Labeling Shop Cabinets?

[HerHusband]

I have quite a few cabinets in my garage shop, and have recently been adding more (all made of wood). While I love the organization and keeping dust out of things, it is often difficult to remember what is stored in every cabinet and drawer in my shop. Especially if my wife needs to go get something in the shop and has to look through every cabinet to find it.

So, I am looking at options for adding labels to the cabinets and drawers so I can identify the contents. Obviously, I need an option that I can change easily as I reorganize from time to time. I also want to be able to print the labels on my laser printer, as my penmanship is horrible. :)

I could always go with the traditional screw on metal holders that you slip the name cards into. But, they're fairly expensive when you need a lot of them.

I have also seen plastic adhesive label holders at office supply stores. You stick them to the cabinet, then slip the label into the holder. Not too bad on cost, but not necessarily attractive either.

Another option I have used elsewhere in my shop are adhesive backed magnetic business cards. I print my labels on the laser printer, then stick them to the business card magnets. I usually make the label slightly smaller than the business cards and cut them to size with scissors. Obviously, these stick directly to metal tool cabinets. For non-metallic boxes I simply use two magnets. I stick one blank magnet to the box, then my magnetic label sticks to that magnet. I can easily move or change labels when needed.

Barring any better solution, I will probably go with my magnetic business card method, as it has worked well for me. But I thought I would see what options others are using.

Thanks,

Anthony

[RicodJour]

Blue painter's tape and a black Sharpie. It's even easier to change. Cut the pieces with a scissors - then it'll look professional. ;)

R

[EXT]

I use a Brother P-Touch label maker for many uses including the shop.

[krw]

That's what I was thinking (I have the equivalent Dymo). The plastic tape comes off easily and cleanly. Paper would likely turn into a mess after some time.

[Larry Jaques]

That'll work. Or try inlaying pieces of whiteboard so you can mark your bins and easily erase it. I like your magnetic idea, though.

-- Self-development is a higher duty than self-sacrifice. -- Elizabeth Cady Stanton

[Puckdropper]

RicodJour wrote in news: [e-mail]:

If you use those crafty scissors that do patterns, it'll look like it has a "woman's touch." ;-)

I'm a tape and sharpie guy myself. The magnet idea does sound neat, and you can use anything iron or steel to attach the magnet to instead of another magnet. Screw heads, washers, or even sheet steel cut to size should work.

If you want to get fancy, recess the steel and then cover the drawer with a thin veneer. As long as the magnet's strong enough, it'll look like it's stuck to the wood.

Puckdropper

[Leon]

A picture is worth a thousand words/labels. Take a picture of the contents, print it, and hang it on the door.

Also helps "her" remember exactly where thing go when she is done. ;~)

[Gerald Ross]

If you are into magnetism, you can buy a pack of "magnetic printer paper" at the office supply place. This stuff is about as thick as a business card or maybe a little thicker. It was apparently designed to print pictures on to have an instant refrigerator picture. My son sent me some and my wife loves it. But you would have to use an inkjet of some sort instead of a laser-jet.

[whit3rd]

I've actually used tape-and-Sharpie a lot (the frosty tape is easiest to remove), but for a visible label it's hard to beat laserprinted black on white paper, then stick it up with double-sticky tape. Or cover with a strip of clear packaging tape (beware this may harm paint and age badly).

If you can laser-print onto card stock, so much the better.

[Marty]

Label each cabinet with letter or number or give the cabinet a name.

Then create a text document on your computer with an appropriately sizes font.

Then list the contents of the cabinet, one page per cabinet. To get real fancy, create a table with a row for each shelf in the cabinet and list the contents of this shelf. As someone else suggested take a photo of the interior and include on the page.

Print the page and tape it to the door of the cabinet.

Then when you move things around it will be a simple matter to edit the appropriate pages with the changes.

Marty

[-MIKE-]

Ooooo, off to OfficeMax.

[HeyBub]

Address labels (33 to a sheet) with removable adhesive. These are often used as price labels for books and the like (that may be given as a gift).

You'll probably have to order them. Staples et al have the same labels with permanent adhesive, but your best bet is the removable type. You CAN remove permanent labels if you know the secret: Heat gun or Rubber Cement Thinner (shhh! don't tell anyone)

We do have uses for the permanent labels. Our bookkeeper has about 150 file folders for each year. Once put into MS Word, all I have to do is a global replace on the date (2011 => 2012) and she has a new set.

[HerHusband]

Hmm... That might be an idea worth looking into.

I do wonder how well they would hold up over time though (would the adhesive become "permanent" after a few years stuck to the cabinet?).

Thanks for the suggestion!

Anthony

[Twayne]

I use my color laser printer and whatever label size looks decent for the application. Easy to read from a distance too. I don't care for magnetics because I tend to "bounce" things too hard and a lot of them aren't metal drawers, slides, etc..

HTH,

Twayne`

[HerHusband]

The business card magnets are basically the same stuff, just cut to the size of business cards with adhesive on one side. I print my label on a sheet of paper (laser or inkjet works fine), then peel the strip off the magnet and stick my paper to it. Cut to size and I have a perfectly sized magnetic label.

I prefer printing with the laser as the inkjet labels tend to run if my fingers are wet (I ditched the inkjet a few years ago anyway).

Thanks,

Anthony

[Dave]

They work well enough and they're cheap. I use them on my small parts cabinets. If you're just writing on them with a pen, then it fades over a few years. I'd suggest printing on them with bolded text and use a labelling program from one of the popular word processors. Either that or a marker of some type.

[Max]

I use a Brother P touch labeler. It never leaves the shop.

[WW]

Google magnetic paint.. I found some at Home Depot. Mask a spot on the drawers and use the paint. Then your magnetic card will stick to it. WW

[Puckdropper]

HerHusband wrote in news:Xns9F625191718F9herhusband@88.198.244.100:

You may be able to make your own removable card holders without too much difficulty. There will be 3 pieces, each with a small rabbet in one corner. There will be two side pieces and one bottom piece, which will allow you to make the rabbet in one go at the TS or jointer.

Glue to the draw front and add a couple brads until the glue dries.

Were I doing this, I would make the rabbet first then cut and plane the pieces to size and finally cut to length. If you want to get fancy, you can miter the corners or do some other interesting corner treatment.

Puckdropper

[Stuart]

Same here, brilliant bit of kit