What to put in top compartment on tool chest...

[-MIKE-]

I finally got a big, double-decker tool chest....

is another one of those acquisition about which you immediately ask yourself, "How have I ever lived without this?"

There is a top compartment with a lid that opens up which is common on these types of chests. Are these compartments traditionally used for certain things/tools? Not that I've ever cared about tradition or "the way it's always been done," but if experience shows that it's more beneficial/efficient to keep certain thing up there, I will start with those and go from there.

[Swingman]

Until you build yourself a medicine chest, Mike ... that's where you should keep your shaving gear!

Most of the mechanics I know keep their taller stuff, like boxes of nuts and bolts ... the stuff that does not look like wrenches, sockets, etc... in the top shelf.

C-Less will undoubtedly set you straight shortly ...

[Leon]

Typically a top box top will house a carry along lift out tray for holding tools that you want to carry with you.

My top box top is a "catch all" for "stuff"

[Leon]

Typically a top box top will house a carry along lift out tray for holding tools that you want to carry with you.

My top box top is a "catch all" for "stuff"

[-MIKE-]

d'oh!!

[-MIKE-]

Hmmmmmmmmm.........

[Larry Jaques]

Fit the tool size to the drawer size. Wrench and socket organizers are great. Drawer liners like antiskid mesh are great. Keep the slides greased. And a warning for that large bottom drawer: ONce you fill it with large, heavy gobs of arn, DO NOT try to remove it and set it on the ground while bent over. (I could have blown a lumbar disc or broken a foot while pulling that idiotic stunt when it turned out to have over 300 lbs in it.)

Keep whatever you use twenty times a day up there.

Tool chests are very personal, so you'll put tools in it in the order you like. In a couple weeks/months, you'll find yourself reorganizing. That's normal. Have fun with the new toy.

-- Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt

[Pete S]

I keep a lift out tray in there. In my case, the tray has a basic (what I call) set of tools in it. So, with many jobs, I can just grab that tray and go. I have managed to load it so full that I can't get my fingers around the handle, so I have to squeeze the handle between thumb and fingers to lift and carry. I figure that is good exercise for my hands.

-Set of 1/2" drive sockets w/ ratchet, breaker bar, u-joint and extensions

-Set of comb. wrenches w/ swivel box ends, 3/8" to 3/4"

-offset screwdrivers

-Allen wrench set

-Good quality combination screwdriver

-Spark plug sockets

-Small pair of SnapOn "water pump" pliers

-Some other stuff.

----Everything in there is duplicated elsewhere in the cabinet.

I have 2 other lift out trays that I keep along side the big cabinet. If I know what I'll be needing in addition to, or in place of that upper tray, I fill on of them and go. Metric stuff, for example.

In thinking more about it, if all my work was in on a single concrete garage floor, then none of this would apply. But, for me, I have stuff in 2 outbuildings and in two other shops under the same roof as the tool cabinet. And, besides, not everything breaks when it is parked in its proper place, anyway. I simply figure that any mistakes I make in planning what to take with me is just another excuse to NOT having to go to the gym.

Pete Stanaitis

---------------

[Robatoy]

Mushrooms and a defibrillator.

[-MIKE-]

Great reply, Pete! Thanks. You are the second one to suggest a lift-out tray and I'm definitely going to do that. I was also thinking of having an empty tray or two, right on the case. I love the idea of having duplicates in the tray/case.

[-MIKE-]

+10pts for obscure post of the week.

[Larry Jaques]

He's been smoking his banana peels again, ah reckon.

-- Learning to ignore things is one of the great paths to inner peace. -- Robert J. Sawyer

[Gooey]

about the same type of Top as mine have lids on them - like a tool box. As such, they are rather worthless. If I put stuff in them and close the lid, I get another FLAT SURFACE and that gets covered with this and that. Then, to open it up, I have to first find a spot for all that stuff that (mysteriously) congregated on the closed lid. On one of my chests, I just leave the lid up and the area serves as a FLAT SURFACE with raised edges and a tall back plane. On another, I left the top compartment empty and use it as a flat surface - albeit, with a handle in the center! Argggghhh!

Oh. just saw your chest. Impressive, expensive(?). The HFT sets are not so wide, but as tall (I guess). And, at $140 each, a bargain.

But the drawers are not deep enough for a woodworking shop (IMHO). If I could get them to eliminate one drawer from each section, the remainder would better suit.

[Eric]

He's been smoking his banana peels again, ah reckon.

-- Learning to ignore things is one of the great paths to inner peace. -- Robert J. Sawyer ==================

Magic Mushrooms?

[-MIKE-]

I know the one you're talking about and I almost bought it. But it just wouldn't have been a big enough upgrade from what I had. It may have doubled what I have now, if that.

I also looked at the other US General Pro cabs at HF, which are excellent quality. I almost bought the 27" wide double-decker and it would've been great. It would've been at least 3x the space of what I had. I finally decided to just bite the bullet and get one that I wouldn't run out of room in and that I'd never have to upgrade. At

37x18x52, this is probably 5x the storage of what I had.

It was expensive, but not when you consider what most tool chests cost. Plus, if I ever decide to expand, I'm pretty sure those US General side-cars at HF will sit right on this.