheap HF pin router last week and some stones on 1/4" arbors and it seems to do a pretty good job of making slots for my tap/die drawer - my next drawer organization project

Thanks for the detailed info.

 

[ecotec]

I do not have enough room to use foam tool retention… but I love the way it looks.

I make an effort to only have one layer of tools… so when I open a drawer, I can see everything in it. I have not been able to live up to this in every drawer. Sometimes reality does not live up to ideal.

My favorite tool retention items are the locking plastic socket strips, wire closet shelving (for pliers), wrench racks and PAKTY style trays. I also like those blow molded socket trays that come in big socket sets. I cut off the far sides of those for my Powr-Kraft stack.

My socket drawer is overloaded, even though it is only one layer deep.

 

[granturismo850]

Years ago I worked at a large dealership and there was a Tech named "Sarge". He was a retired Army Mechanic and only worked at the dealer for something to do, better than watching TV, he always said. His toolbox was at best maybe a shoebox or some old parts box, and most of his tools were just thrown on his workbench in a big pile. All of his tools were used old ****, so nobody would steal them. He did all of the jobs that nobody in the shop would do, like fixing used cars with junkyard parts from the wrong car.......
Funny thing is, he knew exactly where that 12 mm wrench was when he needed it.
He also drove a 10 year old Plymouth Valiant with a slant six. One day on his way to work it died on the road, and he got a passing farmer to tow him to work.
At lunch time he went out to see what was wrong, and it turned out the poor slant 6 had run out of oil.
Turns out he had driven that car for 6 years and never opened the hood, because it would only add to the cost of driving his $150 car. To fix it he poured a gallon of used drain oil in it and had me tow him across the parking lot to "break it free".
The Plymouth started right up and ran great, then he parked and went back to work. I asked him if he was going to check anything else under the hood while he was there and he just replied "why go looking for trouble? "
Fancy tool boxes never made any Tech wealthy.

 

[drmarkr]

Fancy tool boxes never made any Tech wealthy.

Yep, but they made a slew of them poorer...