UKRay Report post Posted December 1, 2009 Every now and again the mess in my workroom becomes so oppressive that I have to tidy up properly. The trouble is I'm a hoarder and a collector. I can't resist new and exciting tools and have to try out all the new brass buckles and hardware I can find. This leaves me with a big problem. I'm drowning in 'STUFF'. What I need is a way to store things like rivets/buckles/snaps/eyelets etc etc that keeps them off the bench when I don't need 'em and yet close to hand so I don't have to crawl under the bench to find 'em when I do need 'em. I'm far too old and fat to enjoy under-bench crawling. LOL For the past three years I have been using an ever increasing number of screwtop 1lb and 2lb glass jars and whilst there weren't too many, I found them a good solution but the problem has now outgrown them. I now have far too many jars and not enough space to store them. Glass jars simply won't cut it any longer and it is only a matter of time before I drop one and have glass all over the place to add to my woes. I'm starting to think I need some kind of 'parts' storage system like you get in small warehouses. Okay, there isn't quite that much inventory but given the vast number of different bits and pieces I use, the storage requirements look to be very similar. I recently tried plastic racking boxes for buckles - the sort that fit on a louvered panel on the wall - but they simply became a dumping ground for all kinds of rubbish and, as they filled up, the problem simply got worse... So how does everyone else cope? Do you just have a few bits in a box? Do you have a lot of bits in a box? Do you use tins, jars, boxes - or what? Perhaps you only buy the stuff you actually need for each project? Maybe you have a 'state of the art' racking system and a 'full-on' computerized inventory? Tell me how you manage your 'stuff' and help me sort out this mess! Ray Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
celticleather Report post Posted December 1, 2009 I use a couple of these - which are pretty good so long as you label the drawers - otherwise they are a nightmare! Available from http://www.maplin.co...?ModuleNo=29163 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gary Report post Posted December 1, 2009 Ray, I've a couple of small drawer sets similar to those above and they're screwed to the wall at the side of my bench. They're great for the small odds 'n' ends but, as was stated, label them. I keep stuff like rivets and so on in them and you can pull out a drawer and stick it on the bench when it's needed and then bung it back in the cabinet thing when you've finished. Oh, that bit about 'bung it back ... when you've finished' is just theory. In reality it's 'bung it back when the bench is too crowded to do anything else and stuff keeps falling on the floor'. A second (FREE!) plan uses those 1, 2 and 4 pint plastic milk bottle things that get sent to the recycling place, the ones with the handle moulded into them. We go through loads as we run a B&B. I started using them in our polytunnel as they don't rot, they're waterproof and they don't break when you drop them (unless they're full of milk and you've just cleaned the kitchen floor). Now I've started using them in the 'non-leather' bit of the workshop for screws, nails, tape and such and they're pretty good. You can write on them in magic marker and, when they're finished with they go in the recycling bin. By cutting out the top you can get your hand inside to grab things. If you cut across the handle so it turns into an inverted hook, they hang on the edge of the staging in the polytunnel. I have some left-over wardrobe rail (you know, the metal tube stuff that's oval in cross-section) but I'm sure some dowel would suffice, that I'm going to screw to the wall in the shop so the bottles can hang from that as well as being loaded onto the shelves. I need to get out more. Gary Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UKRay Report post Posted December 1, 2009 Both great ideas, but my problem comes when bulk buying things like buckles, eyelets, snaps and rivets. The pesky little plastic drawers simply don't hold enough and if you do fill 'em up they always break. How many times have you seen a set of these with one or two drawers missing? Yup, me too! Also, if you split a pack of 1000 tubular rivets you invariably end up with rivets all over the floor and then you can't find the other half of the pack when you need it. Bah! I have just found these beauties that might be the answer to my problems. They are all metal and according the measurements they ought to hold plenty. Now all I have to do is find the money and some place to put a couple! If you have any other good ideas then tell me soon before I squander my son's inheritance... Ray Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oldtimer Report post Posted December 1, 2009 (edited) A couple of years ago I saw an ad in our local paper, the town library sold out their library card cupboards, so I bought two (= 48 drawers made of hardwood.) There were no bottoms in the drawers so I made them from 3 mm plywood. Then I put on labels and it made my life easier. I have rivets, buckles , u name it in them, and the best thing - I know where to find them. Also , the drawers have a built in stopso they won´t fall out. / Knut Edited December 1, 2009 by oldtimer Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dirtclod Report post Posted December 1, 2009 Hi Ray, i use Ziplock freezer bags in the quart size to keep my hardware in. Pull them apart and zip the top back when your done. Plus i use these plastic baskets that fit 6 or 7 in a drawer in the cabinets. I was really lucky and found a store that went of business and they gave me the cabinets if i would haul them away. The cabinets are for VHS movies a thing of the past i guess...LOL. John Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hilly Report post Posted December 1, 2009 A couple of years ago I saw an ad in our local paper, the town library sold out their library card cupboards, so I bought two (= 48 drawers made of hardwood.) There were no bottoms in the drawers so I made them from 3 mm plywood. Then I put on labels and it made my life easier. I have rivets, buckles , u name it in them, and the best thing - I know where to find them. Also , the drawers have a built in stopso they won´t fall out. / Knut Those old card catalog's are really nice, aren't they? I've had a couple for years, and there's no end to the kinds of stuff they work for. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rawhide Report post Posted December 1, 2009 (edited) Try this Ray, Use old CD packages. The ones where blank CDs/DVDs come packaged on a spindle stacked on top of each other. The size that fits 50 discs are usually good enough, but you can use the 100's if you need more storage. they have twist lock slots to keep the base and top together. Screw the base (part with the spindle, which you can trim off) to the bottom of the workbench and then twist to lock or unlock the top (you'll basically be mounting it upside down). They are plastic so there's no breaking. Edited December 1, 2009 by Rawhide Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Suze Report post Posted December 2, 2009 Ray -- Idea time do you have the space to make a shelf system out of 2x4's or some piece of wood take your jar lids and nail them to the board hang on a free bit of wall like a shelf - the jars will screw into their lids and just hang there if you use PLASTIC jars you don't have to worry about dropping them so much. and you could put little baskets on the top of the 2by4 for bigger things like buckles seems like you have the jars -- just need to sort them out somehow. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
