6 Toolbox Tune-up Tips
A great number of words have been spilt over the years regarding tools and their use. The utility of objects can be amazing at times. Yet even the greatest tool known to man is borderline useless if you can’t find it, it’s broken, or you have to spend more time digging it out from under other things than actually using it. Enter the toolbox. It’s a humble box of drawers and slides that keeps our beloved tools safe from harm or kidnapping.
It’s also typically the last thing any of us think about. The tools inside are critically important but the thing holding them is merely a cabinet to most casual viewers. It is more than that though, and out of respect for one of the hardest-working non-tool objects in the garage here are some toolbox tune-up tips.
Toolbox Tip #1: Empty out and clean every few years
Sometimes it makes sense to have a bunch of seemingly random stuff in your toolbox. Most of the time it doesn’t. Depending on who you are, how you work, and what you work on, it might be smart to go ahead and make the rule that the only thing that lives in your toolbox is. . . tools.
I say this because I am as guilty as anyone when it comes to finding homes for things I don’t need to be keeping. That includes stuffing any number of trinkets and doo-dads into my toolbox. All of those things inevitably get in the way when I am trying to actually work. As a hobbyist and not a professional mechanic this small amount of time doesn’t amount to much time lost, but dealing with minor inconveniences can stack up and sap some of the joy out of working on your projects.
Toolbox Tip #2: Lube the drawer slides
This only takes a minute with a can of aerosol lubricant to make sure your drawers continue to work like new for years to come. We ask drawers to carry a lot of weight and older slides can use the help to make sure they are not sticking or grinding chunks of dirt or debris into the delicate parts. Extend the slides out fully, blow them off with canned air or an air nozzle, then give them a light spray with a silicone or dry-film lubricant. Grease or oil-based lubes will likely just attract dust so be careful what you grab out of the chemical cabinet.
Toolbox Tip #3: Label the drawers
Most of us have kept everything in the same place for decades but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be nice to have reminders from time to time of where that thing you are looking for is. I’ve personally also found that sometimes the brain gets to thinking about something and that one-track mind forgets other tool options I might have that could do a job better. That whole out-of-sight, out-of-mind thing can cost you sometimes.
Labels also allow helpers to assist more easily—both in getting and returning tools. Who doesn’t like the thought of their helper actually assisting with cleanup? If they know where things go, it won’t be just a pile on top of the box.
Toolbox Tip #4: Add power for a charging drawer
We are getting a little luxurious here but stay with us. Battery tools are more popular than ever, and that means chargers are cluttering up our workspace. With a little planning, it is often possible to snake a short extension cord into a drawer via the side or back, which allows the charger to hide inside. Kits featuring motion-rated cables and outlets exist and can be had for reasonable money considering the space they can free up in and around your toolbox. Of course, always monitor charging batteries to lower fire risk.
Toolbox Tip #5: Keep (or make) it mobile
Nothing is more annoying than working on a project that only fits on the other side of your workspace from where your tools are. A rolling cart is a good option, but the ability to roll your entire toolset right to where you need it can be extremely nice. Adding wheels to a toolbox you already own might get clunky, but it is often worth it. Just be sure to use casters appropriate for the weight of a toolbox. Most toolboxes come with wheels but it is always tempting to build or stash them into a corner. Keeping the ability to move your toolbox allows for easily creating ideal working conditions or at least allowing easy reorganization and cleaning of your space.
Toolbox Tip #6: Let it evolve
It’s cool to still have the same box after decades in the garage, but don’t let nostalgia cloud your sanity. What lives where inside or even the toolbox itself is not sacred and replacing or reorganizing can greatly benefit your functionality and productivity. Switching to a larger box that allows better access to the tools you use most elevates your working experience more than most other tool investments. After all, regardless of which tool you are reaching for it is likely inside your toolbox. Before you can use any tools, you have to use your toolbox.
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Having owned 4 large Snap on boxes and several other brands/sizes as well as tool carts being a collision technician I now am happy to have reduced everything down to what I only need on my garage wall at home. I kept only what I used the most when I was a teenager.
My 1966 Fairlane hardtop doesn’t seem to mind me not having any other projects.
Hey Matt that’s a cool end result. I guess with that classic, there aren’t any metric tools needed in that box.
Kyle
Does your wife allow the tool box in the dinning room? He gave me 2 drawers and I allowed it.
I have my own classic car and it’s nice to have the tools handy, on 1 level of a 4 level split with no garage.
I use it for myself and being top notch assistant and A1 (only) gopher of the house, it’s very handy.
I’d like to send you a picture.
Val
Back at the dawn of time, I was teaching at a vocational school. The school had a number of small offices for the instructors, and my buddy and I scrounged up an old, scruffy, but working refrigerator for our office to keep our lunches and (ahem) sodas cool.
We utterly and completely plastered it with racing stickers. Since every sticker is worth 5 to 10 mph, we quickly had the world’s only supersonic refrigerator.
We considered adding ablative heat shields for re-entry (gotta keep them sodas cool, ya know?), but eBay didn’t exist yet and NASA wasn’t interested in talking to a couple of lunatic bikers, let alone a whole school of them.
One fine day, the administration checked out our office and took great exception to the “decor” in my buddy’s cubicle. He had covered one wall with some horrendously explicit pages cut from multiple issues of Hustler magazine. They were highly objectionable even then, they weren’t even entertaining, they were just plain nasty, and I can’t imagine the reaction nowadays. They did let us keep the refrigerator though.
Ah, memories. When I was a kid, many many decades ago, on our way to after school baseball practice, there was a small manufacturing company on our route to the ball field. One of the machinists’ desk was next to a window and he had all sorts of ‘adult’ pics plastered on the wall and tool chests by the ground level window. Since the shop was right next to the side walk we would often take the opportunity to see how things were going in the shop if no one was near that window.
Similar when I was a kid, a neighborhood garage / gas station had those pictures plastered in their bathroom. That garage saw a lot of neighborhood boys needing to use the restroom when passing by.
When I started out as a mechanic in a Chevy dealership in 1961 I had a small tote box with some assorted JC Whitney tools. My mentor, an old mechanic named Frenchie, got cancer and tried to hold an auction on payday. The rest of the mechanics tried to lowball him because they were just looking for spares. He turned to me and said “Hey kid give me your paycheck and it’s yours. He handed me back $10 cash and the keys so I had gas money, shook my hand, and left without a word. I walked away with a top and bottom Snap-On box full of tools for $97. I passed it on to my son a few years ago with the reminder “Never kick a man when he’s down.” That box was more than just a bunch of nice tools. It’s a living reminder of life’s adventure.
Oh yeah, If you have to label your drawers you need to use your tools more often.
What a bunch of scumballs. If ever there was a time to pay a premium, that was it.
Organization of cluttered drawers is one of my ADHD issues.
I saw an IndyCar team using Shark-Co foam drawer organizers and was sold immediately.
A great help in instantly knowing if a tool is missing.
I have a bunch of peel and stick magnets that I cut down and made my own labels, it’s been key for me and now the kids. I sound just like my Dad, “Make sure you put it back where you found it…”. Ha! And I now adhere to that sage advice as well, usually.
I was a tank and truck mechanic in the Army in the 60s where only certain tools are allowed. Getting things fixed often required using modified or fabricated tools, rigs and jigs so when the Inspector General headed our way we filled a 10 ton truck with those illicit tools and hid it in the woods. Now that was a tool box. Not only did it have wheels but it was also self-propelled and steerable!
Like Robert W. I too took off the wheels and built a wooden subframe and made them built in. I covered the kick or toe plate in aluminum diamond plate. Using 2 tool boxes in the corner of two walls I then covered those with a worktop. I have two hydraulic carts as mobile work benches. On one of them I ground off all the paint on the top and it doubles as a portable welding table. The adjustable height makes sure you are at a comfortable position for whatever your welding. These were the best thing I ever purchased for the garage except for the C2 Corvette. Consider if you’re getting one, get the 2 stage, they go high, like 57 or more inches. You can move and lift heavy things and save your back. If there was a way to add a picture I would.