A tool organization story.

[GLFlyer]

Soooo... 26 years ago, for my first Christmas as a married man... my dad gave me a Craftsman Mechanics tool kit.

It was pretty awesome, and I used this thing religiously for all these years. It was always in my Jeep Cherokee XJ and always there when I needed it. I've also used it to work on my many motorcycles over the years and of course to take care of the wife's car too.

That said... about 15 years ago, the plastic closure tabs finally broke off. This made it considerably less convenient to grab and take it to wherever I needed to. I had used straps and bungees to keep it closed with varying degrees of success... and more than once have had to pick up every piece of this kit from the garage floor.

Surprisingly... I've not lost a single socket or wrench out of this kit.

Well... over the years my tool collection has grown and even so... I still use this setup quite often. But... I decided that I finally needed to do something different with it.

So, cleaned out a few drawers and ordered a few new socket organizers and here's what I came up with:

Pretty happy with how everything turned out, and now I can go straight to my drawers and find the things I need.

Organizationally for the sockets... I did:

Red: SAE
Blue: Metric
Yellow: Star & Torx

Pretty sad... but all that's left is this:

Tons of memories in this little blown plastic tool box. But... new life and organization has been given to the tools inside. Still... I couldn't bring myself to throw it away. It's residing prominently on one of the top shelves of my garage cabinets.

Here's to 26 (or more) years of wrenchin' with memories given to me by my dad.

Thanks for reading guys... feel free to tell your stories too. I love hearing these.

 

[Chucktin]

You can still cut the clamshell case into 2 pieces and use at least the bottom half as an organizer (minus the handle).

 

[Richard Cranium]

I have seen them cut in half a lot

 

[Gurp]

Very cool story man. What brand are the gold rails? I like them.

 

[L5wolvesf]

Cool story. Maybe find a wall that need garage art.

 

[GLFlyer]

You can still cut the clamshell case into 2 pieces and use at least the bottom half as an organizer (minus the handle).

Yeah... I thought about that, but they still took up a lot more space, plus... as you can see, I added my other sockets to the drawer and now I'm as organized as I think I can get with all sockets.

Very cool story man. What brand are the gold rails? I like them.

Thank you!

Here ya go... any color, any size sockets, and individual rails or sets. Your choice:

Olsa Tools Socket Holders

 

[Bobaloo22]

I have the same one, given to me by my wife at Christmas 20 plus years ago. It's one of the best for having a little of everything and the one I grab if I go help others. Not sure what route I'll take when the hinges or clasp dies, I like your organization. By the way it was on sale for $99 at the time.
Bob

 

[ezover]

my first power tool and tool box was given to me by my parents when I turned 18, I still used the craftsman box in my garage now. I still have the 14.4? craftsman drill, my guess it would still work great with new battery's. wow, yikes , dam that was 35 years ago ……

ah man I just realized I have 40 year old tools that I bought new,
I'm in the old basterd stage of life.

 

[jimreed2160]

ah man I just realized I have 40 year old tools that I bought new,
I'm in the old basterd stage of life.

My grandfather got a Homecraft bandsaw when he retired and used it for ten or twelve years. It was passed down to me and I have used it for 55 (!) years. But I still call it granddaddy's ole saw.

But back to the OP. Good job organizing your sockets. One option is to make a wooden suitcase box and fit your blowbox inside. Then you would still have your portable set AND more room in the drawer for new sockets.