Tool chests – what ya got?

I’ve got a Stanley toolbox thing (something a bit like this https://www.tooled-up.com/stanley-metal-rolling-tool-box-stack/prod/201325/ but a good few years old now) and it’s a PIA. It looks really big but the bottom is just a fold out bin thing so pretty useless as everyhting just ends up in heap. Most of the stuff I use regularly is in the top section which is just a standard toolbox with lift out top section and I’ve basically got too many tools and could do with a better storage system so I can find stuff.

So what are you all using and how’s it working out??

Not a chest but had one of these for years, holds a surprising amount
(Edit) No, mines the bugger version, three fold out bits

I’ve got 3 of these.

https://www.halfords.com/tools/storage/tool-chests-and-cabinets/?prefn1=brandname&prefv1=Halfords%20Advanced

Can’t go wrong. Especially with the discount

My friend’s parents were changing their kitchen, so I nabbed their old red oak cabinet doors and made a tool box:

Halfords Advanced chests here, they’re really nice.

Not as nice as CB200’s handiwork though.

I have an RS Pro 7 tool chest >> with the wheels off it sits perfectly under the workbench.
3 X(15 drawer) Bisley steel cabinets >> they are great for bike bits and bike specific tools.
An old Sealey 6 drawer >> full of large sockets and spanners that never get used.
A 3 drawer filling cabinet for power tools.

Vast toolbox

Plus a halfords bottom box and 2 top boxes…

Can’t have enough tools

Mines similar to thegeneralist but not as tidy 😉

I’ve got 2 Halfords advanced 3 drawer mid chests. They were perfect size for underneath my bench top. Very happy with the quality of them.

Halfords Advanced or SGS – both very good

I have an SGS wheeled tool box in the van. Brilliant bike workshop.
In the garage it’s facom

Tool roll for the win.

My image posting for the fail…
8

My bike specific toolbox is a folding Hazet Assistent 166. Not a mental size, shelves rather than drawers, can use it as a workbench out and about. The bottom bit is filled with the bulky stuff like tyres and tubes, fork oil, and cables.

Edit: like this:

https://www.misterworker.com/en/hazet/tool-trolley-assistent/50017.html

I’ve a “SGS Mechanics 8 Drawer Tool Box Chest & Roller Cabinet” which was a bargain at 80 quid, but I really do miss that the drawers don’t open fully.

Mines a mess, got a hankering after one of these, but £150 just too steep.

Kindled case

4 of these:

1 of these:

and 1 of these:

Surely the answer is tool wall?

APF

I’ve got the older version of what you have got and have the same problems. Tends to get used as a work top for everything.
Progressed to an Aldi tote bag which has enough open compartments for all the bike tools and is easy to swap between garage, van and camper

https://www.aldi.co.uk/black-%26-blue-diy-open-tote-bag/p/808945561230305

I have one of these; https://www.sgs-engineering.com/stc1000-mechanics-8-drawer-tool-box-chest-cabinet with a spare top box after the first one arrived damaged and they didn’t bother collecting it after sending a replacement. I think I paid £80 for it.

Bike, general stuff in generic black plastic bin and tray thing, and some other generic storage-type stackable drawers. Hateful things, wish I’d never bought them tbh as they just frustrate, bend, stick, break, and look like the worst kind of landfill waiting to happen

Most of trade tools in an old Union engineer’s cabinet that I found at a boot sale. Lucky day. Mahogany, green baize and all. To be prised only from my dying hands. Need to replace the lock on the front though as it’s been broken at some point and the wood has split around it. No key either. Anyone know a source for such things then please shout up 👍🏼

Bilsley filing cabinet, the flat form drawer things.

I don’t really get the big wheeled tool chests. I take out the drawer I need to where I need it. Same with tool walls, with the exception of a very few tools that I will definitely need everything else is going to out of reach so they end up in a pile elsewhere.

I do fancy a toolbox exactly like p7eavens though for my little tools.

For mobile bike tools, I spent ages going in and out of a machine mart trying every toolbox to see what fitted best in the rear footwell of my old Ford Focus. Perfection was a cheap Stanley. It was a bit rubbish but it fit so well

2 cars on I’m still using it, it’s still shit and now it rattles around in the larger space.

At home, about 15 years ago I bought a clarke roller bearing drawer chest, it seemed like an insane extravagance but it’s earned its keep so many times over. Just wish I’d got a bigger one.

Look up ‘US Pro tool chest’on eBay. I have had one for 20 years. Great quality and not too expensive

Need to replace the lock on the front though as it’s been broken at some point and the wood has split around it. No key either. Anyone know a source for such things then please shout up 👍🏼

Isaac Lords, High Wycombe.

Totes amaze.

Halfords have deals on today (Black Friday) for tool chests btw

I think it really depends on what tools you have and where you use them

I have 6 of the mechanics type tool boxes, 3 stacked, then a 2 and a 1 on top of a short filing cabinet and my beer fridge. Then more in a few other places. But they’re all in the workshop/garage

Doing any work in the house was a bit of a faff because I always needed something I’d forgotten to take in. I have a zipped bag (an army surplus tank tool bag) that contains normal basic tools so I can grab it to do work in the house. Has a range of stuff like screwdrivers, combi drill, electric screwdriver, drill bits, spirit level, tape measures, different pliers, plier wrench etc. It’s just empty enough that I can zip it up. This set up mostly works, I have duplicates for everything in the workshop so I can leave the tool bag in the house without it causing any major concern

EDIT – used to have a stanley tool box but found it cumbersome and somehow always too small all at the same time

Bike tools stay on the tool board:

General tools live in one of these:

For out and about with the bike I just have a couple of multitools in my pack.

@kayak23

Isaac Lords, High Wycombe.

Awesome thnks. STWins again.

Totes amaze.

+1

Totes is the word, is the word that you heard
It’s got groove it’s got meaning
Totes is the time, is the place is the motion

I know someone who swears by keeping and toting tools in of those and it seems to work very well indeed. Sturdy too.

organised chaos

Can anybody comment on how the US PRO tool chests compare to the Halfords advanced? They seem like very good value, but it’s hard to gauge the quality on eBay

A large stanley tool box with a tool roll, and a smaller Stanley tool box for the smaller tools. Love a big rolling tool box or tool wall, but the tools do come in the car when doing weekends away.

Can anybody comment on how the US PRO tool chests compare to the Halfords advanced?

There’s one at my folks, about the normal Halfords level IIRC, down tehre tomortrow so can take a better look.

Thanks Squirrelking

workshop1 by reggiegasket[/url], on Flickr

Ooof!

Nice!

Wow, wtf do you have in all those drawers!?

@misteralz that’s exactly the same chest that I inherited from my father who recently passed. He bought it in 1950 so you should get a few good years out of it.