Shallow Drawers - what do you store in them?

[michelin]

I've been reorganizing lately and now have a couple of shallow drawers in my KRL box that are completely empty. Personally I find them useless for storing tools as you have to lay all your tools flat and in single rows otherwise you risk catching the drawer above. So either waste your space with lose tools or mark the drawer above. Neither is pretty.

So I had a though of moving all my fasteners, bolts, nuts and small parts which I keep in little plastic containers and in to those drawers.

It's not ideal as I don't like using valuable (and admittedly quite expensive) KRL space for storing seemingly cheap (and heavy) parts.

What else can you put in those drawers? I'm bored right now and just after some ideas please.

 

[WWheeler]

Lets see. Ratchet sets fill a couple drawers (I have way too many ratchets to be practical). Breaker bars, speeder handles and extensions and the like fill another. Screwdrivers/nutdrivers fill a drawer each in two boxes. Allen & torx sets, punches, and chisels in one. I have a few 2 & 3 way puller sets in another. Pickle forks and some other specialty tools in one. I've got whole bunch of small and large snap ring pliers that like to lay flat anyway.

That's all I can think of without walking out to the garage.

 

[Chris_the_wrench]

I've been reorganizing lately and now have a couple of shallow drawers in my KRL box that are completely empty. Personally I find them useless for storing tools as you have to lay all your tools flat and in single rows otherwise you risk catching the drawer above. So either waste your space with lose tools or mark the drawer above. Neither is pretty.

So I had a though of moving all my fasteners, bolts, nuts and small parts which I keep in little plastic containers and in to those drawers.

It's not ideal as I don't like using valuable (and admittedly quite expensive) KRL space for storing seemingly cheap (and heavy) parts.

What else can you put in those drawers? I'm bored right now and just after some ideas please.

You referring to 2" drawers? I have 2 drawers with combo wrenches up to I think 30mm (and maybe 1 1/4 in sae drawer) on racks, might be 28mm. I also store the ratchets(not torque, they don't fit in cases), extensions, etc in one.

I'm looking to order a new box(krcs46) and I'm trying to decide how many 2" drawers to get.

I agree with you on store fasteners in your box, that's some expensive real estate to give up!

-Chris


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[454ragtop]

If you were nearby I'd trade you a 4" drawer for a couple 2", would even throw some cash with it.

 

[bcradio]

Agree with the others. I love me some small drawers to go with my deep ones. I like to store all the items mentioned above in them.

 

[AntonLargiader]

Screwdrivers, pliers, measuring tools, paperwork, helicoil and extractor stuff, and some parts.

My KRLs are the older type so I don't have that many 2" drawers.

 

[wmm2]

I've been reorganizing lately and now have a couple of shallow drawers in my KRL box that are completely empty. Personally I find them useless for storing tools as you have to lay all your tools flat and in single rows otherwise you risk catching the drawer above. So either waste your space with lose tools or mark the drawer above. Neither is pretty.

So I had a though of moving all my fasteners, bolts, nuts and small parts which I keep in little plastic containers and in to those drawers.

It's not ideal as I don't like using valuable (and admittedly quite expensive) KRL space for storing seemingly cheap (and heavy) parts.

What else can you put in those drawers? I'm bored right now and just after some ideas please.

Adjust your thinking a little. The drawers aren't useless, although they aren't as flexible as deeper drawers. I've used my shallow drawers for the following

Screwdrivers
wrenches
ratchets
breaker bars
pliers
utility knives
oil change wrenches
torque wrenches
brake tools
soldering iron
glue gun
trim tools

Yes, some of them (wrenches for example) take more room laying flat than they would in a holder in a deeper drawer. But that's a better use of space than storing parts or leaving the drawer empty.

 

[shawhite]

Wrenches, ratchets, extensions, pliers, picks, t-handles, etc etc

 

[CoogarXR]

I have about 6 shallow drawers-
1) Mini "pliers" drawer (tiny diagonal cutters, needle-nose pliers, hemostats, etc)
2) Allen wrenches, center punch and small drill bits
3) Large drill bits
4) Screwdriver bits
5) Knives, razors, exact-o stuff, scrapers
6) "junk drawer" pencils, pens, sharpies, chalk, batteries, etc

 

[Richard Cranium]

My first thought was screw drivers/nut drivers

 

[AntonLargiader]

Let us know where you are; someone might want to swap. I'm pretty happy with the config I have but I know a lot of people really like the shallow drawers.

 

[crewchief888]

I prefer more shalow drawers over deep one's.

 

[gdocktor3]

I keep dumb stuff in them. Scissors, tweezers, popsicle sticks, q tips, pens, pencils, rulers, razor blades, etc. Here's top drawer of my small Husky side cabinet.

 

[chopper1]

I wish I had more shallow drawers.

 

[Packard V8]

I buy machinist's chest just for the very shallow drawers:

micrometers, calipers, radius gauges,
rules, squares, levels,
punches
chisels
small files
taps and dies
countersinks, drills and reamers
scrapers

jack vines

 

[Ign]

I recently scrapped 4 wide shallow drawers for my 54" KRL. It was simply too difficult to find anyone locally or ship them (no one wanted to pay shipping).

That said, shallows absolutely have their place. If you throw something like pliers in a deep drawer you just wind up w unused stuff floating to the bottom & you flat-out forget you have it. You wind up just using the top ~4 at the top of the heap.

 

[larry_g]

I buy machinist's chest just for the very shallow drawers:

micrometers, calipers, radius gauges,
rules, squares, levels,
punches
chisels
small files
taps and dies
countersinks, drills and reamers
scrapers

jack vines

There ya go. Those two shallow drawers are to hold the most valuable tools. Buy a mill and a lathe and you'll understand what the shallow drawers are for. I'm assuming that right now you are at home and in the garage and also only see a tool box as something to store wrenches, hammers, and other tools to abuse an automobile with. If you get into the more precision side of things then your going to have tools to proof your work, a lot of small measuring tools and devises. These go in the small drawers.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[VinceG]

That is why when I bought my box I had then chang out the long shallow with 4" deep drawers. You can order replacement color matched drawers.

 

[Ign]

I do a shallow drawer of misc auto specialty. Almost surely too disorganized for a pro tech.

 

[Major Ramifications]

Shallow drawers are for guys with small packages, I guess.

 

[oldldh]

Shallow drawers are where I keep my ...

Wait for it...

SHALLOWS!!!

(Screwdrivers, wrench sets, rulers, anything about the thickness of a sandwich...)

And...

My "World Famous Collection of Left and Right Hand Shallows...Known as Heximulticomplicators...

Well there has to be a Wisea@#, somewhere...

 

[454ragtop]

I recently scrapped 4 wide shallow drawers for my 54" KRL. It was simply too difficult to find anyone locally or ship them (no one wanted to pay shipping

I threw up in my mouth a little when I read that, damn, would have paid the shipping no problem. What a shame.

 

[Crazyjake8493]

I wish I had more shallow drawers. I find that the deep drawers have too much wasted spaces unless you stack things. In my shallow drawers I have drill bit sets, hole saw sets, utility knives, IR thermometer and OBDII reader, speed and combination squares, taps with matching drill bits, punches, and markers.

 

[Boilerhouse]

I built my own tool cabinet a few years ago and the biggest mistake I made were making too many deep drawers. There is a lot of inefficient, wasted space. I will probably do a rebuild this winter.

 

[Bessy]

I second the "wasted space" mindset. I'd rather give up cubic inches in favour of square inches for a few reasons:
- I have a number of tools that are most effectively stored flat, or nearly flat (wrenches, punches/chisels, screwdrivers, layout/measuring tools, etc),
- deep drawers lend themselves to becoming catch-alls, which puts a lot of sense into Adam Savage's "drawers are where things go to die" mindset.
- I simply like the look of a drawer that is laid out in a neat, flat, fashion. It makes it easy for me to walk over to the box, grab what I need, and not have to search.

 

[jeffmoss26]

I love the shallow drawers of my Kennedy box - it holds my tools for lock rekeying perfectly!
For normal tools I have a Craftsman top chest and roller, most of the drawers are fairly shallow so I guess I don't know what I am missing out on, lol

 

[AntonLargiader]

It comes down to what you keep in the box. A lot of stuff I use won't fit into a shallow drawer. I don't think my wrench racks will even work in a 2" drawer, and laying them flat would be a huge space waster. My sockets sure won't stand up in a shallow one, either. Then there are the special drivetrain tools.

But I agree that keeping thin stuff in a deep drawer can lead to having layers of stuff to root through and that doesn't work either. I guess the "One layer" rule is the best guide; I sure stick to that. Ummm... mostly.

 

[MikeF2316]

I'm also a fan of shallow drawers. I like to have everything in one layer. I like my screwdrivers, pliers, vise grips, and even socket drive tools laid out. And if you use wrench racks for shallow drawers, then you can put all but the largest wrenches on those in a shallow drawer.

 

[cliftonbros89]

I have screwdrivers that fit in a 2" drawer with no problems. All my wrenches on Ernst racks fit in my 2" drawers which is for now up to 1 1/4" and 32mm. I also have another 2" drawer that I have a full pliers rack in. I don't have any problem with the pliers catching or rubbing the drawer above them. Everything fits fine. Plus keeps from piling stuff on top of other things, making it easy to find things.


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[Yankee]

Sounds to me the people that say shallow drawers waste too much space are overlooking the obvious....... your problem isn't shallow drawers, it's that you just need a bigger box.....

 

[Yankee]

In all seriousness, the old avionics habits and processes in me insist that every tool lays flat so you can see easily if you have all your tools when your done with a job.' Deep drawers for me are actually a space killer.

 

[winlinmac]

If I by bigger box, you mean a bigger garage as well.

Sounds to me the people that say shallow drawers waste too much space are overlooking the obvious....... your problem isn't shallow drawers, it's that you just need a bigger box.....

 

[anndel]

Screwdrivers, calipers, micrometers, feeler gauges and test lights

 

[Teenager with old tools]

My metric wrenches, screwdrivers Allen wrenches nut drivers my loose tap and dies drill bits 1/4 inch sockets


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[Greg85mcss]

Shallow drawers are nice when you have the luxury of space to waste laying things flat. Not that it's wasteful if it helps you find things quicker. I wrenches on a rack up to 26, pliers, scrapers, picks, electrical stuff, trim tools, specialty stuff... I will say that when I got it I was really tired of only having deeper drawers & over estimated the value of a bunch of shallow drawers. There are definitely things I wish I didn't have to reach so low for.


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[lugnut71]

I love the two inch drawers in a krl box. Got screwdrivers, hose tools, nut drivers, etc in one drawer, all my prybars, punches, chisels, and most of my hammers in another one, all pliers and vise grips in one, timing belt and fan clutch wrenches in one, filter wrenches, fuel line disconnect tools, electrical terminal tools, calipers, freeze plug installer, torsion bar tools, clutch alignment tools, etc. Works great , and nothing is stacked on top of each other.

 

[lugnut71]

I don't get the wasted space theory by having everything laid flat, because you have more drawers, two - 2" in place of one 4".

 

[JAKE-THE-TOOL-MAN]

My box is made up almost entirely of 2in tall drawers. I store screwdrivers, extensions, ratchets, prybars, punches, electrical testers. Pretty much everything except sockets, air and cordless tools, hammers and pullers fit in them. My wrenches above 1" and 24mm have to get stored flat but I can live with that

 

[AntonLargiader]

...Pretty much everything except sockets, air and cordless tools, hammers and pullers fit in them. My wrenches above 1" and 24mm have to get stored flat but I can live with that

I think SO really got it right with the 1023-type boxes. The 3" wrench drawer is perfect, and 5" for sockets lets you stand all of the deeps up. My biggest deeps won't stand up in my 4" top drawer and some of my wrenches won't rack in a 2" drawer. That mix probably isn't for everyone, and I don't have enough sockets and wrenches to really make it work, but I can totally see why they did it.

This discussion motivated me to organize a bit and show what's in my shallow drawers.

1003B top shallows: screwdriver-like items (mostly) and plier-like items. Perfect use for a 2" drawer IMO:


1003B middle shallows: some paperwork, tools and parts storage (middle has chains/sprockets, helicoil sets, a few other things, and bottom is brake pads and associated parts):


The 1001B in a different part of the shop is for bench work, so the pliers are nearly all snap-ring and there are measuring tools. These are the only two shallow drawers in that box. I did some mix-n-match between the two when I bought this one. There are usually a few screwdrivers in the top drawer but I rarely use them over there:


There is another 2" on the right side of the 1003 but no one's allowed to see that mess. And I have another that isn't installed because of a broken slide that I haven't pushed for a replacement on.

 

[SMKS]

The shallow drawers on my toolbox hold things like ratchets, extensions, screwdrivers, punches and chisels, trim tools, torque wrenches, pliers, etc.