Poll: pegboards or tool boxes?

How do you have your automobile tools organized in your shop?

[Zeke]

I hate pegboard. I have a minimum of the stuff only because in certain situations it's better to hang stuff rather than put it in a drawer (especially if it doesn't fit!)

[rwest]

I have way too many wrenches, sockets and screwdrivers to even think about hanging them up- plus pegboard usually sucks as taking one tool off seems to always dislodge a few others.

Although I do have the steel square hole pegboard above my work top that I have all my bicycle tools hanging on.

[RWebb]

all 3 options

I've always kept my stuff in toolboxes, but every couple decades I have to rearrange everything as the collection grows. Two years ago I added an additional roller toolbox and still don't have the ability to think of a tool and automatically open the right drawer in the right box like I did for the previous 20 years. About to build an 800-sq foot garage and want to figure out tool storage as I build. Although I lean heavily toward toolboxes, pegboard is also a possibility.

Pegboard people seem to really like that method for things used most often--box wrenches and the like. I've also seen some nice use of mag strips to hold things like pliers in plain view. And for sockets, you can have them contained in a holder that hangs from a board. The Japanese are really big on having toolsets in plain sight, with outlines of tools marked and such. Part of their lean manufacturing and 5S philosophy.

[KNS]

Where is a good place to buy a decent tool box/chest? I’d rather not buy online because the ones i see at places like Home Depot seem cheap and flimsy.

[wdfifteen]

I do pretty much all three options. It's handy to have them on pegboard, but I have such a history with tool boxes that a lot of them are in the boxes.
I used to have a well equipped shop in my garage, a shop (mostly woodworking stuff) in my basement, and a well equipped shop at my office. Now I have a summer shop in my barn and a winter shop in my garage, and a tool box that I keep on the golf cart. I'm trying to work out where to put everything now. Pegboard is handy, but I do like my tool boxes.

[DanielDudley]

Originally Posted by KNS

Where is a good place to buy a decent tool box/chest? I’d rather not buy online because the ones i see at places like Home Depot seem cheap and flimsy.

Believe it or not, the US General line of tool cabinets at Harbor Freight are of a very nice quality, and are very reasonable in price. The guys on the Garage Journal board all rave about them.

One of the guys took a picture of himself standing in a drawer, because people said they were flimsy. I have two of the 44 inch lower boxes, and have been very pleased. They may not be Snap On, but they are darned close.

[fastfredracing]

Id need a lot of pegboard .

[herr_oberst]

I'm a tool box man, but I've seen some impressive roller boxes in aircraft hangers that utilize pegboards to store longs and such...

This shot is the first thing I thought of when I saw the OP title;

[ckelly78z]

I have 1 4'x8' sheet of white pegboard in front of my Mustang GT in my garage. I keep some larger wood working tools on that along with extra extension cords, hand saws, caulk guns, and various rolls of tape. I keep all tools in my large tool chest, and box, or in a locked cabinet.

[Bob Kontak]

I can't do pegboards for the life of me but do hang stuff on the wall.

Several tool boxes but one big Craftsman. Not an over / under set. Just the top, but it's 4' wide x 30" tall x 22"-ish inches deep . Bottom drawer is sockets/extensions/ratchets/breaker bars. 2nd drawer up is hand wrenches. 3rd is hammers. 4th/5th up is anything resembling pliers. Side cutters to snap ring pliers.

Craftsman was an impulse buy at an old-time Sears tool store in 1998. Retail was $1,400 but got it for $900. They probably made only $300 margin. With a little research I am confident it was made by Waterloo. It is very robust.

Upper skinny drawers and other tool boxes hold odd ball stuff. Lots of racks and I have a couple wall mounted plastic tub grids, which are pretty cool.

That said every flat surface in my shop also hold tools until I pull a safety "stand-down" and put shiet back.

[masraum]

I like Jack's use of pegboard inside cabinets or behind doors.

[gduke2010]

Originally Posted by KNS

Where is a good place to buy a decent tool box/chest? I’d rather not buy online because the ones i see at places like Home Depot seem cheap and flimsy.

Lowe’s carries craftsman

[smadsen]

How can you go to the track if everything is on pegboard? And the open end wrench set keeps falling off the pegboard when you slam the garage door.

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by smadsen

How can you go to the track if everything is on pegboard? And the open end wrench set keeps falling off the pegboard when you slam the garage door.

you lift the entre peg board with tools up and toss it on your roof rack

[Evans, Marv]

Couldn't vote because I keep tools everywhere - tool box, peg board, bench top, floor, etc. I tend to put tools I don't use commonly on peg board, so if I need one, I can just look up at the board. Here's a shot with one (the largest) of my pegboards.

[wdfifteen]

I have a combination of things in my basement

shop.

Off to the right out of the picture are shelves with plastic boxes that hold things like my staple gun and staples, Oettinger tool and clamps, soldering gun, jig saw, pop rivet tool, etc.

[jyl]

A buddy built hinged pegboards, that mount in a row to the wall (kind of like how posters, fabric, or carpet samples are hung on swinging frames). He can hold a massive amount of stuff in a small space. He also has tool boxes, about 80 bicycles, a dune buggy, lathes, presses, welders, grinders, and god knows what in there. Yes he has a problem but he also has a three car garage.

[GH85Carrera]

I don't have enough wall space to do pegboards. I have one large tool cabinet for the typical hand tools, and a workbench that it 12 feet long that is full of drawers, and a large center cabinet full of other stuff. Then several shelves of other items. I have a three car garage, and minimal "stuff" that doe not belong in a garage. The lawn and garden crap in in a storage shed in the back yard.