Organisation For Tools

[Owen Hinsman]

As I don’t have my own forge (yet), I go to all the hammer ins and smithing meets I can find. As my tool collection grows, the little tote bag I’m using just isn’t enough. How do you guys and gals organise your tools, whether in the shop or at meets?

[pnut]

Tool box with wheels. Kind of looks like a wheeled suit case. I don't have my smithing tools in it but it would be a good way to get your kit around if it's gotten too large. I personally would only bring maybe two sizes of each, a hammer and a punch and a set of tongs. Maybe a handled hot cut. I do understand the urge to want to use every tool you have though. 

Pnut

[Rojo Pedro]

I dont.

I find that organized people are just too lazy to look for their stuff  :-)

[pnut]

I don't have enough blacksmithing tools to be disorganized yet. They all fit in a tool box. 

Pnut

[Owen Hinsman]

I like that idea of a tool box on wheels. One of the other members of New England Blacksmiths uses a couple of five gallon buckets. Any thoughts on those?

[pnut]

Five gallon buckets work. They're easier to carry if you take a length of garden hose and split it lengthwise to put on the wire handle. I think there's a BP showing this in the 100 series under cleaning up the shop.  The toolbox I have on wheels is plastic. I think it's made by Rubbermaid.

Pnut

[JHCC]

In the shop, I have most of my tools positioned to the right as I face the anvil; I’m right handed, and this helps me grab what I need quickly. 

In this photo you can see (L-R) my file rack, my hammer rack, and the punch rack on my vise stand. Both the file and hammer racks also have hooks for hanging top tools etc, and there are punch racks on both sides of the vise rack. 

[pnut]

All of my smithing tools fit in a red metal tool box like the one in the bottom right of your picture JHCC. I have a long way to go before I have to worry about things being in disarray.

Pnut

[JHCC]

That’s actually a hot box full of wood ashes and powdered lime, for annealing hardenable steels.

[CrazyGoatLady]

I need to better organize my things. I don't have a ton of stuff, but I've got enough now that I need a more designated place to put them. I like your set up JHCC. That's about how my smithy is arranged, just not nearly as well put together. 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

We use 5 gal buckets with the tool organizers for traveling. One contains mostly hammers and the other tongs with chisels, punches and drifts in the pockets . Each weigh about 40 pounds and are easy to carry. In the shop everything is on/in racks or on flat surfaces.

[CrazyGoatLady]

Buckets with their own tool belts. I like it

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

We got those at Lowe's and Home Depot because one had the red one and the other the blue one. That way all my wife has to say is get me the red bucket or the blue one and I say yes dear. Forgot to include we use 2 of the canvas tool totes from HF for the small stuff.

[CrazyGoatLady]

You can never have enough buckets. My daughter worked at Firehouse subs and she brought me several from there with the logo on them. They get their pickles in them. The smell makes you hungry! I've got two I use in the shop for scrap and such. And we've got six in the chicken tractor until he gets the wooden nest boxes built. Which he's working on now. Plus all the other various buckets we have and their uses which are endless. But that's a great idea if I were to ever travel with my tools 

[Frosty]

I have lots of plans and methods of: organizing tools, machinery, materials, handling, etc. Unfortunately I'm the kind of guy who's current beverage, coffee or iced tea is disorganized. Worse, like so many pack rats, my organizers are disorganized to the point of chaotic.

If you're doing demos it's really easy to take way too much stuff. Just in case you know. I've gotten really strict with myself and am finally getting things narrowed down but still bring too much. Here's the rule I'm TRYING to apply. After the: anvil, stand, forge/fuel and a small table. Call those the heavies or equipment. Everything else fits in ONE tote. I've been unable to escape 2 more buckets, one for stock, one for tongs but I'm getting things whittled down.

For a good example of a proper traveling kit, check out the Mastermyr box and tools. There have been some very accurate reproductions. I can get my demo kit in a 105 mm. Howitzer ammo box, from the Girdwood road maint's avalanche gun, they have a LOT of ammo, a few decades worth left. Anyway, everything fits nicely but it's too awkward to carry without a hand truck.

I organize in the shop by the project though I dream of getting the whole shop in order. Unfortunately my brain isn't wired that way. <sigh>

Frosty The Lucky.

Frosty The Lucky.

[CrazyGoatLady]

My organization in the shop right now is there's a pile of stuff here, and a pile of stuff there, etc. etc.. but I know exactly where everything is within said piles. Chris the curious said I needed a workbench and he's right. I have two metal tables I use, but they aren't big enough for everything. Hmm, maybe I have more tools than I thought. Which is a good thing We are pack rats also so that doesn't help. But we did clean out the shop and had enough to take to the scrapyard and give me a little money for more stock as I was running low. Plus it's easier to move around the shop 

[Daswulf]

At the moment I'm using what IronDragon showed. Found a nice old metal bucket and beefed up the handle with split hose. The organizer is nice for chisels and stuff. Planning eventually to make something nicer but the bucket with organizer works fine for a small demo or forging out. Tongs mostly go in a tote with coal and my portable forge T pipe, and blower pipe extension, tho a duffel bag would work for tongs. 

[ThomasPowers]

I like kitty litter buckets as they load better into the truck for demos being squarish.  My cats have graciously provided me with a lot of them over the last few years...

In the shop I have hammer racks and toolracks and use old steel/iron wheelbarrow wheels on stands to hold tongs.  Shelves along a shop wall also help as I'm in a sort of outasight, outamind situation these days.

I also have a punch/drift holder made from a disk with many holes in it I found at the scrapyard.

And, Yes, I bring way too much stuff to demos and teaching.  

[GMoore]

I've got tool boxes, chests, racks, hangers, buckets, etc.  I've got more tools that I will ever need.  I've got tools I don't need.  I've got tools to fix tools.  I've even got tools I don't even know what they are.  And, what do I do when I need a particular tool.  I look for it, and can't find it.  So, I go buy another one (Harbor Freight if its a tool I won't use often, and places which sell better tools I anticipate using on a regular basis).  See the lack of logic there.  If I were using the tool on a regular basis, I could, probably find it again.  Then the process starts all over again, with the exception of the tools bought at garage sales .  Never can tell when you might need that 5 1/5 inch, plastic handled, Phillips screwdriver - a red one.  Why isn't the 1/2 " 1/2" drive socket in the socket drawer?  Because I laid it down next to the forge the last time I used it, and it rolled under the coal.

[Welshj]

I like you, dont have much for forging tools. Most are what my brother gave me when he moved on to other things.

But... I have a pretty cool 30mm tank/aircraft round ammunition can with lid that i put alot of my oversized wrenches, mechanics hammers, 1/2 drive breaker bars, chisels, and miscellaneous big junk drill bits in.

It doubles as a seat when working on a car, tosses in the back of the truck with semi relative ease.

Came in hand recently when a friend broke a spindle on her truck and lost a wheel driving down the road. New steering knuckle- out replacement in mud. (Great seat!)

[Rojo Pedro]

That is the same can I am using in my forge. 
 

I forge under cover but with open sides. It holds a lot of hammers, respirator, gloves and even my cordless grinder. Not ideal but works