Impressive organization, I am not nearly as organized.

I'll have to get some pics some time. Mine need to be mobile, if I am headed to a work project, my parents, the in laws or one of the rentals I need to take them with me for whatever I am tackling.

So I have a tackle box sized open wrench box, rolling cooler sized socket wrench container, a couple soft side carry alls that are 'trade' based (plumbing stuff in one, drywall stuff or paint or electrical stuff in another).

And of course the soft side bag in the truck tool box that is the miscellaneous catch all which has most of its contents duplicated in the workshop because you always need a hammer and tape and various pliers & utility knives, hack saw, hand saw, etc where you are at the moment.

I like the stun gun......ya say ya wanna barrow one of my favorite tools?!?!?!?!?!?!? ZAP!!!

 

Impressive organization, I am not nearly as organized.

I'll have to get some pics some time. Mine need to be mobile, if I am headed to a work project, my parents, the in laws or one of the rentals I need to take them with me for whatever I am tackling.

So I have a tackle box sized open wrench box, rolling cooler sized socket wrench container, a couple soft side carry alls that are 'trade' based (plumbing stuff in one, drywall stuff or paint or electrical stuff in another).

And of course the soft side bag in the truck tool box that is the miscellaneous catch all which has most of its contents duplicated in the workshop because you always need a hammer and tape and various pliers & utility knives, hack saw, hand saw, etc where you are at the moment.

I like the stun gun......ya say ya wanna barrow one of my favorite tools?!?!?!?!?!?!? ZAP!!!

Thanks for your comment. That just gave me another idea I will post in a minute.

I keep a regular old style handle on top tool box stocked for mobile stuff, but I don't use it very often. I try to get anything needing work to my shop as it makes projects easier.

I bought the stun gun while I was in Sturgis, South Dakota at the Shopping Mall in Rapid City. They had decent sized sword, knife, stun gun, brass knuckles, etc. store next to the j.C. Penney. One would NOT find such a store in Michigan......:laugh::lol:

Very impressive SulleyBear! :lovetongue:

Clearly better than my system...

View attachment 210465 :lolol:

Kidding, thats not quite what my bench looks like. Found that pic out there on the ole interweb.
I've been here at this location six years, had the garage built year 2. The place is 20 years old and was foreclosed on and abandoned for almost a year. Little maintenance had been done on it by the last owners. A new roof and HVAC system + the Wife's honey do list on the house took precedence. So, I'm just getting around building out my storage solutions and setting up the garage the way I want it.

This is a great idea for a thread and I'll be eagerly watching for ideas.:munch:

The picture you posted resembles what my dad's work bench used to look like except the one in the photo is MUCH more organized. My dad lacked any patience and was quick to yell and scream. I must have heard him yell at my mom a thousand time while I was growing up, when he couldn't find his tools. My mom would ALWAYS respond "What was the last thing you worked on? Look there." And she was right 99% of the time.:laugh::lol:

 

Very impressive SulleyBear! :lovetongue:

Clearly better than my system...

:lolol:

Kidding, thats not quite what my bench looks like. Found that pic out there on the ole interweb.
I've been here at this location six years, had the garage built year 2. The place is 20 years old and was foreclosed on and abandoned for almost a year. Little maintenance had been done on it by the last owners. A new roof and HVAC system + the Wife's honey do list on the house took precedence. So, I'm just getting around building out my storage solutions and setting up the garage the way I want it.

This is a great idea for a thread and I'll be eagerly watching for ideas.:munch:

 

Shooting Bag

I use this tool bag for carrying my handguns and ammo when I go shooting, It works very well. It has a metal bar handle and is well built enough to carry with guns and magazines and a thousand rounds of ammo. The compartments fit the magazines and handguns surprisingly well.

 

View attachment 210561 I use this tool bag for carrying my handguns and ammo when I go shooting, It works very well. It has a metal bar handle and is well built enough to carry with guns and magazines and a thousand rounds of ammo. The compartments fit the magazines and handguns surprisingly well.

View attachment 210569

I love it when a guy has the right tools for the job.:bigthumb:

 

Bolt Bin

Years ago, I got tired of running down to the hardware store to get hardware every time I turned around. So I bought bolt bins and stocked them with grade 5 and grade 8 hardware in both course and fine thread. I think it has 1/4" x 1/2" up to 5/8" x 4" or 5" hardware.

I purchase these products from Lawson Products https://www.lawsonproducts.com/ and I have had very good results. They have a lot of handy items for the tool box and also cutting tools, abrasives, you name it.

I also bought electrical connector drawers and heat shrink connectors, shrink tubing and a drawer of the various fuses, etc. Those are the drawers on top of the bolt bins.

I have several more of the drawers on top of the refrigerator next to the bolt bin. These bins, kits and drawers have been extremely handy over the years.


Also, the GTT Fans will note the new 5 gallon bucket of Low Viscosity Hydro Fluid. I got it on sale this past February at the dealers Filter and Fluid annual sale.

The Mountain Dew is my wife's. She lives on Mountain Dew. A couple of weeks ago, it was on sale at the local private owned grocery story and it was $6.00 per case. I bought my wife 10 cases of Dew so I wouldn't have to bother getting it for a few weeks. The refrigerator to the right has three cases kept cold for "the Boss"........

 

Diet Dew is good stuff. Used to go through a case (24 cans) a week. I'm now down to 5 or 6 cans a week.

 

I don't know how my wife does it. She used to drink Coke for years and years. She switched to Mountain Dew a few years ago. She drinks pop all of the time. She never drinks or eats anything sugar free. She is 5' 9" tall and weighs about 125 lbs. She has been the same size her whole life.

She doesn't do any of the things you are supposed to, other than our daily walk. She eats junk food all of the time, cookies, crackers, chips, you name it. I just took the recyclable bin out of the garage and dumped it in the curbside recycle container and I noticed that a box of Schwaan Ice cream Premium Praline and Pecan cones was empty and we just got it Thursday night. There had been either 12 or 15 in the box. That's 3 ice cream bars a day.:laugh: Every day.

Her blood pressure average is 90/ 58........No, that's not a mis print. Her blood sugar is average. Cholesterol is low, HDL / LDL ratio is at the low end of average. I guess she is just lucky. She seems to be able to process stuff which would kill me at the volumes she consumes it.

She kids that her basic food groups are "Cookies, Cakes and Chips" and instead of dairy, she eats Chocolate. Sometimes I think she should be the subject of a science study so see how her system is able to handle the intake it does and function so well. :unknown:

 

SullyBear, I refuse to post pics of my tool storage "system" for fear of being laughed out of GTT.
I mean when your wife offers to help you clean up and organize, ya know it's bad. :laugh:

 

SullyBear, I refuse to post pics of my tool storage "system" for fear of being laughed out of GTT.
I mean when your wife offers to help you clean up and organize, ya know it's bad. :laugh:

Come On, Neil.....Be a sport. We are all friends here.......well, kinda.....Anyways, show us what you got. You are always working on something interesting. We promise we won't laugh.....Well, I promise. I can't speak for some of those outlaws on GTT......:laugh::lol:

I like your hardware bin. I have been accumulating the plastic versions little by little for bolts/nuts/washers. For the small stuff like cotter pins I have the plastic divided container bins. There is no running to the hardware store around here - if I don't have what I need the project comes to a stop.

I have an entire wall in the garage which has oak cabinets that were custom built for my prior office location. It has a counter top the length and also over head cabinets. Inside the cabinets in my shop, in the plastic divider trays, I have many of the small assortments of cotter pins, spring clips, you name it. I labeled the end of each as I probably have 2 dozen or more and it saves digging through them. The small parts are very handy to have. While it costs to initially buy the hardware assortments, I hate to think of the actual costs over the years to run down to the hardware to get just that one little item.

Of all of the plastic organizers I have tried, I find I like the type in the photo I have attached. With the secure closure and the compartments fitting tight against the lid, when I have dropped the trays or otherwise been rough with them, as long as they were closed, everything remained right where it should be and no mess was made. Others I have tried were not so good at being handled rough. Since I keep these stacked, I am always moving several which I don't need to get what I want. But over all, they keep stuff organized and free from dirt, etc. Plus they are about $8 each, which is very reasonable.

Hiya,

Well, here's a quick look at what I have in my "play room" AKA the garage. The story behind the all the rollaways in the pictures is that I started buying them in 1979 when I my first full time job turning wrenches.

The first one was the lower section on the right. I made due with that one as my one and only rollaway for about 4 years at 5 different garages, right up to the point when I was at K-Mart working for a real jerk of a manager, come one Friday, right after lunch I had enough of him, I backed my '69 Torino 428 Cobra-Jet convertible up to the door, opened the trunk, rolled the cabinet over to it, tipped it on it's back into the trunk, tied the lid down, jumped back in and left sideways at about 5800RPM in 1st and second on the way out of the parking lot.


I'm seriously considering one of the giant HF industrial tool ummmmm... trailers and one of the mid size trailers (too huge to be a rollaway, they need a trailer hitch) to replace all of the roll aways and cabinets. Problem is I'm old fashioned and I still have a hard time buying tools made in China.

Thanks for the posting and pictures. The other tool boxes I mentioned in my post are very similar to the craftsman boxes in your photos. They have been very good boxes over the years.
Years ago, when I worked at a AMC / Jeep / Renault Dealership right out of high school, the service manager fired one of the mechanics. He loaded his tool box in the truck which he had backed into his work bay. When he left, he smoked the rear tires across the shop floor and out the door. He was flipping the bird the entire way. :laugh:

But when he wanted his last paycheck, the owner of the dealership made him come in and scrub the marks off the floor before he would release his paycheck. In the end, I think the guy wished he had waited until he was outside the shop to light up the rear tires..........:banghead::flag_of_truce:

I feel the same way about China made stuff, but it is getting harder and harder to find stuff made in AMERICA. If I made my living out of my tool box and had to move it often, I would likely step up and spend $3,000 to $4,000 on the American made chests. A friend just spent $12,000 on Snap On Boxes. Yes they are nice boxes, but to me they aren't worth $12k. The high dollar tool boxes are often for sale on Ebay, some filled with a career's worth of high qaulity hand tools. But they rarely bring $0.15 to $0.20 cents on the dollar for what was spent to buy them.

One guy in my buddies shop bought a Harbor Freight "trailer sized lower roller cabinet" and he took off the HF brand emblems on the tool box and took the Snap On Logo off his old tool box and stuck it on his new HF box. Hey, whatever floats one's boat...........:lol:

I certainly understand the issue with sending someone to get something out of the tool box, which is why I labeled so much of the stuff. I had a breakdown while on my way home on my Harley in Iowa from a trip to Oregon. It turned out I broke the main shifter shaft on my Harley transmission and the bike was stuck in 3rd gear. I called a friend who brought a flat open trailer to rescue me. Since his trailer had just a flat wood deck and no tie downs, I called Mrs. Bear and asked her to put specific tools and hardware I needed into a box my friend would pick up at my house on his way to get me and the bike in Iowa (I was right at the Illinois border on I-80).

As I was telling my wife precisely which tools and hardware to get over the cell phone, she was amazed I knew the location of even the smallest item. She got everything I needed into the box so I was able to mount a wheel chock on the trailer bed and also several "D" ring tie downs as well as my motorcycle tie down straps and the closed loop handles I use to bind down the suspension without hooking the straps directly to the bike. At one point, on one item, she kept insisting that it wasn't in the drawer where I had her looking. It turned out I was calling the tool by a different name that she thought it was, and the item was right where I told it would be. She must have put together 25 different things I thought I may need. But being organized sure made it easier to direct her over the phone to gather what I needed.

If the breakdown had been minor, I would have repaired it myself but I wasn't about the get inside the transmission of the Harley in the hotel parking lot. :laugh::lol:

 

I like your hardware bin. I have been accumulating the plastic versions little by little for bolts/nuts/washers. For the small stuff like cotter pins I have the plastic divided container bins. There is no running to the hardware store around here - if I don't have what I need the project comes to a stop.

 

This is my everyday work setup. Includes two full sets of wrenches, 1/2" drive standard sockets, 3/8" drive metric sockets, 1/4" drive standard and metric, and deep metric. A variety of pliers, cutters, wiring tools, etc. I can do 95% of the work I need to do solely out of this bag. It's a Veto Pro Pack, and has been an excellent purchase. My old tool bags would last 8 months or so beating around in the truck and on jobs, this one has been around for several years and still shows very little wear.

Most other often used stuff is in this road box. Big wrenches, cordless tools, 3/4" drive stuff, line wrenches, deep 1/2" drive, etc. Underneath it are all my prybars, breaker bars, jack handles and that sort of thing. My 1" drive sockets are in a metal Kennedy tote box behind it, and the 48" pipe wrench is standing in a corner just out of the photo.

Home stuff. I very rarely need anything from this box, I think it's all duplicates or very special stuff that I don't use at work like 4x4 truck hub sockets, semi truck axle sockets, and air conditioning stuff.

I think I have some photos of my old shop boxes somewhere. That Craftsman top box used to be my road box, but you can see it got pretty beat up in the process. Several drawer slides came apart, the lid doesn't latch, it got bashed into loading big parts a few times. The Snap On is a much heavier duty box, it's been with me through three or maybe four work trucks now.

 

Home stuff. I very rarely need anything from this box, I think it's all duplicates or very special stuff that I don't use at work like 4x4 truck hub sockets, semi truck axle sockets, and air conditioning stuff. .

Curious / Interesting sticker on the toolbox.......The one on the 2nd drawer from the bottom.

Didn't I read once somewhere on GTT that your wife, Hank's adopted mom, is a Law Professor or in some capacity teaches Law or in the legal field at the local college or University?

My wife has three stickers on the edge of her computer monitor on her work desk. One says "I hate people, It's Dogs that I prefer", the next one says "There is always room in my house for one more DOG" and the other one says "I could be a &itch if I were much nicer to people.":laugh:

 

I'm just putting the finishing touches on my hand tool cabinet. Beforehand, all the tools pictured were just laying around on any available horizontal surface in my wood shop. I store all my mechanical tools in bucket buddies.
The cabinet is made from birch plywood and the raised panel doors are cherry. I have a five drawer base that I made (not pictured), to fit underneath.

 

I'm just putting the finishing touches on my hand tool cabinet. Beforehand, all the tools pictured were just laying around on any available horizontal surface in my wood shop. I store all my mechanical tools in bucket buddies.
The cabinet is made from birch plywood and the raised panel doors are cherry. I have a five drawer base that I made (not pictured), to fit underneath.

Dang Sniff! That looks very nice! I think you've made a nice family heirloom there. :thumbup1gif:

 

Hiya,

Well, here's a quick look at what I have in my "play room" AKA the garage. The story behind the all the rollaways in the pictures is that I started buying them in 1979 when I my first full time job turning wrenches.

The first one was the lower section on the right. I made due with that one as my one and only rollaway for about 4 years at 5 different garages, right up to the point when I was at K-Mart working for a real jerk of a manager, come one Friday, right after lunch I had enough of him, I backed my '69 Torino 428 Cobra-Jet convertible up to the door, opened the trunk, rolled the cabinet over to it, tipped it on it's back into the trunk, tied the lid down, jumped back in and left sideways at about 5800RPM in 1st and second on the way out of the parking lot.

The second one I got is the top chest on the left was after I started working as a machinist the first time around. I needed a lot of little draws for indicators, reamers, etc so it fit the bill well. The next one, the lower left roll away was given to me by my Mom's friend Bill when he moved. The next one I got was the 4 drawer middle chest, then came the 2 drawer mid on the right then finally the top chest on the right.

The picture here is a small Ikea bathroom cart I use one for the Bridgeport and one for the SouthBend. I keep collets, spindle, way and cutting oil, clamps stc in them.

This picture is one of the HF rolling carts, I keep machine tools and instruments in it and wheel it between the 2 machines.

These are some drawers in the rollaways. I acquired most of my tools in a haphazard maner, one here, one there. Yard sales, used tool stores, flea markets, other mechanics and machinists, hand me downs and the few and far between shopping spree in the Snap-On truck. These are 2 drawer fulls, there are more ratchets and sockets in other drawers which makes it very confusing when I ask one of my daughters to go grab one.

Ratchets and such

Sockets (Fractional sizes) I have another drawer just like this for Metric.

I'm seriously considering one of the giant HF industrial tool ummmmm... trailers and one of the mid size trailers (too huge to be a rollaway, they need a trailer hitch) to replace all of the roll aways and cabinets. Problem is I'm old fashioned and I still have a hard time buying tools made in China.

 

Here is my hardware bin. I had bins like Sully Bear but swapped them over to these with drawers. I can pull the drawers out and take them to the work. Also, they are smaller in size, didn't need the big bins. I made a custom stand to include a lower shelf and threaded rod rack. I like Sully Bear like labeling everything. :thumbup1gif:

 

Randy, if I weren't happily married I'd plead with you to live in your shop. We could even label my bed as "Rich's Cot". :laugh:

 

My KRL722 Toolbox

I have moved on from the Craftsman chests like the others have shown as not only did I outgrow it but, I wanted bench top work space as well. I have two Snapon rolling chests that I have added overhead lighting and outlets. Here is my KRL722 that holds my machinist tools. These rolling cabinets are huge and hold tons of stuff. This KRL722 is just a two bay, I'll post the three bay later. This one still needs the labeling.

 

What do you gals and guys think of this design of tool box? I see more and more of these retailers, But I don't know anyone personally who owns or uses one of this style.

My John Deere dealer has a Deere Tool Box which is green in color and this style of box. The tool box at the Deere dealer is around $900 if I recall correctly.

I find the design intriguing, but I am not sure how or if I would like it. It seems to be designed to fit a significant amount of tools in a very condensed area, but I have so many unique tools or tools which are NOT depicted in the picture in this box, I would need another box just to store all of the other items.

Where do you put snap ring pliers, oil filter wrenches, tap and die sets and the list goes on and on. Actually, I think I may have more tools which aren't shown in the box in the picture than are shown in the picture....

I also see another issue. The weight of the box loaded as shown would be significant. At least for many people, I don't think the box would be easily picked up and moved round. Tools are surprisingly heavy and they have a very dense weight.

I have talked to many guys over the years who would say something like "A 200 pound per drawer limit is ridiculous. There is now way you could get that much weight in tools in one drawer." Well, I disagree because the weight adds up much faster than people think.........When I moved my one tool box from my prior shop to my home shop and had to put it on a flat deck trailer as we had no way to get it in the back of a truck. We even used the winch to roll it into the trailer.

 

I looked at those type boxes a while back, I don't like them for the reasons you stated. If your stuff fits on the provided hangers, great. There's nowhere for pliers, big sockets or wrenches, cordless or air tools, bit sockets, etc. I can see where it might work alright on a truck with a service bed because you can use the boxes built into the bed as well, but that eats into parts storage space. It also means more compartments to have to lock and unlock, more opportunity for stuff to get lost or exposed to weather. The boxes are meant to be bolted in place though, similar to my red one. I built a base for mine so I can pick it up with a forklift. Some guys lift them with straps on the side handles, but going in and out of a van really limits your overhead lifting space. I have L brackets on my base that bolt the box to the floor. Empty, my red box weighs 180 lbs plus the frame which is probably 40-50 lbs. With tools added it's probably closing in on 500 lbs. I don't know what my yellow box weighed, but when I moved it from my last job to my shop at home I hired a rollback wrecker. Cost me $65 and was well worth it. When I sold it, three of us pushed the empty box onto the buyer's utility trailer.

Weight is a real issue, especially for road boxes. My Craftsman top box had several of the slides fail due to the weight of tools bouncing in the drawers while going down the road. Snap On intentionally doesn't put ball bearing slides on their road boxes because they claim the bearings get beat up and fail. I've heard they don't warranty the slides on the road boxes due to that as well, but have never had to ask. Hopefully I never will.

 

Here's one of mine ... I learned a long time ago the value of quality tools... I think I've been in debt to Snap On for the last ... 18 years or so ...

Too embarrassed to show the inside of the drawers thou ... The Stuff on top wouldn't fit inside...

I've recently acquired a second box ... though I don't have any pics of it aside from being on the trailer coming home..

to the safety police - Three Straps held the box to the trailer, one front, one rear, and one over the top ... :nunu: In my current daily job, I can't tell you how many times I see stuff being transported without ANY straps or chains ... that's a quick way to get somebody hurt

Soon as I get things in the shop cleaned up (it's been crammed Full of stuff I salvaged from the house fire) I'll get some good pics!

 

I always wanted that same box with a work top on it.
That blue is a pretty close match to my Land Cruiser.

 

FamilyTradition, I had the twin to your blue box in yellow. It's a really nice box. :good2:

 

 

View attachment 212577

awesome! My blue one was damaged in transport so I got a helluva deal ... the orange was a repo ... picked it up for the unpaid balance - like new no marks on it. Still contemplating what i want to paint on it...

 

OK. Reluctantly I will post some photos I took this afternoon of my 'tool storage ' aka, shop. Have to get to the computer instead of this iPad.

But remember, you guys; RandyM, SullyBear, Tom999, 56Fordguy, et al, you need me. Because without pics of my 'storage' - how would people know when they see truly well organized, classy, outfitted systems like yours.


Your welcome.

 

I had to re-shoot - the photos were too bad even for me. My shop area is in our 4-car detached garage and it works pretty well for no heavier work than I do. So, here's some random shots - I did tidy up a little bit. Stella was too comfortable where she was so...

 

Thanks for posting. :bigthumb:

Stella sure looks relaxed...........

I used to collect and use the exact same red plastic coffee "cans" for a variety of things, from storage to cleaning paint brushes. They are a great container with the built in molded handle. But then I went to the "K" coffee system as I only drink one or two cups per day so that ended my ability to collect the red containers.

Your storage systems look just fine. And with Stella on security duty, if she is like most Labs that I have known well, you don't have to worry about anything "walking off" out of your shop, without Stella being petted first on their way out the door. :laugh::lol:

 

Mrs. Bubber's tool box

 

Mrs. Bubber's tool box

:thumbup1gif:

 

Did I mention I like to label things. Also, I really like the tops open for working bench space.

Hey Sully, I know you mentioned hand tool organization and then included your fastener organization, are you open to other tool organization in this thread or would you prefer it be a separate thread? I have a couple of Lista cabinets that contain shop supplies and lawn and garden. Thought I'd ask before taking the thread down a path you'd not prefer.

 

Did I mention I like to label things. Also, I really like the tops open for working bench space.

Hey Sully, I know you mentioned hand tool organization and then included your fastener organization, are you open to other tool organization in this thread or would you prefer it be a separate thread? I have a couple of Lista cabinets that contain shop supplies and lawn and garden. Thought I'd ask before taking the thread down a path you'd not prefer.

It doesn't matter to me. It's the moderators you need to be concerned about......oh wait, never mind........:laugh::banghead:

 

Here is my supply cabinet. It is a Lista and contains a little of everything. These things with drawers are the most cost effective storage I have found as they contain a ton of stuff and you can easily get to it all. It is way better than shelving. The trick is not waste any space by putting small items in big drawers. Definitely money well spent. And I think I did mention I like labels. :mocking:

 

That's really a well thought out supply and tool storage cabinet Randy, it's a thing of beauty.:good2: I need to find something more in line with your cabinet. I just have a five shelf set of metal shelves, a cabinet I found at a used furniture store many years ago and a plastic cabinet. My grinding tools I keep on top of an old cable spool, my blending discs, flap discs, flap wheels, wire wheels and grinding discs are stored in boxes on shelves all over the shop.

You have a nice set up, thanks for showing it....

 

About three years ago, I got tired of having my tools in several locations, so I upgraded to a Sears professional 52 inch tool chest with grip latches. I really like the grip latches. Here are several pics of how I have some of the drawers organized. Organization works really good as long as you remember to put things back where they belong. As you can see I have my sockets on racks that keep them organized. One of the best things I ever did. I have 1/4 inch drive, 3/8 inch drive and 1/2 inch drive sockets, both metric and sae, all in the top section. I also have some 1 inch drive sockets in a separate case elsewhere with 1/2 to 3/4 and 3/4 to 1 inch adapters. I keep my Milwaukee 1/2 impact wrench in my pickup toolbox along with the proper sockets to be able to change flat tires on my pickup and my tandem axle dually gooseneck deckover flatbed trailer. As usual, whatever size you get, you soon run out of room and that has already happened to me.

Dave

 

As long as the definition of "tools" is being expanded ....


My "Tool" storage!

 

getting a little low on Jack... [emoji1]

 

Holy c$ap, guys you have some nice storage ideas.

I have a brown paper bag that I bought to wrap a box for Gizmo but decided to store some tools in it instead.?