[TR] tool storage

[Fisher, Ed]

I have a Sears roll around, 3 level, toolbox.  As another post said, buy
bigger than you think you will ever need.  For instance, I bought a set of
line wrenches this past weekend to put a master cylinder on a Honda.  After
buying tools for 40 years almost everyone, including myself, was amazed that I
didn't have a set of those already.  Now, given the weight that I have in each
slide drawer, I sort of want a ball bearing glide box, but that will have to
wait.

As for storage, I have most everything in the roll around, but bigger items in
my cabinets, such as soldering equipment, plumbing fittings, etc.  My box is
highly organized, with phillips screwdrivers facing one direction and slotted
the other, in a drawer labeled 'screwdrivers'.  In there as well are Torx,
offsets, stubbies, jewelers, etc.  Socket drawer has = in drive, 3/8 in drive,
< in drive, deep well, metric, standard, etc.  I have had countless youths,
both male and female, help me in my shop, hang out, and learn on their own
cars so being able to tell them exactly in which drawer they can locate that
#2 phillips is important.  My grandchildren are now learning the drawers and
the difference between a box end and an open end, and why they are each
important.  Also, at the end of each job, the tools are wiped down and put
away in their exact positions.  This cleaning time offers reflection on a job,
usually completed successfully, and good conversation.  I have always
instructed that, "if you don't have time to clean up afterwards, you don't
have time for the job".  I find that I do not like to delve into a day's, or
even an hours worth of work if I have to start in a mess.  That, and almost
invariably I am pressed for time when I need a tool for an unexpected repair
and I need everything to be within easy reach and quickly located.  That is
just me.  Once my son was banned from the garage after his third warning for
not putting away the tools that he had borrowed.  It was a dark time for him
as I also told him to get all of his stuff out of my shop as well; he had lost
privileges.  His car was stuffed with stuff, including a bicycle, for two
weeks, before I asked him if he was ready to respect the rules of the work
area.  He was, and there was never a recurrence.  To this day he keeps his own
tools organized, and a flashlight in his car!

Ed
Dallas, Tx