How Do You Organize Your Specialty Tools?

[oldschoolcraft]

As I'm building out my tool collection, I realize a lot of what I've been buying, and what is left on my wish list are speciality tools. It makes me wonder the different ways people choose to organize outside of the basics. I've watched a bunch of tool cart tours and it seems like people have all sorts of methods.

I think it's pretty standard to have dedicated drawer space (partial or full) for:

• Sockets and Socket Paraphernalia (ratchets, extensions, adapters, etc)
• Wrenches
• Screwdrivers
• Hammers
• Punches / Chisels
• Picks
• Pliers

But then is where things diverge. Here's some random thoughts and questions:

Pullers are more of a specialty tool, but there's a lot of different types so some people have dedicated puller drawers. Not sure if any other types of tools make sense to store with pullers, maybe slide hammer and accessories?

Does it make sense to store all diagonostic equipment together, or to separate electrical (multimeter, power probe, etc) from non-electrical (like vacuum gauges, fuel pressure gauge, etc)

I have several tools that I'd consider specialty but I think others would put them in the dedicated drawers for similar types of tools:

• Brake Bleeder Wrenches
• Spark Plug Sockets
• Hose Pinch Off Pliers
• Hose Grip Pliers
• Hose Clamp Pliers
• Wire Strippers

Personally, it seems weird to put pinch off pliers and hose clamp pliers in the pliers drawer. I think I should have a hose tools section. Hose clamp pliers. Hose grip pliers. Pinch off pliers. Hose spoon style picks. 5/16" nut driver. Everything hose related in one spot.

Similarly, all of the brake related tools in one spot. Put the brake bleeder wrench with the piston compression tool. Seems weird to put it in the wrench drawer if it's only ever going to be used on brakes.

Spark Plug sockets are sockets, yes, but only used for one specific thing. Though I can't think of any other spark-plug related tools to put them with. And I'll need to use them with a ratchet and maybe extension, so keeping them in the socket drawer makes sense, off on the side, not mixed into a regular set.

How about wire strippers? Do they go in the pliers drawer or into an electrical work drawer that has your multimeter, soldering iron, connectors, etc?

This organization makes sense since I know what I'm working on, so I can go to those area and have all of the tools. But, I can see the argument for knowing "I need pliers for this hose, let me go to the pliers drawer" and even though hose grip pliers are made for hoses, they could be used for spark plug boots.

I can envision the pliers drawer being all encompassing but breaking it down into areas. There pliers in the back left are for electrical work - strippers, small dykes. Pliers on the front left are general purpose mechanics pliers. Pliers on rear right are hose-related.

How do you organize your tools outside of the core basics that everyone pretty much does the same?

 

[bobg03]

An 84" 16 drawer, triple-bank, EPIQ series roll cabinet is the easiest way. Add side cabinets and a hutch, good to go.

 

[Notgrownup]

I work at a medical supply distributor and wholesale pharmacy so i get old or lightly used medical carts. They are perfect. Last 2 I got I got a butcher block top then bolted 2 to to get this.

 

[richfinn]

I buy cheap off brand waterproof "Peli style" cases and divide up my diagnostic tools into them, it's a lot more space efficient and organized than random sized blow moulded cases when they are all exactly the same size (I have a label maker so I know what each case contains).

I use the Ernst stackable storage trays which are divided up into sections for smaller stuff I keep in my tool drawer.

I keep the tools I use all the time in my Veto pro pac, so I can grab and go.

I don't think organizing by category is the way to go unless you work in a shop with lots of toolbox drawers, I think frequency of use works much better for me as a mobile guy, stuff that gets used less frequently lives in the labelled cases so I can find it easily, stuff I use everyday in an open tote or divider tray.

I do still have a few tool specific blow molded cases for stuff that comes with a lot of adapters/pieces but eventually I will transfer them into L-boxx containers (or similar) with shadowfoam.

 

[SARG]

I now have around six or more tool bags for each chore.
Plumbing with pex
plumbing w/o pex
Electrical
tire repair
M18 drill tools
etc (couple more I can't remember)

 

[ForrestT]

I do same as sarge. Electrical bag, plumbing bag. I try to find my bags gently used at flea markets. Same with tool duplicates I can keep in dedicated bags. Less trips to the shop. Bag also allows me to throw in anything I might need from my shop to take to the project. Flea markets have been awesome for me for this stuff. eBay or Amazon to supplement when I can’t find it gently used or need it new and now.

 

[2ndGearRubber]

An 84" 16 drawer, triple-bank, EPIQ series roll cabinet is the easiest way. Add side cabinets and a hutch, good to go.

Yeah pretty much. Organize by type of tool and space.

 

[OccupantRJ]

I work at a medical supply distributor and wholesale pharmacy so i get old or lightly used medical carts. They are perfect. Last 2 I got I got a butcher block top then bolted 2 to to get this.

Nice repurpose!

 

[Steve W.]

I understand the term “specialty tools”, but what is this “organize” of which you speak?

.

 

[OccupantRJ]

I actually use a combination of the methods you suggested. I also have two tool banks for metric and automotive related tools, and two for SAE tools along with plier tools, screwdrivers, and such. There are 14 banks of drawers in my shop for various tools, along with many that are on the walls. There are also three 6 foot high banks of lateral file cabinets for portable power tools. Volume has dictated for me what storage is necessary, as well as what they are used for. One deep drawer has over 100 lbs of various pullers alone. I restore and refurbish machines for a hobby, as well as wood construction at times, so I need some of everything made it seems. Location retrieval is done from memory.

 

[bobg03]

Yeah pretty much. Organize by type of tool and space.

I mean right, if you're attempting to own every tool known to man and don't know what you "may" need it's go big or go home.....

After my next downsizing in maybe a year or two, I'm thinking my 20" Craftsman tool chest from 1976 will be more than sufficient and that open top metal cart from milwaukee w/1 sliding drawer and a sliding shelf on the bottom will give me gobs of room in the garage that I really don't need with all the bikes long gone.

 

[2ndGearRubber]

I mean right, if you're attempting to own every tool known to man and don't know what you "may" need it's go big or go home.....

After my next downsizing in maybe a year or two, I'm thinking my 20" Craftsman tool chest from 1976 will be more than sufficient and that open top metal cart from milwaukee w/1 sliding drawer and a sliding shelf on the bottom will give me gobs of room in the garage that I really don't need with all the bikes long gone.

Where will you have room for the VW injector seal tools for the TSI family?



Or the 3/4 torque wrench? Or the 20 fuel and trans disconnect tools? Or the 5 point security torx? Yeah, I need to downside some stuff. I have too many ratchets and extensions in my box.

 

[richfinn]

Where will you have room for the VW injector seal tools for the TSI family?



Or the 3/4 torque wrench? Or the 20 fuel and trans disconnect tools? Or the 5 point security torx? Yeah, I need to downside some stuff. I have too many ratchets and extensions in my box.

It's the cases that's the problem with all that stuff. If they were all of a compact uniform size you could condense it all into a smaller footprint or create more space in your existing set-up.

I've got boxes full of special tools/scanners going back to the early 90s that I put into storage, I should eBay it all off really, I'll never use most of it again.

 

[Jgaz]

I store my a lot of speciality tools in a couple of drawers in an old built-in SnapOn box.



Then my “who knows when I’ll use them” tools like a tach dwell, timing light, distributor wrenches, etc are stored in a tote on a shelf.

 

[2ndGearRubber]

It's the cases that's the problem with all that stuff. If they were all of a compact uniform size you could condense it all into a smaller footprint or create more space in your existing set-up.

I've got boxes full of special tools/scanners going back to the early 90s that I put into storage, I should eBay it all off really, I'll never use most of it again.

Yeah the cases just swallow up space. I try to make things not turn into Tetris, which inherently uses more space. Lockers and cabinets are much better than a box itself for such items.

 

[OccupantRJ]

Yeah the cases just swallow up space. I try to make things not turn into Tetris, which inherently uses more space. Lockers and cabinets are much better than a box itself for such items.

I think it is the inherent nature of a home workshop to become a giant Tetris game. At least mine has been for the last 55 years. I think I have about got it dialed in….unless I drag something else home of course. Oh no! I just realized that the 301 highway endless yard sale starts today. Here we go again!

 

[rsanter]

Everyone at some point drools over buying the big ginormous toolbox. Being that I'm a cheap **** I just could never do that when I could get a deal on the smaller snap on boxes.
So at one point I was thinking I would marry 2 or 3 of the snap on 33" wide boxes together to make a big box, But I can also be lazy so never did.

I currently have 17 toolboxes full.
I have the primary box with the basic wrenches, sockets....etc
Then the specialty tool box.
And the box for measuring instruments, for machine tools, tap-dies-drill bits, engine building box, clamps box, sandpaper box....etc

I have gotten to the point that I like this way better as I feel I am betterment organized plus I cen roll a bow away into the corner that only get used a couple times a year.

I try to have all the same stuff in one box as primary.
Then I try to have all the same stuff in one drawer, but then you get to the point that you have a couple drawers that you can only call miscellaneous

 

[swsman]

Where will you have room for the VW injector seal tools for the TSI family?



Or the 3/4 torque wrench? Or the 20 fuel and trans disconnect tools? Or the 5 point security torx? Yeah, I need to downside some stuff. I have too many ratchets and extensions in my box.

For something like that in the garage use scenario i would either go with a filing cabinet if there is room for it?, or hang a shelf. Everything within reach, labeled as to what it is (saves going one by one).

 

[bobg03]

Where will you have room for the VW injector seal tools for the TSI family?



Or the 3/4 torque wrench? Or the 20 fuel and trans disconnect tools? Or the 5 point security torx? Yeah, I need to downside some stuff. I have too many ratchets and extensions in my box.

The only VW I'd ever be interested in buying would be my racing buddies 66 bug, it's a respectful restomod and is a wolfs in sheeps clothing. He's saving it for his adult son tho, i've tried many times over the years to talk him out of it. Having a bug that will lift the front wheels in 2nd gear enough to be noticible is a fun sight to participate in.
As to the 3/4 stuff, that was only when I worked as a Stationary Engineer in a chiller plant, got no use for it at home...not now or ever.

 

[VolvoRyan]

It's the age old problem. Does the blue square go in the drawer with blue things, or the drawer with other squares? In other words, everything can go in more than one place, depending on how you like to see stuff.

Personally, service kits in blow molded cases tend to go on a shelf with other ones. Implements of destruction go in their own drawer(s). Vehicle special tools go in their drawer. Yada yada. At some point, it's time for another tool box for miscellaneous tools..... and a cart for tools of a single purpose.

-Ryan

 

[sparky 1971]

I have a 56" X 24" chest and cabinet with an 18" X 24" hang on side cabinet, that's where the "everyday" tools like sockets, wrenches, air tools, good pliers, and good screwdrivers go. In one corner, behind the piles of treasures and next to the air compressor is a 30" X 18" chest and cabinet. One drawer has all to the miscellaneous stuff like air fittings, tire chucks, and pressure gauges. Other drawers are full of the once in a while stuff like brake tools, vice grips, filter wrenches, and all of the **** that seems to be considered "specialty tools" that comes in plastic cases like the bearing and seal driver, slide hammer, piston compressor, pullers, etc. but if anyone were to see it I doubt they would consider it organized. In another corner is a 41" X 18" cabinet that has a full width drawer on top full of batteries and drills. Other drawers have bits, saws, and other things that I don't know I have since I rarely go to it.

Spark plug sockets are in with the rest of the sockets. Old pliers, screwdrivers, and wire strippers are on the wall above the bench if I put them away, otherwise, who knows where they landed.

 

[gtae07]

I understand the term “specialty tools”, but what is this “organize” of which you speak?

Good question, I was wondering the same thing...

 

[regguy1]

mine here:

 

[garfunkle24]

I organize mine in order of specialness.

 

[joshmodelskidoo]

I have specialty tools mostly in a separate tool box/chest. Some are in blowmold cases in a cabinet and others in plastic ammo cans or small tool boxes in the cabinet. I'm overflowing with tools soin the specialty box/chest some just get put where there's room and no real organization except that's where they fit so that's where they go.

 

[f121]

I've got boxes full of special tools/scanners going back to the early 90s that I put into storage, I should eBay it all off really, I'll never use most of it again.

If you happen to sell a Snap On Red Brick, I’m interested

 

[Andres26tnt]

I keep them in their respective cases, and stack them I'm a 4 tier rack. If the case that it came in, is garbage I switch them over to a Tstack case or similar.

I will be building a specialty box with my left over Tstak drawers. I have about 4 that's won't be used to put stuff in.