I'm looking for some input on hardware organization. Do you have a good way that you've organized your screws, nails, nuts, bolts, washers, etc.? I've got some ideas, but I want to find the best ways others have done this for easy access, easy visibility, efficient use of space, clean looking storage etc. Pics would be great too. What is the best way you have found?
For years I've had some Plano plastic boxes that float around the shop. The problem is that they've had no permanent location, I get tired of snapping the lids open and closed, it's hard to get my fingers down in the small compartments for small screws, and there are never enough compartments so I end up mixing some things in the same compartment.
Brad what I do is buy new hardware for every project I do......sure beats having to find where I put it last or trying to organize it. :D
On a serious note it's a great question and I'll be taking notes myself. :)
i take a canning jar screw a screw through the lip under a shelf then when i need a screw i just un screw get what i need then screw back on and its in plan view at all times .. i'm sure any clear container will work fine as long as the lid un-screws
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10317/storage_reduced.JPG)
I was lucky enough to get that yellow cabinet from a guy who worked at a parts counter. They changed brands.
The blue boxes are best for screws, nails and such. You screw a relatively low cost steel plate to your wall. Then you can add boxes as you need them. You can easily take them out of slots that hold them onto the steel. They come in a variety of sizes and you can color code them. It's a nice system.
Quote from: Norm on November 18, 2009, 04:45:32 PM
Brad what I do is buy new hardware for every project I do......sure beats having to find where I put it last or trying to organize it. :D
I don't care who ya are, that right there is funny :D :D :D ;D ;D
Funny? I thought that was the way you were supposed to do it! You know, help the economy get started again and all... ;D
Lj
Hey, C'mon guys.... I end up making too many trips to the hardware store myself, but I always end up with extra stuff and keeping all the typical size wood screws on hand both counter sunk and pan head, and washers, lock washers, and nuts helps. Then I have separate stainless screws, and brass screws. Not to mention all the odds and ends I end up with. I'm trying to find the best ways woodworkers are doing it. I have some ideas, but before I move ahead, I want to make sure there isn't something easier or more ingenious I'm not thinking of.
I usually buy a box of whatever I need, because I'll proably need some for future projects. I just leave them in the box, and hopefully I can find it when I need it ::)
My parents' neighbor was cleaning out his garage last year, and he gave me a 5 gallon bucket full of stuff...nuts, bolts, screws, washers, etc... I've tried several times to try and organize it, sorting through and putting things in different coffee cans, but I just don't have the patience. When I need something I put a piece of plywood on my sawhorses, dump out a good bit of the bucket, and rummage :-\
When my boys were babies, we went through formula like it was water. We always bought the powdered kind in the metal cans. At some point I stopped throwing them out and started storing screws in them. I just scribbled on the outside of the can its contents. "#8 drywall 1 5/8" course".
For the heavier stuff like carriage bolts, lag bolts, screw eyes, etc, I have an old metal drawer unit. The drawers are about four inches across and 2-3 inches deep and 18 inches long. Three rows high. Each row consists of only 1/4"or 5/16", etc.
But I still have boxes and bags of stuff that just doesn't seem to store well. ::) So they just pile up on a corner countertop. :D
Brad
Tell us about your ideas. :) Might be something we can use.
I have a "line" of 20 oz gatorade bottles, with a "woodpecker" hole near the top, and a hook through the cap into a wood block. Hang those on a joist with hooks. These are for nails, drywall screws, deck screws, etc.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10180/1595/100_1517.JPG)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10180/1595/100_1518.JPG)
For small nuts and bolts, I have the drawer sets with different sizes. One set for standard and another for metric.
For larger bolts 7/16" and up, I have the bins like Den's blue ones, but red and yellow as well.
I have a few methods... some need improvement.
My favorite small parts storage is some tray boxes by Stanley.
They have a couple sizes, one about 2inches deep and one about
4-5 inches deep. The bigger one's tray boxes will hold a 5 lbs. box
of screws or nails no sweat. The shallower ones don't hold as much
but are suited to small items like faucet parts, wire connectors etc.
I wish I had more as most of my items have to be mobile as my
jobs are rarely at home. My boxes of nails and screws live in shipping
totes with the interlocking lids. Not ideal but ok.
I do have one set of bins for plumbing fittings, electrical switches,
sandpaper; bulky stuff.
The last storage device is our 7x14 enclosed trailer. I put all the above
and all my small tools in it. I forget things constantly so
I take it all with me. I need more organizing in there so I'll continue
watching to clear up my mess.
Flat files...there file cabinets used by surveyors to keep plats, and blueprints...laying down flat. Drawers are normally a couple of inches deep with the length and depth big nuff to store plats.
Check the used office furniture stores...I picked up a couple while back that had a little deeper drawers used to store microfiche. Think they were about $80 each...one of my better investments.
BT - I like those woodpecker bottles
I have started using zip-lock bags to keep the various sizes separated so now instead of rummaging through the whole mess to dig out 6 screws I rummage through a mess of bags to find the right one, and wouldn't you know it, the bag usually has only 5 screws if I need 6 ::)
I started out using tackle boxes for some items and baby food jars for others. Over time its turned into a treasure hunting system without a map.
I will post my idea as soon as I make it. It's going to take a little work though, to perfect it.
I use coffee cans. They seal up good and stack well. Keeps bugs, rust and dust out. I mark each can by putting on a piece of white adhesive tape and write on it with a Sharpie. Radar67 got a kick out of the one that says, "This one is actually Coffee." :D
I use narrow file cabinet drawers like Den's. I find them at used material supply places. I always get them w/ ball bearings. I must have 200-300 K lbs of hardware/ motors/ sheaves and various parts in an old drop bottom alumium UPS trailer. Skylights to keep it well lit.
Ironwood
I'm not a production woodshop, just a hobbiest in the basement. But some thoughts -
I've gone away from glass baby food jars and such. I'm afraid of dropping one or knocking it off the bench and having broken glass mixed in with a bunch of screws/nails/whatever to separate. Where I want a jar, I now use plastic ones, usually peanut butter jars.
For the medium and big screws, nails, hinges, etc. that I grab quite often, I've switched mostly to the small open yellow boxes from Lowe's, about 3" wide x 2" tall x 6" deep. I like them because you can see what's in them at a glance and they're big enough to get your fingers in. I have a row of them along the back of my workbench and stack them on top of one another, but only 2 high. Any higher and it's too aggravating to get to the bottom box. Yep, the contents do get dusty. I just live with it.
I made a wooden carrier unit for 8 of them. It's just a base with a vertical board in the center for carrying. I cut and attached the plastic strips for mounting the boxes and put 4 boxes on each side of the vertical center board. I can carry the entire unit to wherever I need it then lift out the individual box I need.
Smaller stuff goes into the standard little plastic drawers in a metal unit. I also have one of the plastic tray storage units where the trays pivot out. I think these are great. Can see the contents, easy to get things out because of the curved bottoms, close them and the dust stays out.
I have 4 of the standard homemade wooden boxes with compartments to hold nails and screws. I use one for common nails, one for finishing nails, one for screws, one for galvanized fasteners. For one, I used an old wooden Remington ammo box, divided it in half from top to bottom, made partitions in the bottom, and built a tray that sits on top of that which comes to the top of the box and a lifting/carrier handle for the tray sticks above the box. The box itself has the cutouts in the sides for lifting and carrying. Great for shorter fasteners. You can see the Remington logo and other writing on the outside of the box, but it is still being used for something.
The fasteners, washers, bolts, and odd things that I've accumulated over the years that I hardly ever use and probably never will (but you never throw anything away, right?) goes into the Plano plastic boxes with the snap lids. The boxes are small enough to flip them around and over to easily see what's in each compartment, and you can stack the boxes or stand them up on their narrow back against the wall behind the bench or on shelves.
"I have 4 of the standard homemade wooden boxes...." Phorester, I'm having a hard time understanding what you mean by this. Can you explain or a pic?
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10014/wooden_nail_box.jpg)
Not one of mine, just a quick photo from the internet to show what I meant.