Storing tools for multiple professions

[johny89]

Hi, i'm looking for options on how to store the tools I don't always need.
I'm mostly involved in mechanic work so work bench and pegboard contains everything for that.
While working on the house gives m e a bunch of extra tools that just lies around or on my workbench taking away my space to work...
Handsaw, big hammers, maconry tools etc...
What do you guys use to store them? Toolboxes? Just boxes..?

 

[alfazer]

I have my house repair tools kept in a plastic tool box. The common type with a hinge lid and a lift out tray....a few screwdrivers claw hammer, pliers, short handsaw, basic plumb and electrical stuff. Little compartments hold a few spare wood screws, tape, fuses.
Then have one of those things looks like a bucket on wheels with a pullup handle. It holds most of my heavy duty, ugly masonry stuff like club hammer, chisels, trowel and so on.

So all my nice mechanic tools stay in the garage and don't get mixed up with the diy stuff.

 

[gtae07]

Hi, i'm looking for options on how to store the tools I don't always need.
I'm mostly involved in mechanic work so work bench and pegboard contains everything for that.
While working on the house gives m e a bunch of extra tools that just lies around or on my workbench taking away my space to work...
Handsaw, big hammers, maconry tools etc...
What do you guys use to store them? Toolboxes? Just boxes..?

I have a cheap plastic 6' shelf unit that most of the "house work" tools and supplies go on, except for the miter saw because it's too big. But inside the garage we also have a toolbox with a basic set of tools (drill, pliers, screwdriver, etc) so we don't have to walk to the shop for simple tasks. And since we've somehow accumulated a couple of those cheap Chinese beginner tool sets (you know, blow-molded case with a screwdriver, pliers, hammer, 15' tape measure, etc) from well-meaning relatives and white elephant exchanges, we have located them around the house for easy access.

 

[E.Marquez]

What do you guys use to store them? Toolboxes? Just boxes..?

Yes....

There is a roll cart that has "house stuff" claw hammers, fence pliers, wood type pry bars, door hinge jig kit, ect...

There are large drawer plastic sets that hold some wood working tools, jig saw, router and the things that go with them, same set up for house tool supplies , spares for all the power equipment, string trimmer line, ect.
There are a LOT of stackable 12 and 22qt plastic clear boxs that store "stuff" one has 110v electrical supplies, another plumbing odds and ends. And then many of my non Auto tools are boxed, ether the blow molded plastic style they came in, or one I made so instead of the hammer drill sitting in a pile next to the circular saw, they are both in cases and stacked.

 

[crewchief888]

my garage is only for mechanical and metal work.

woodworking/ DIY/home repair stuff is all in the basement, in a seperate room, where i also have my reloading bench

i have a woodworking bench with drawers, one drawer are some basic hand tools, other drawers have similar tools stored together,
hot glue gun & stapler
drywall knives
misc switches/outlets & covers
misc plumbing supplies, (washers ect)
sureform files and sanding blocks

metal shelf unit
assortment of conduit connectors in a stanley organizer
couple shelves with corded/cordless power tools & batteries
storage tote with small plumbing stuff

old dresser against the wall with misc salvaged lamp & light fixtures parts and pieces.

table saw and miter saw are in another area of the basement.

most of my woodworking is done inside the house, drywall and trim replacement, so keeping those tools in the house makes more sense.
both saws are portable so if i need to do a bunch of wood cutting outside they are easily moved.

i dont like having sawdust and sparks happening in the same place if it can be avoided. my garage is small (19x22) having "everything" out there wont leave enough room to work, or get the wifes DD inside.

 

[bczygan]

Metalworking tools and machinery and welding in the one car garage.

Automotive in the automotive shed.

Woodworking tools and machinery in the woodworking shed.

Plumbing and concrete tools in a shed.

Carpentry tools in the woodworking shed.

Electronic tools in hand carry tool boxes and stored alongside electrical tools. (Soon to have it's own bench).

Electrical tools in boxes (Soon to be hand carry tool boxes).

Bike tools in the soon to be finished bike shed.

Painting stuff here and there. Need to make a place.

Misc. household maintenance???

Masonry tools?

Leatherworking?

Pottery?

Casting?

Blacksmithing?

Tools for airplanes, boats, snowmobiles?

Bill

 

[Richard Cranium]

I have a separate tool box devoted to electronics plus two drawers in my Equipto (Lista type) Box.
Other tools that also cross over to mechanics, are stored in my regular tool box.

 

[Tj-gord]

I use 2 toolboxes. One holds all my automotive/mechanical tools. The other holds wood working/ home repair kinda thing. Mind u im a mech by trade and dont have a ton of wood tools.

 

[brownbagg]

i need an in house tool kit, In the shop I keep some of my trade tools in five gallon buckets with lids, like oil change, masonry, pvc plumbing, concrete floats. and then i will put them high on the shelve. Even all my welding in in one milk crate.

 

[matt_i]

I have a cabinet with 2 large doors + shelves inside. These are tasked with holding corded power tools, pneumatic tools, and anything "big" that could never fit in a tool cabinet with 2" to 6" tall drawers. I also keep woodworking and metalworking tools and processes in separate buildings except I like to drag a circular saw outdoors as much as possible.

 

[cheechi]

I have masonry tools in a box, drywall tools in a box, electrical tools in a bag and that's about it for tools I have segregated away from others.

most power tools I try to have a container with relevant bits, blades, etc for it all together except for drills. Because drill/driver gets used in so many different tasks I do have a box for when they need to go with me but I don't 'put them away' where they can get lost or stuff stacked on them.

 

[73fxe]

Drywall tools in 2 buckets, Tile tools 1 bucket, concrete tools 1 bucket, Mechanical tools in the upright toolbox, electoral tools in the bag. After a busy day they are all over the garage.

 

[Lelandwelds]

Yes....


There are a LOT of stackable 12 and 22qt plastic clear boxs that store "stuff" one has 110v electrical supplies, another plumbing odds and ends. And then many of my non Auto tools are boxed, ether the blow molded plastic style they came in, or one I made so instead of the hammer drill sitting in a pile next to the circular saw, they are both in cases and stacked.

How do you ID contents without opening? Color? Labeling? Storage location? Freaking awesome memory?

Have you done anything to limit theft? Any thought given to denying use of your tools to steal your possessions?

 

[kaiser715]

A lot of my work is offsite, so I have most stuff packed up in boxes.

Two of these: http://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-22-in-Pro-Tool-Box-Black-222570/205440481

One holds my nail bags and a few misc items such as extra hammer, pry bars, etc.
The other holds all the misc stuff that you 'sometimes' need on a job (measuring tools, etc) along with electrical tools.

One of these: http://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-22-in-Pro-Gear-Cart-Black-222573/205441921

It holds most of my cordless stuff

Two of these: http://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-22-in-Pro-Organizer-Black-222571/205440492

One holds a cordless drill, cordless impact driver, bits, etc.
The other holds some hand tools -- wrenches, sockets, pliers, etc.

Also have 4 or 5 of these: http://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-22-in-Pro-Box-Black-226036/206291778

All my concrete/mason/brick tools in one, the others are for fasteners. One holds plastic jars of assorted screws, the other nails. Nails for pneumatic nailers are in the other 2.

One similar to this: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-35-in-Mobile-Job-Box-222167/205053257

Air hose, brad nailer, pneumatic stapler, 2 framing nailers.

Then I have a 24x24x48 job site box, with all the stuff that I usually only need on a big project, or rarely...I just set it on the trailer with the tractor forks when needed. Big drills, hammer drill, jigsaw, belt sander, etc. Most stuff in this box is in the whatever plastic box it came in, or a zippered soft case.

The nice thing about the rigid boxes (and there are other systems similar...dewalt has one, milwaukee, etc) is that they stack, and lock together. So you can stack them on the cart, and latch them, and then roll wherever you'd like to go. (It would be nice if the cart wheels were bigger, though, so you could go over rough terrain, or up steps easier.)

I've been using this system in it's current incarnation for a couple of years now, and it has worked well. But again, most of my carpentry work seems to be off-site, so I need an easy way to just either grab component boxes as needed (i.e. if I am just helping somebody else frame something, I can just grab the box with my bags and maybe a saw.), or to load out a lot of stuff in the truck or trailer.

 

[Sticks McGee]

This is something I am also working towards. As I get into the next stages of my garage organization all of these things are gonna be sorted out. Some of the things I have a good idea about and some things I'm going to have to figure out as I go. Currently I have household repar things in a tool bag so I can just grab it to do things in the house as well as grabbing it to go to someone else's house. I want to also separate things (plumbing, electrical, etc) and a mechanics "to go" bag. Nothing I hate worse than going thru a bunch of stuff to put together a kit to take on,y to have to put it all back when done as this is something I do often. Anxious to read others way of doing things for ideas.

 

[E.Marquez]

How do you ID contents without opening? Color? Labeling? Storage location? Freaking awesome memory?

Have you done anything to limit theft? Any thought given to denying use of your tools to steal your possessions?

Three rolling carts are different colors and different brands, Snap on, MAC, HF so I know one is suspension tools, one is house stuff, one is measuring stuff, mics, dial indicators, and set ups for them both general and motor or assembly specific.

The several dozen plastic containers are clear and generally labeled by bike they are spares for, 12v electrical items, trailer lighting items, gloves, Eye pro, ect
The blow molded OEM cases are recognizable mostly as what is in them .... with the rarely used stuff like Super charger pully puller kit, I might have to look a little harder to pic it out from other rarely used cases tools.
The home made cases

Well i made um, so I tend to remember what I made them for

 

[Lelandwelds]

my garage is only for mechanical and metal work.




most of my woodworking is done inside the house, drywall and trim replacement, so keeping those tools in the house makes more sense.



i dont like having sawdust and sparks happening in the same place if it can be avoided. my garage is small (19x22) having "everything" out there wont leave enough room to work

You seem to have a couple storage strategies. Is this intentional because you wanted to: group things by occupation? Avoid having fire and flammables together, etc? Keep from extra wasted steps? Work around limited space?

Or, is this just dumb luck that happened by itself?

For the first (and probably only) time in my life, I have a clean slate and time to plan.

 

[Lelandwelds]

Three rolling carts are different colors and different brands, .


The several dozen plastic containers are clear and generally labeled


The home made boxes
Well i made um, so I tend to remember what I made them for

I can easily do that with stuff I already own.



You labeled the small, detail items. Easy.



Hard to argue with logic like this.


Some guys here trash it all and buy color coordinated everything. ( or, just got a garage yesterday.) I like your approach. I think organizing threads are needed at least as much as the "storing your ratchet strap" threads and the "how I store electric cords".

 

[E.Marquez]

"storing your ratchet strap" threads

Wait there is a thread for that........where is that search button?????
I just today bought a over the door hanging shoe storage thingy for putting motorcycle tie down straps, soft ties and canyon dancers

 

[rayra]

I've done a lot of house-flipping and home improvement work, I have hand tools from all the trades. Clear totes and some 5gal buckets. A couple large milsurp zippered canvas bags. Electrical working stuff and bits in a tote. Housepainting stuff in a tote. PLumbing gear in a tote. All my tile-working stuff in a bucket, alongside a small portable tile saw. A bucket full of all sorts of nails, screws and fasteners, all the esoteric stuff. The general stuff is racked by my spray can storage. All my masonry and concrete-working hand tools in a bucket. A high shelf over my workbench full of boxed tools.
I've got a medium-small bag that has all my 'handyman' tools and a larger bag that has a few larger items in it, which I throw task-specific stuff in as needed.
Right now I'm working remodeling projects in 5 houses (including my own) in three cities spread across 280mi. Being able to grab those two bags plus whichever 'trade' tote I need makes it a lot easier. And less likely to forget a needed tool.
I've also built a drawer / platform in my Suburban, the drawers are 54" L and ~8" deep. I can fit a lot of larger oddball stuff in them too.

 

[johny89]

As I can see most of you guys have multiple storage locations. Going from basement to (a few) sheds. In the future I would prefer that aswell but for now my biggest issue is that I have a 12 by 22 garage in which I need to do car repairs and store all my stuff of remodelling buildings and woodworking. For now my table saw and miter saw are stored in the kitchen which is where I need it to build the kitchen but after that it needs to get back in my garage.
I saw great ideas here but honestly don't feel like having room for those extra boxes even though al the tools are now scattered around in the garage and I have no room for car repair. (This is the reason I started this topic) keep up the info guys I sure find it usefull.

 

[Lelandwelds]

Ugh. One car garage. Thats tough.

Declutter. Attic. Under bed. Are you sure you cant add a small shed? I have a 40 ft container.

Thats tough. Id like to see before and after if you come up with a solution.

 

[bullfrog123]

Woodworking is on opposite side of the shop as my main fab/wrenching area.
Fortunate to have a large enough area to seperate the two areas. As someone else mentioned it really helps to keep sparks away from the sawdust/painting area. Let alone the grease and grime of wrenching away from wood side. Storage of parts and extra junk is above the work bench in the mezanine area. Totes and tubs work great.

 

[-Brent-]

For me, it's mostly tool boxes. However, I have shelving for big, lesser used tools. a couple shelves are primarily carpentry with larger items like nailers, sanders, saws, etc. I also have a shelf for the larger metal working tools and such.

I do keep all my yard work tools in a shed. The shed is also where I keep extension cords. In an ideal world I wouldn't need them but since I can't throw them away, I hang them out of my way - where I can't see them.

 

[johny89]

Ugh. One car garage. Thats tough.

Declutter. Attic. Under bed. Are you sure you cant add a small shed? I have a 40 ft container.

Thats tough. Id like to see before and after if you come up with a solution.

I can't add an extra shed budget won't let me. I start to save when the kitchen is done. So an extra storage (am thinking of a 20ft container that can be assembled on site) will have to wait a year or two. But I want to be able to work in the shop meanwhile so I can earn extra cash.

 

[Jon_E]

Tough question. I had every tool I used regularly, in my basement, with the exception of a few items I was storing for future use in the shed. Now I have a three-bay garage/shop but it's not done, so about half the stuff is still in the basement, and the rest is in the new garage. This becomes a problem when I need a tool in the house and realize that I have to go out to the (detached) garage to get it. I think what I am going to do is maintain a separate toolbox in the house, with the basics needed for home repairs and maintenance. Just very simple stuff. A cordless drill, hammer, pliers, screwdrivers, adjustable wrench etc. I keep a similar tool kit in my office at work, and only go to the maintenance shop if I need a specialty tool. Similarly, not going to keep specialty tools in the basement. I am primarily a woodworker, so the garage is mostly woodworking machines. However, the non-woodworking stuff needs a place too, so that will be kept to a separate workbench on the opposite end of the garage from the woodworking equipment. I keep supplies in plastic bins or totes with lids, all labeled appropriately i.e. "electrical", "plumbing", "PVC fittings", etc. Even things like sandpaper and extension cords have bins. I will probably reorganize when I am finally 100% into the garage. I have a small Kennedy roll-around toolbox that will probably stay in the basement and I will use that for "house" tools.