Getting a bit more organized.......

Stuart Ablett

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Tokyo Japan
I have this set of drawers, they are steel, and were used for storing large sheets of paper. The drawers are nice and shallow, only about3" deep. I filled them up with various hand tools etc, but I never had the time to make an effort to really organize them, I had some stuff sort of sorted, but not really.

Anyways, the other night, I needed a 9mm wrench, not a size I use all the time, and I spend 20 minutes digging through one messy drawer to find that wrench! :bang:

I eventually dumped the drawer our on the workbench, to find the wrench. I decided right there that I'd do something about it.

Well I got a good start.............

do_handtools.jpg
Here are the hand tools, stuff like wrenches, screwdrivers, Allen keys, and other stuff.
Each pocket is a separate little box, that can be lifted out and put on the workbench, if I need to.

Next was the rulers and other measuring devices..........

do_rulers_etc.jpg
No lift out boxes this time, just dividers, as I don't foresee a time when I'd want to lift out a box of rulers.......:dunno:

do_hammers_heavystuff.jpg
Hammers and other blunt instruments :rolleyes: Again, no lift out boxes.

chisel_rehab.jpg
While I was doing the hammer drawer, I took the time to rehab some old chisels I got along the way, there were four or five of them that were as badly mushroomed over as the top one in the pic. These were tools that I got on auction as part of a set, or I inherited along the way here, I'd NEVER let a chisel get that bad!

do_chisels_sharp_stuff.jpg
Lastly I made up a drawer for my wood chisels, I really like this, it makes me happy to open that drawer and see all them sharp old chisels lined up ready to use! :thumb:

I'm quite happy with my set of chisels, mortising and bench chisels, I'd say I have the sizes fairly well covered, and I got most of them used at auction, or inherited them, so what you see cost me around $100 (and a fair bit of time hunting them down, then reconditioning them!)

I still have a couple more drawers to go, but these ones where the main messy ones.

I know it is odd, but I have to say, it makes me really happy to open them drawers and see everything somewhat organized................... I know, I'm sick :rolleyes: :D :rofl:
 
I know it is odd, but I have to say, it makes me really happy to open them drawers and see everything somewhat organized................... I know, I'm sick

Hardly. My mom was a "A place for everything, and everything in it's place" sort of person. And I inherited that gene from her. I also really like it when things are organized and in their place. For one thing, it makes things easy to find. For another, I can actually send someone into my shop to fetch something, since I can tell them where it is.
 
Yeah, I'm a big fan of the "A Place for everything, and everything in it's place" :thumb:

I too find it really cuts down on the time it takes to find stuff, but it does take some time to make a place for everything to be put.

Cheers!
 
Getting cleaned up and organized has been my thing for the past 2 weeks. I need to do more of those types of things as well. How did you fasten and put together the divides?

A clean shop is a happy shop.
 
Where the dividers touch the outside of the drawers, I just drilled a hole in the side of the drawer and put a screw in (pilot hole drill the plywood, or it WILL split DAMHIKT!! :rolleyes: ).

Then, where any two dividers touch, I just put a dab of white glue on them, and used the air stapler, works great!

I did two more drawers tonight, and now I see a bunch of places I'm going to make some small cabinets that will slide into the wire shelving I have. I've come to hate deep drawers and deep boxes, you do a lot of digging for stuff, shallower drawers are the way to go, for most stuff.

Cheers!
 
Stu, I am getting ready to do the same thing. Just bought two sheets of 1/2" BB for drawer boxes. Now i'm waiting on my dovetail jig to arrive. Plus there are five drawers that I need to remake, wife didnt like my cheap ply and nail ones. They way you have them all sorted makes a huge diifernce when trying to find stuff. Thanks for sharing your progress on getting your dungeon orginized.
 
Hey, Stu, are you going to update you Dungeon tour video? Apparently, your tool cabinet no longer is a mess (as stated in the video). Great progress, I’m also one of those "a place for everything" guys.
Now if somebody were a little crazy (like me) he could really arrange a place for everything and rout, cut or carve special wooden inserts.

Greetings from Austria,

Christian
 
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