How organized is your tool box drawers?

[2fat2fly]

NOt to ask TOO stupid a question but do you trace the tool shape in pen or somethig then razor blade it?....or do you go the whole router deal with it?

I outline the tool with a sharpie, then cut inside the lines. This way the tool fits snugly into the cutout.

 

[BHR4CE1]

These pics are old, so I have a TON more tools now than I did back then. I've gotten a bit more organized with my tools recently...but this gives you an idea where I started.

 

[jeffmoss26]

Here is one...I like to think it's fairly organized.

Unlike this one...

 

[concealer404]

Not very...

 

[bnichols04]

ahh yes that is what i am missing in my garage.....a big a$$ tv!!! lol i gatta get one now (i spend most of my time in there anyways.....)

here is a sample of what i am talking about with my stuff. (please don't make fun of me!!!!) lol

 

[2fat2fly]

Why would anyone make fun? You've got a nice collection of tools.

 

[jeffmoss26]

Damn that's a lot of hammers

 

[KPSquared]

I'm working on getting my foam all cut out. I can't stand not having everything organized. I bought some magnets off of ebay to label my drawers and I'm using those foam puzzle pices as tool foam. (interlocking foam floor mats) Just make sure your blade is sharp and it cuts great. I'll get some pics up when the project is done. Only downside is now I need a bigger box cause everything is side by side instead of lying on top of eachother.

I have some that are all black and some that are colored on one side. I'm actually cutting out 2 for each tool. I take the colored piece, cut it in half so it's thin and then stick it in the cut out on the black piece. Then when I pull a wrench or screwdriver out, the void is colored so I can see at a glance what is missing.

 

[Outlawmws]

ahh yes that is what i am missing in my garage.....a big a$$ tv!!! lol i gatta get one now (i spend most of my time in there anyways.....)

here is a sample of what i am talking about with my stuff. (please don't make fun of me!!!!) lol

]

Um, you seem to have more extensions than sockets?

but

The screwdriver drawer should be an easy fix. Pull them all out make up a "Set" and line them up by size and type with then handles butted against the right and left sides of the drawer. take most if not all the extras and box them up.

EDIT: You can also swap the drawers for the extensions and screwdrivers, (once the piles of screwdrivers are a thing of the past) and make up a tray for the extensions covering maybe 1/3 of the width of the (now deeper) extensions drawer, and put in some wood rails front and rear of the drawer, (1/2" wood?) so the tray can be slid side to side. Most if not all sockets can now be stored upright, and the tall ones placed to one end so as not to interfere with the tray.

 

[PeteMoore]

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=91625&highlight=organisation+thread

 

[venturesomerite]

Here is a sample drawer from one of my boxes, the rest look pretty much the same. And yes, those are wrench racks under all of them... lol

 

[KPSquared]

ahh yes that is what i am missing in my garage.....a big a$$ tv!!! lol i gatta get one now (i spend most of my time in there anyways.....)

here is a sample of what i am talking about with my stuff. (please don't make fun of me!!!!) lol

You're not a hoarder by chance, are you? That just seems totally excessive. . . or perhaps obsessive. . .

Either way, if it works for you, good on ya. . . it would drive me up the wall to have to hunt for a certain size wrench or screwdriver. At least with you extensions drawer, you can just stick you hand in and pull out an extension. . .seeing as thats all you have in there.

 

[Outlawmws]

Here is a sample drawer from one of my boxes, the rest look pretty much the same. And yes, those are wrench racks under all of them... lol

Uh, Are you sure? Wait! waaaait a minute! I see the corner of what MIGHT be a wrench rack!

 

[bnichols04]

yes i agree it is totally excessive. i try to grab a tool and i end up digging to for a long time to find what i need. i have been trying to sell some stuff. It looks like i am a hoarder but most of this is my dad's stuff he left me. I think he was the one that was a hoarder. lol!!

 

[unslow1]

Screwdriver organizer Akro-Mils tool rack. $6 Farm & Fleet.
I got tired of not being able to find tools.

http://www.farmandfleet.com/products/540929-tool_rack.html

 

[NUTTSGT]

NOt to ask TOO stupid a question but do you trace the tool shape in pen or somethig then razor blade it?....or do you go the whole router deal with it?

Dan,when I did mine while working at GE,I used a silver ink pen that came from my previous employer. It was in my caliper case and didn't realize it. Being silver ink, it's not much good for anything except on black stuff. . . . radiator hose.

You could use a silver Sharpie. Then use a razor knife or the like to trim it out

edit; whoa a long three pages, I thought it was a two page thread.

 

[NUTTSGT]

To each their own but I hate wasting time looking for a tool. It would drive me nuts trying to work out of some of these drawers.

 

[ARbuilder223]

Im waiting on my foam to get here to shadow my tools, any advise on actual drawer layouts? heres a few pix

 

[JimVonBaden]

Im waiting on my foam to get here to shadow my tools, any advise on actual drawer layouts? heres a few pix

Your OCD is showing!

Seriously, nice layout. It is inspiring me to do better.

Jim

 

[ARbuilder223]

Ha..yea, believe it or not...thats usually how my wrenches stay, and i do use them. just seeing if anyone has a better opinion on foam cut outs to use up the space well..

 

[Kevin54]

Anyone on this site have a waterjet? I wonder what it would be like to take some 1/4" plexi or Lexan and waterjet wrench pockets out? I would think one program could cover a few different brands of wrenches. If someone would be willing to cut a prototype, I'd give you a print with different sizes and dimensions that you could try if you'd give me the size of the drawer you'd put it in. I have Crapsman and Kobalts I could measure up. I may have a complete set of NAPA Metrics also.

 

[zbadass28]

here are some of my drawers. my goal is to be able to open any drawer and be able to spot a missing tool at a glance. I'm not to big on the shadow foam but to each there own. Socket drawer is a mess, I don't know what to use yet for socket organization.

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[hdridinas1]

Wish I could show you guys some of the boxes at work, but I can't. Everything is numbered, sillohuetted, labeled. Set screws, threaded parts are peened or spot welded so they can't come apart. All kind of crazy stuff.

I want to foam my box at home, but am gonna wait till I get my peg board up, organized, and silohuetted. Then it will be onto the box.

 

[concealer404]

here are some of my drawers. my goal is to be able to open any drawer and be able to spot a missing tool at a glance. I'm not to big on the shadow foam but to each there own. Socket drawer is a mess, I don't know what to use yet for socket organization.

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You sure you got enough screwdrivers there?

 

[472scout]

Foam

I can understand foam for a shop with common boxes or a theft problem, but otherwise I pretty much hate foam. It's just wastes too much space and takes too much time to maintain. You also need a lot more box space which means extra expense and more drawers to open when you're searching for a rarely used tool. Then when you pick up a new tool there's never room for it in the correct drawer. Or you bust a tool and the new tool doesn't fit the cutout. I like plastic tool holders and trays a hell of a lot better. It's much more convenient to grab all of the wrenches or sockets for example and take them to the equipment than go back and forth to the box or have a bunch of loose tools to deal with. The only place I like foam is for your 1 or 2 drawers that hold the $$$$ specialty tools that really need extra special accountability. Lost tools are really a non-issue for me. I'm careful where I set my tools down and use a flashlight after every job to double check that nothing is left behind. Just my personal thoughts.

 

[Alchymist]

Isn't using the words "organized" and "tool box" in the same sentence a non - sequitur?

 

[Outlawmws]

Ha..yea, believe it or not...thats usually how my wrenches stay, and i do use them. just seeing if anyone has a better opinion on foam cut outs to use up the space well..

With wrenches soaking up 4 drawers, I'd be looking at wrench racks. you can probably recover 2 drawers and still have room for expansion.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

I think you're doing fine on wrenches, but if this were my screwdriver drawer my head would explode

 

[COclaw]

This is my "go-to" drawer. It has the stuff i need 95% of the time when i'm working on mechanical stuff.

 

[Outlawmws]

Isn't using the words "organized" and "tool box" in the same sentence a non - sequitur?

Maybe you are thinking of an Oxymoron?

 

[Alchymist]

Maybe you are thinking of an Oxymoron?

Non sequitur - Latin, "it does not follow" - meaning that just because you have a tool box it does not follow that it's organized. Care to guess the ratio of organized to unorganized tool boxes?

As far as "organized" - does it mean that if all the screw drivers are in one drawer, and all the sockets in one drawer, etc, that it's organized? Or does it mean all phillips in one drawer, all straight in another, hex drivers in another, 1/4" drive stuff in one, 1/2 in another? Should the deep wells be in drawer separate from the shallow ones? Does every tool have a shadow place? Do I need wrench holders? Pliers holders?

Is a man with an unorganized or partly organized tool box sloppy? Is one with a highly organized shadowed box ****? Where's the line? Is there a line? Does anyone care if there is a line?

 

[Full Throttle]

mine are pretty damn organized, I'll shoot some pics for proof but much like the others in here except I don't have a $5K box. I can't stand not being able to find a tool

the above with all piled up, I would just dump that box out and start over

 

[concealer404]

I think you're doing fine on wrenches, but if this were my screwdriver drawer my head would explode

Heh, most of them are hanging on the wall in racks now, so it doesn't really apply to the tool box.

Current tool box drawers:

Where'd it all go? (Decided i didn't really have room/budget for the box i want right now)

 

[96GT226410]

Ha..yea, believe it or not...thats usually how my wrenches stay, and i do use them. just seeing if anyone has a better opinion on foam cut outs to use up the space well..

If you're looking to save space the foam really doesn't help you as much as typical wrench organizers do. I use something similar to these off the SO truck:

Being able to store my wrenches on their side in this wrench organizer allows me to more completely use my space. Good looking tools BTW!

 

[bnichols04]

wow you guies have great setups!! i am soo jealous! i need to get off my a$$ and organize my stuff!!

 

[ARbuilder223]

96GT..ive seen those, the price will add up if you have alot of wrenches though. I think ALOT of space would be saved if they are layed like that instead of flat..

 

[Full Throttle]

Here is my box in the service van, a set of wrenches and 3/8's socket set along with most pliers and screw drivers are in my Veto tool bag. I don't keep alot of un needed or tools not used very often in my van for the fear of a breakin so I grab from my home box as needed.

 

[Full Throttle]

couiple more,

 

[Alchymist]

Unlike some on here, mine look more like some of Steveo's first post pics. Several years ago I retired, and we bought a place in the country. Into the 2 bays of a 3 car went all the tool boxes from work, the townhouse we had rented, and the storage barn at my son's place. Each box was a mix, and a number of duplicates. Every once in a while I open them all up and consolidate tool types.

Anyway, I wound up with quite a few small ignition and other small specialty wrenches. Built the small divided box to store them by type. Not sure if I'll keep it like that, as it eats a whole drawer for just the little wrenches. Just some scrap wood leftovers from some other projects.

 

[little cowboy]

This is a rather depressing thread...