Tool Box Organization 2013

I think we have all been here at some point. A tool box full of tools, but they are all jumbled up and hard to find anything. Well this year I finally did something about it. It started with a single 1/2” plywood divider in my utility knife drawer (not shown) to keep all of the contents from migrating to the back of the drawer. That got me thinking that the screwdriver and pliers drawers needed help. And then I thought the wrenches shouldn’t have to miss out on all the fun either. Which got me thinking that the nut drivers were always a jumble. Which finally culminated with arranging all the sockets. So here it is, my tool box organization side project of 2013.

Socket organizer. I had a HF plastic organizer board but it of course didn’t match the set I have so the sockets were still pretty jumbled. The solution is two sheets of 1/4” birch plywood and some poplar dowel. I drew layout lines on the first piece to arrange all the sockets in rows. I used a brad point drill bit through the socket to locate a mark along the line where the dowel should go. The dowel holes are drilled through the first sheet of plywood. The the various 1/4”, 3/8”, and 1/2” dowels are glued into place. After those were set, the other sheet of plywood was laminated onto the back side of the first. The finish is spray polyurethane.

Wrench organizers. These started out as scraps of 1×6” Red Oak. A series of progressively smaller kerfs were cut to fit the wrenches. The kerfs are cut at 20 degrees. The finish is spray polyurethane.

Screw driver and pliers drawers. Three pieces of scrap 1/8” hardboard laminated together. Glued and pin nailed together inside the drawer. The screwdriver divider is a friction fit, but on the pliers drawer, it was necessary to drills some small holes through the sides of the metal drawers and tap in some small brad nails.

Nut driver organizer. 1/4” birch plywood base with some scrap pieces of Douglas fir for the structure. No fancy joinery was used, just glue and pin nails.The finish is tung oil.

The socket organizer under construction. Lots of holes to drill and fill! Very time consuming, but well worth the effort.