Projects Tool organizers that are for a working shop

this kind of stuff is shown everywhere
(I’m growing to hate Pinterest)

To me this looks like its packaged excellent for shipping and or maybe cold storage. Not really useful for a guy who needs them every day and has fat fingers that are probably dirty, maybe needs glasses and really isn’t interested in eliminating air space in the drawer. Nor would he be interested in spending hours putting them away to pull them out tomorrow.
I really dislike the Socket racks because they either stick or fall off and it seems impossible to get orientations of markings so someone can read them.

Adam Savage has a system he calls first order or retrievability. Easy for a guys who’s tools are small and similar sized.

I’m looking for some better ideas.
This one seems a little bit better but confusing like the spinning in 2 circles carnival rides




So what have you got, have you seen, on your wishlist?

My wife says everything needs to be easy to put away - not necessarily easy to get at. There’s a difference. Naturally people won’t put it away if it’s time consuming or tedious but they will go to great ends to get what they need. Sometimes looking across 4300 sq ft for the fucking doohickey somethingsixteeths
Not putting it away leads quickly to mind numbing clutter and disorganization.

Oh and Allen wrenches,,,

 

LOL I thought you were talking about someone who organized your tools. I was going to say I got a tool organizer but she always puts my tools in the wrong place.

I am just not that anal about my tools. As long as they are in the proper drawer in the tool box or in the right place on the bench (not enough room in the box for everything) I am happy.

 

One of the coolest tool organizers I ever saw was at a motorcycle shop , where the tech had most of his tools mounted in order under the seat and up on the supports of his roll around seat. Of course most of his work was done, sitting on his butt. But it worked for that situation.
The thing I hate most about some organizers is you have to fight them to get the tool out! Any organizer I get will give me the tool easily !








Bones

 

I never liked all those 'every tool in its perfect little place' organizers. It seems like a lot more effort than it's worth, unless you like to post fancy pics on social media.
My 'tool organizers' are the drawers in my tool chests- I have a metric wrench drawer, an inch wrench drawer, a drawer for each drive size of socket, etc and that's about as much organization as I'm willing to invest in.
I just bought some fresh socket sets and stuck them on those cute little socket clips and they're already driving me nuts. I guess I'm more of a slob than a neatnik.

 

When I turned wrenches for a living I learned real fast to be organized, that every tool has a place to go. Nothing kills your times worse than wasting minutes looking for a certain wrench or meter, etc. So yeah, I put tools right back in their spot unless I'm going to reuse them on the job.

 

I'm not into the organizer gizmos. I do like the Triton Mag-Clip socket holder strips though. The holders also magnetically adhere to the bottom of the drawer, making removing the sockets easy. All my other tools get their own drawer.

 

I prefer inlaid foam, but that can get expensive.

 

I agree.... I had all of my sockets in the top of my top box on the plastic racks that the socket slides onto. The ones that weren't were on regular socket racks that were screwed down on thin plywood. I could lift them all out at one time that way. Wrenches were put in a drawer in order.

Speed was one reason ( didn't have to search for tools ) and mainly so I could put up all of the tools when a job was done..... If anything was missing I would know it. The missing ones usually had rolled under a seat or something.

 

Those first ones look more like tool display than just organized.
I've had some of the metal socket holders that I pop riveted to a sheet of tin that I placed in the top of my top box in there since the early 70's. A row of 3/8 short sockets, a row of 3/8 deep sockets and a row of 1/2 inch shallow and 1/2 deep behind those. Those M sockets got stuck in a drawer in the box and never did get holders. Everything else has it's own drawer be it punches, screw drivers, Allen wrenches, end wrenches, Pliers with some special tools in drawers below. I probably have half again as many tools now as I had when I was working in shops because I pretty well specialized then and didn't need that many tools to do what I did. Now I have special tools that are vehicle specific for rigs that I have out in the driveway because you can't do some rather simple tasks without them.
I'm not near as organized as I was when I was making a living daily with that tool box though. Being able to reach in and grab the right tools and go in those days was $$ when working flat rate.

 

I have all my sockets those socket holders. all my wrenches are on wrench racks. so I can look in my drawer and see right away one is missing. to just have a drawer full of sockets and a drawer full of loose wrenches makes no sense to me.

 

Ha, you guys are crazy.

I don't go overboard with this stuff. I have sets of peg-style socket organizers, in 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2" drive, with full sets in shallow and deep, 6 pt and 12 pt, metric and SAE. Beyond that, I just keep drawers organized by drive size, specialty sets on rails, and that about does it.

I keep my tools I'm using handy on a rolling tool tray. And I put my stuff away at the end of the session.

Good enough for me.

 

Okay who touched my 5/16 deep well socket ?

 

At least I put it back!

 

Tool organizers like that are the only way you know if all your tools are back in the box and not on the car that is going out the door to plant them!






Bones

 

Yep learned along time ago just throwing tools in a drawer = lost tools. After a job if the tools are organized you can quickly scan to see if something is missing and then find it before the car gets out the door. It even works at home sure it's your car but but it is still easy to leave something behind when putting the tools away. Keep the drawers organized and you can see what's missing.