First post - and question about labeling toolboxes

[davej77]

Hi folks. I'm a fairly new tool collecting addict and full-blown garage putterer. This forum has been a great help to me. Thanks.

Questions: I've got three Craftsman toolboxes and I'm spending too much time opening drawers, trying to remember where I put things.

I'm looking for a way to label the drawers in a way that looks good and does not include gluing anything to my nice shiny, yet dusty, boxes. The labels would need to be easily removable and changeable. Seems blank magnetic labels would be ideal.

I'm not sure I've seen labels on any of your toolboxes. Do any of you label your drawers?

 

[FJ 432]

You can buy pre made labels from Sears but they are pretty generic.

Some of us use vinyl tape label makers and go that route. You can take that one step further and buy a magnetic roll which you can apply the vinyl label that you make so that you can move them as your collection grows.

 

[DocRocket]

I put laser-printer labels on magnetic vent covers (for your floor vents--look in the ductwork section)--can have any size I want and move them around if I rearrange the tools. The vent covers were significantly cheaper than roll magnetic material for me. (and I needed a vent cover anyway--they come in a multi-pack)

 

[DaleK]

I just use liquid paper "pens" to write on the drawer. Looks as good or bad as my penmanship and stands out nicely.

 

[Falcon67]

I use this one around the house: http://www.samsclub.com/sams/brother-p-touch-pt-1880sc-deluxe-home-office-labeler/135287.ip

The labels come off stuff pretty easy. I don't label my drawers, but I do label things like plug covers and such. Catch the edge and the label peels off. We use them a lot here at work to tag network equipment.

 

[crewchief888]

nope

i dont label my toolboxes.
i know where everything is, even with multiple boxes, in multiple locations

 

[bob15]

Use them enough and you will remember what is in them. I have 5 tool boxes at home, one at work and there are 4 at my parents house and can remember what is in each drawer.

Think of it this way, if you leave the labels off, it will sharpen the brain and your memory.


bob

 

[onewaydave]

No labels here, but that is changing as my lathe tool collection grows. But, to address no-lable techniques.

Organize to you hearts content. Doesn't matter if it is job-grouped or like-tools-together grouped. As long as it is the same through out. The more logical (to you) it is and the more it flows through the toolbox system the easier it is to remember.

Practice/test yourself until you know what you've got. I work in a system that is organized in chaos and it is often life and death critical that members find what they need immediately. Nurses are tested before they are let loose to work alone. Military teams do the same. It works.

If you use them often enough, you will eventually get to the same place. Even if you rearrange, after a dozen times finding something in its new place, it sinks in.

Instead of randomly looking for the needed tool, think ahead and go for it. If you are wrong, make a second try. In this way, you are kind of testing yourself rather than just randomly searching for what you need. Soon, you drop the forethought and go directly to what you need.

My boxes are definately NOT color complementary. It makes it a lot easier when working out of 3-4 (or more) boxes. Different size, configuration, color and what-not help remember.

For my purposes, I have some new boxes for the machine stuff. Huge drawers that will hold a lot of stuff. I plan to put up labels for "cutters", "drills tape and dies", "Scales calipers and mikes". Or something that allows grouping of like function tools. After a few months I'll forget and not even be using the labels.

Dave.

 

[sparky7]

yup just got to remember

 

[1953mercury]

Use them enough and you will remember what is in them. I have 5 tool boxes at home, one at work and there are 4 at my parents house and can remember what is in each drawer.

Think of it this way, if you leave the labels off, it will sharpen the brain and your memory.


bob

What Bob said, I split my year between two different places and even at my age I know where to look. The brain is like any other muscle, use it or loose it. Mike

 

[onething]

Even if you know where everything is, it is nice to have them labeled for when someone else is helping you. Depending on the size & position of the box you might want to double label like I did on the top and front of the pulls.

 

[Vegaman_Dan]

The real test of any organizing system is being on your back under a car and asking your helper for a 9/16" box end swivel wrench. It's over there- you know, in the tool box in the garage.

If they come back with the wrench- you win!

If they come back with a beer instead- well, you still win!

 

[BIG Eric]

You could always get die cut vinel stickers made custome for yout dravers. They can cut them in any font and size.

 

[jchetty]

You can buy pre made labels from Sears but they are pretty generic.

Some of us use vinyl tape label makers and go that route. You can take that one step further and buy a magnetic roll which you can apply the vinyl label that you make so that you can move them as your collection grows.

they a magnetic and they come with blanks

 

[Neuswede]

get a label maker. best investment you can make in organization. I use it on my portable boxes (drills, grinders, saws), as well as parts bins, tool drawers, smaller organizer boxes and everything else including the drawers. I even put a label on the label maker, just to make my friends think I was being serious (or seriously OCD). I never did let them think I was just kidding about that one.

With a label maker, you are not limited to pre-printed labels. Pick a color you want, a font size, a font style, vertical, horizontal, mirror reverse; you name it and you have professional looking labels in seconds. If you don't want background colors, get the clear and pick either white or black letters.

 

[metalmagpie]

Do what they do in operating rooms where people's lives depend on it. Label your drawers. If you like neatness, use a label maker.

 

[lilscorpion]

I do not label my drawers either. May take me a few to remember where things are but in a reasonable amount of time I end up going after the correct drawer on the first attempt. To me labels look messy - which I agree is a paradox. Maybe it's because I've never been able to easily categorize a drawer in 10 letters or less. What's a pipe wrench? A wrench or pliers...or plumbing? I wouldn't put the pipe wrench in the actual wrench drawer...I'd end up with more than one MISC drawer and that would irritate me because in the end, MISC is the same as having no stickers. Another problem for me is I have a lot of drawers, maybe 40 in the shop so it really would add to the clutter when on-looking (or so I think) and since I have so many drawers and haven't needed labels up 'till this point it seems that they're not really necessary for me. It could also be that I don't like labels because, when I was younger, I worked at a dealership where I got to experience looking down the service walls and seeing high-dollar toolboxes bright red or black (in those days there weren't as many color variations) and none of them had a single label. So, not for me but I could understand why others might find them useful.

 

[Steevo]

I consider it a memory game.
I just re-located all of my tools into my new 52-drawer workbench/toolbox setup, and man am I lost.
I am getting better, and have actually opened the right drawer the first time on several occasions.
Unfortunately, I am also re-thinking some of my drawer contents choices and will move a few things around in the near future, which will re-confuse me.
But i just can't go down the drawer-label path, at least not until I really have to.

 

[lilscorpion]

I'm not even sure labels would stay on my drawers over time and cleaning the fronts would certainly cause them to come off.

 

[hifi_hokie]

The real test of any organizing system is being on your back under a car and asking your helper for a 9/16" box end swivel wrench. It's over there- you know, in the tool box in the garage.

If they come back with the wrench- you win!

If they come back with a beer instead- well, you still win!

The answer is to store beer with every tool.

You, sir, have an excellent method

 

[davej77]

Thanks for the suggestions. I think memorizing the contents sounds like the best idea.

 

[fred d]

I do have my drawers memorized. I also have them labeled
4 bottom boxes
3 top boxes
1 side box
And a 7 year old who wants to help and learn

 

[joshmodelskidoo]

i have the magnets from advance auto. there in with the stickers and other junk asile