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As someone who’s soon going to making a huge tool investmet soon, I was just wondering how everyone here likes to organize their tools. As someone who’s obsessed with keeping every socket of every size in order and in it’s place, I’m sure everyone has their own method to their madness. Although this is guaged mosty towards wrenches and sockets, feel free to show how you keep anything you use in your garage or shop neat and organized. So whatever it is whether it be socket rails, socket trays, some crazy creation of your own, or even if you still manage to find everything no matter how messy your tool box is, I’d like to know!
Bonus points are awarded for showing off your collection!
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Tool Shadowing…hands down is the way to go when organizing. There are pros and cons to going this route, but as far as presentation and layout, you cannot beat this method. You can watch a video of my toolbox at http://youtu.be/0LWjYsqoQqE (I created this video for a friend of mine)
At the 6:20 mark that is where I open my 1/4″ drive, where I have shadowed my tools. There are tons of kits out there that give color variations when you remove a tool, so the missing tool stands out, but for low costs I went the route of a styrofoam backing with black felt.
My 1/4″ drawer is the only one done in this manner, because I need to finish filling out my other tools before I layout a permit design, but I LOVE the fact that at a glance, I can see all my sockets and know exactly where my 10mm 6pt is located.
TexasCoder – I love your video! Very descriptive and thanks for introducing me to the tool shadowing concept. Ill have to look into that on my days off this week.
As for my organization, i have every tool box drawer labeled (testing equipment, 1/4 sockets, wrenches, pry bars and so forth), all my sockets are on socket racks and every drawer is very organized to make my life easier finding the correct tool i need for the vehicle i am working on. I also use those tool box mats inside my drawers so nothing rolls around.
I also have a tool cart too with 2 drawers, side tool box holder that is great for doing jobs such as brake jobs and so forth.
If i have time this week, ill upload some pictures.
TexasCoder, How’s that US General box treating you? I’ve been thinking of picking one up seeing as I need a good sized chest, but the price makes me a little bit Iffy on the quality.
Quoted From cdrew11:
TexasCoder, How’s that US General box treating you? I’ve been thinking of picking one up seeing as I need a good sized chest, but the price makes me a little bit Iffy on the quality.
I love it! The two complaints I have are that I wish I had a second one, and I wish the drawers where just an inch deeper. But, for the price, and with a 20% off coupon, you can’t beat the deal.
When you get a chance, whatch the video review I did of it: http://youtu.be/8eZvy0Hm-TI
If you decide you want one, let me know and I will hunt through my magazines and see if I can find you the coupon for it on sale and a 20% off coupon and I can mail it to you.
By the way, is that a 3000GT in your profile pic? You got any photos you wanna upload to your profile? I love the 3000GT! Wait…those rims look like Dodge Stealth rims…is that a stealth?
Quoted From dreamer2355:
TexasCoder – I love your video! Very descriptive and thanks for introducing me to the tool shadowing concept. Ill have to look into that on my days off this week.
Thank you! It has really helped finding tools in my 1/4″ drive. The big down side, is you need to be happy with the tool collection you have. Once you cut out the form, and then later decide to buy another tool, you have to redo it, or cut a spot out for in the existing form…which is easy enough, but if you have organized everything then it can throw it off.
I am waiting to do my 3/8″ and 1/2″ until I get a complete set, then I plan on moving to the box ends, but I am going to wait and get gearwrench or snap on.
But, I know without a doubt, I will do this to the rest of my drawers (screwdrivers, pliers, hammers…)
I love the idea of tool shadowing. I’m sure given enough time I could probably get away with doing it for cheap.
TexasCoder:
I watched your video on the tool chest, and it helped clear a lot questions I’ve had about it. I’m sure I had one of those 20% off deals in my e-mails somewhere too but I’ll be picking one up in the future I’m sure.Also in regards to my profile pic that would be my Dodge Stealth R/T. I could upload more photos in time, but I no longer have it anymore. I loved driving it though. It was the non-turbo’d R/T model but it was an absolute joy to drive. I’ll probably have another one in time for sure though.
I dont have a garage so i had to turn the trunk of my car into my so called garage. most of my tools(sockets, wrenches, ratchets, etc) have a carrying case that just sits in my trunk. and for my other tools(screwdrivers, pliers, mini prybars, misc wrenches, etc) i have in an old first aid kit container. that i ripped the stickers off of. this works for me only because i don’t have a whole lot of tools. but i hope to eventually get a garage. so right now im just a moving toolbox lol. which has actually been very helpful. its great for those emergency road side repairs. also ive been at friends houses and they were having trouble with there cars and ill had to do was go to my trunk and get all the tools i needed to make the repair.
There’s a killer deal going on right now at VIM Tools for their older model Magrail socket organizers. They’re $5 a pop for 1/2″, 3/8″ and 1/4″ rows. Throw in some spare posts while you’re at it for $1.75 per pack of 10. I just bought a BUNCH of these since I’m sick of the crummy wobbly socket rails I’ve been using for years that keep bending at the handle (not to mention that sockets are always falling off of them). I have a newer version of a Magrail for some XZN sockets I bought recently. The new Magrail is crazy nice – it holds on to the sockets like glue (they use a Neodymium magnet to keep the sockets connected to the posts). You can even hang everything upside down, but the new Magrails go for close to $30 each, so I figure that if I can get 6 rails for the same price just because they’re last year’s model, then that’s fine with me. This is one of the few Made in Taiwan things in my toolbox that I like better than the Made in the USA equivalent.
Here’s the URL to the sale page:
You can go with multiple (small tool boxes) or a one big tool box. Going with multiple boxes are cheaper.
For the sockets, take a thin piece of wood and drive in long nails with a hammer, and file off the tip. You can also use plastic organizer.
This is when I first got my Matco 6s 3 bay box back in 2008, I’ve added a LOT more stuff to it since then….
Top 2 big drawers
I’ll be honest, I’m very disorganized and don’t have the cleanest and organized box in the shop by any means. One of these days I’ll get everything organized and cleaned up and take pics of every drawer, the tool box is now full for the most part, could clean some crap out of the bottom 3 bigger drawers and fit more stuff in if I had to.
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