How do you store your sockets?

[Paul Dobbin]

On 4/22/2023 at 8:30 AM, rocketraider said:

Reminds me of one of the young mechanics at powerplant. He had good quality tools that were always sprouting legs.

 

He finally painted them Barbie Pink and never had another problem with people "borrowing" tools. Smart boy.

 

   Painting sockets can't work well because paint won't stick either.  Several years ago there was a guy, making the rounds of Hershey and other major automotive flea markets,  sellin colored stickers with socket sizes     on them,  I loved them but, oil an WD-40 and use caused the stickers to peel off.   @!$*(#+*!.   

   Now back to organization, even Ed's pictures showed on one of each size.  I need two 1/2s and 2 9/16s because I work on Fords.  None of these organizers allow two deep wells or short sockets of the same size in their numbering I.D. system.

Edited May 1, 2023 by Paul Dobbin (see edit history)

[Frank DuVal]

Two short sockets fit on the pin style holder.

 

If you get the Ernst socket rails you can add more socket holders and have doubles of several sizes on the same rail. You Ford guys need those 32nd sizes too!😁

[Hemi Joel]

7 hours ago, Paul Dobbin said:

 

   Painting sockets can't work well because paint won't stick either.  Several years ago there was a guy, making the rounds of Hershey and other major automotive flea markets,  sellin colored stickers with socket sizes     on them,  I loved them but, oil an WD-40 and use caused the stickers to peel off.   @!$*(#+*!.   

   Now back to organization, even Ed's pictures showed on one of each size.  I need two 1/2s and 2 9/16s because I work on Fords.  None of these organizers allow two deep wells or short sockets of the same size in their numbering I.D. system.

Paul, I use 2 of the pin style racks for each drive size. One is loaded with 12 point, the other with 6 point impact. Shallow and deep of each. That solves the issue you mention with Fords. But the 6847 other Ford issues remain... (:

[4Hud]

I like to have all my sockets and wrenches organized sequentially where I can just go and grab them, unfortunately my father doesn't subscribe to the same idea, quite frustrating but I'm not too hard on him, he's nearly 86 and still gitten' 'er done on a daily basis.

[JACK M]

I like to keep my tools organized.

I have a neighbor that is just the opposite.

Whenever he comes over, he is overwhelmed. Everything in its place.

I can't work in his shop.

[erichill]

While I can appreciate you all's organizational habits and skills, and maybe even feel a wee bit envious, here's how the rest of us slobs wrenching away do it.  I am happy to just have the sockets divided between standard and metric and then by drive size.  Want to see my wrench drawers?   

[TAKerry]

4 hours ago, erichill said:

While I can appreciate you all's organizational habits and skills, and maybe even feel a wee bit envious, here's how the rest of us slobs wrenching away do it.  I am happy to just have the sockets divided between standard and metric and then by drive size.  Want to see my wrench drawers?   

This looks more like my box, only maybe a bit more organized. As for painting, 30 yrs ago I worked with my 2 brothers. We pretty much had the same tools. I laid all of mine out and coated everything with red rustoleum. Even though I was the only one with wrenches I painted all of that stuff too. Its not pretty and yes wore off in spots but I still have a bunch of stuff with red paint on it.

 

When ever  Pop bought a new tool, whether a bar or a power saw, first thing he did was give it a horrible flat black paint job. Said no one would ever steal an ugly tool!

[Hemi Joel]

8 hours ago, erichill said:

While I can appreciate you all's organizational habits and skills, and maybe even feel a wee bit envious, here's how the rest of us slobs wrenching away do it.  I am happy to just have the sockets divided between standard and metric and then by drive size.  Want to see my wrench drawers?   

Mine used to look like that or worse. It seemed that I would spend more time looking for sockets than using them. And the seldom used stuff still is scrambled to some extent, I'm not Felix Unger by any means. But for the everyday, go to tools like sockets, combination wrenches, and screwdrivers, I want to grab my tools in seconds, not minutes. It takes time to get organized, but pays back many times over.

[Big Beat]

When I was a kid, there was never any money for fancy tool organizers. So I made my own. These clear plastic bins are cut-down juice bottles. Drink the juice, peel the label, cut off the top of the bottle with a box cutter, rinse and voila. These days there are all kinds of organizers I can get but I still use them for sockets and some other small tools and nuts and bolts and stuff - just because I'm so used to them. I have a bunch of them lined up on shelves by the workbench, some of them maybe 30 years old now. Good enough for occasional wrenching. 

 

 

[TAKerry]

4 hours ago, Big Beat said:

When I was a kid, there was never any money for fancy tool organizers. So I made my own. These clear plastic bins are cut-down juice bottles. Drink the juice, peel the label, cut off the top of the bottle with a box cutter, rinse and voila. These days there are all kinds of organizers I can get but I still use them for sockets and some other small tools and nuts and bolts and stuff - just because I'm so used to them. I have a bunch of them lined up on shelves by the workbench, some of them maybe 30 years old now. Good enough for occasional wrenching. 

 

 

No offense but that would drive me crazy. I would hate to have to dump everything out everytime I needed a socket or wrench. I am sure you are more than used to that and thats fine. Reminds me of a plumber that used to work for me. He had a big blue tarp spread out on the ground. He put every plastic fitting he had on it. At the end of the day he grabbed the 4 corners and rolled everything up together. It was kinda genius in a way. 

[Big Beat]

14 hours ago, TAKerry said:

No offense but that would drive me crazy. I would hate to have to dump everything out everytime I needed a socket or wrench. I am sure you are more than used to that and thats fine. Reminds me of a plumber that used to work for me. He had a big blue tarp spread out on the ground. He put every plastic fitting he had on it. At the end of the day he grabbed the 4 corners and rolled everything up together. It was kinda genius in a way. 

As I said, good enough for OCCASIONAL wrenching. If I was using sockets every day, I'd probably upgrade, but I never felt the need. Just thought it would be fun to share an improvised, temporary solution that has already lasted a few decades. Few things in life are more permanent than a temporary fix. Your plumber sounds like my kind of guy.