All my tools get put back into my tool cabinets at the end of every wrench session. Before they go back, they are wiped down with a clean rag and brake cleaner. Tool boxes are locked.
Wrenching is not done until all tools are back in their proper place. Its a great time to hear the end of the great Dio song that just started on the radio, have a beer, plan out your next move, reflect on your accomplishments, and make sure nothing you heated/welded is going to start a fire.
In reply to Rustspecs13:
I was pretty organized with my commonly used tools for most of my life. Like some others, I had tool kits for different jobs (plumbing, electrical) and boxes for abrasives and fasteners. The general purpose kit (sockets, wrenches, etc) was a bit chaotic, but everything I needed was in there.
However, the rarely used items would go AWOL all of the time, only to turn up months later after I had already bought another. I realized 10 years ago that a large rolling toolbox would solve this problem, and with the deal they have going at Harbor-Freight right now, I bit the bullet and bought one.
If I do organize my tools, I can never find them. 
No but seriously...
Keith wrote: You can't get these boxes anymore, it's a shame.
Northern Tool sells a version of this box, but not the version you have with the handle. Is that from Griot's? I remember seeing a similar box in the catalog some years ago.
Right now, the killer for me is when I have to haul tools from my house up to my g/f's garage to work on something.
The Marine Corps used a program called "instant inventory" to keep track of tools in an aviation environment. It looks just like Scott's picture above; every tool had an outlined place so if something were missing you'd know right away. The work isn't finished until all the tools are accounted for.
Not only did it keep the toolboxes organized, it prevented tools from being lost or forgotten inside the aircraft. A dropped socket could be a pain when you're dealing with a Civic, but it can really cause problems when it gets jammed in the gimbal ring of a helicopter.
I was all about it when I worked on aircraft, but haven't been as concerned since I stay on the ground. Now 80% of my tools live inside a single canvas bag and rattle against one another till the chrome falls off. The big stuff lives in my cheapie rolling box, but it's only sort of organized.
benzbaron wrote: Pegboard is also infinitely adjustable so with new tools you just reorganize and get them up on the wall.
No reason you can't do the same thing with nails and plywood, which is ACTUALLY infinitely adjustable. Pegboard is not infinitely adjustable- it is ALWAYS limited to a 1" x 1" grid, and what pegs you happen to have left after the rest of them fell behind the workbench.
Ian F wrote:Keith wrote: You can't get these boxes anymore, it's a shame.Northern Tool sells a version of this box, but not the version you have with the handle. Is that from Griot's? I remember seeing a similar box in the catalog some years ago.
I know I have some better pictures of it somewhere. It has wheels on one end and that handle telescopes so you can trundle it around. Then you pull a lever, lift up and a pair of legs scissor out from underneath and put the box at working height. That's how it's sitting here. Tucks up nice and small when it's not being used. It may have come from Northern originally but the manufacturer is gone now from what I understand.
I like pegboard much better than nails myself, but to each their own.
The thing with pegboard is you can buy all the fittings to use. I will admit I'm no fan of fibreboard though and having to have the pegboard stand offs the wall makes it only as strong as how many standoffs you used.
After working out of a super small triple stacker Craftsman box for two years, and even tho it was organized to the hilt, it still wasn't enough room. I had my vehicle full of other tools that didn't fit inside the box outside in the parking lot. It was a total PITA as you can't leave anything of value out in the open at the dealership, unless you can afford to lose it. I even went out and got a "huge" double-sided Snap-on box, KRL1022 IIRC. I still keep the old Craftsman box right next to the other as the Snap-On box is FULL and so is the Craftsman, but with other stuff now.
Overall, I start a job already knowing most of the tools needed, pick and lay them out, use them, get some others, do the job, and put them all back, or I have to replace what gets lost working two different jobs at once. I have replaced my Matco 10mm mid-depth 1/4" socket three times along with some others at least once.
Brian
benzbaron wrote: The thing with pegboard is you can buy all the fittings to use. I will admit I'm no fan of fibreboard though and having to have the pegboard stand offs the wall makes it only as strong as how many standoffs you used.
That is theoretically true.
Have you ever actually tried to hang a cordless drill on one of those crazy accessories? The likelihood that you can remove it without the hook falling off the wall is slim to none.
Just because they make a fitting that will "work" doesn't mean it will work well. I have never found an item I can not hang on the wall on a nail or a small wooden block or jig, and I have never had those nails fall off the wall.
I'm not trying to be argumentative, but my life is my work, and it is ALL about productivity. I can't spend any time crawling around under the workbench looking for the overpriced squiggly hook thingy I paid too much for to hang my cockamainey whatsit on.
Plus, whenever something DOES inevitably fall, it always seems to be at the top of the pegboard, knocking everything else off the wall at the same time.
And when I DO change stuff or want to hang something new on the wall, I don't want to first have to make a trip to Home Depot to buy a new hooky thingy.
It gets me too pissed off.
(rant off)
If you can fit more crap on a thing of pegboard be my guest.
Pegboard isn't perfect and dropping stuff and having it take out either a fitting or the fiberboard is no fun, but I couldn't put as many tools up any other way.
Huh. I must be doing it wrong. I have my angle grinder, air impact, cordless impact, corded drill and angle drill on those crazy accessories. They don't fall off. The cordless drills sit on the bench on their big fat batteries 
I do have a wheeled bench in the garage from Sams Club that has a nice solid wood top and a wall of steel pegboard behind it. That's where the heavier stuff like the cordless impact lives, mostly due to space requirements.
Organized, since I have no garage when I have to go back into the house to find a tool I damn well want to find it immediately.
1" plywood painted white is hanging in my latest garage (I move around a lot...) waiting for small & large nails for hanging up tools.
Pegboard is, in my opinion, not "adjustable" enough and good peg hardware gets costly. I don't hang 100% of my tools, some stay in the small boxes, but anything I might use maintaining my car or motorcycle goes up there for the most part.
Mixed everything, some good stuff, some HF stuff, multiples of many things, missing many other things, but at least my box is decent.
Tool organization is all shades of grey. I go in each time and pull the pin on a tool grenade. This happens repeatedly, until organization is inevitable... Anyone seen my electrical hammer?
Organized....mostly. I have so much stuff it quickly gets out of hand and takes a weekend to reorganize. It was much worse when I had the big shop with 2+ roll aways. Now its just the single and top box and junk yard box.
And the "orphan" box that lives under the big one. Whenever I lose more than 3 or four tools from a set its usually cheaper to buy a new set. So all the extras become orphans and wait for the new ones to get lost.
Of course it doesn't look very organized here but I was still moving in at the time 
benzbaron wrote: If you can fit more crap on a thing of pegboard be my guest. Pegboard isn't perfect and dropping stuff and having it take out either a fitting or the fiberboard is no fun, but I couldn't put as many tools up any other way.
Like I said, I can do it just as easily with nails and blocks of wood.
For example, if we are talking about stacking a whole bunch of stuff like you did, I can easily drill a hole and stick a long dowel or pipe in it.
But if you are happy with your pegboard, I'm happy for you.
I organize the sockets, everything else gets compartmentalized. I work out of a truck, and some of the lease roads are pretty rough. You can't go too crazy organizing things, they're just going to get bounced around.
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