I’ve gone through all sorts of toolboxes and storage methods. A few years back I realized my biggest obstacle to creating something that I’ve thought of is a disrupted workflow. Inversely the more successful times I’ve been able to make things is when the workflow was optimized.
This happens a lot to me. The one tool I need, I can’t find. And it’s very peculiar because I don’t really lose things too often. And so it came to me via a build video from Adam Savage where he made a tool cart for a large quantity of pliers that I thought, that’s the way I want to have my tools available to me. Quick to grab and quick to put back in place. Adam Savage popularized the idea of “First Order Retrievability.” And this I understand, because we want to build towards, not rushing, but building fast for flow, for the pacing of our own brains.
People often need a purpose-built object. But if you can’t figure out what you need exactly, then you need something adjustable. So while I was pondering how I wanted to build this quick access rolling tool caddy. I started thinking about how to make it work even if I don’t have all my decisions in place. Another popular storage concept for workshops at the time was french cleats. They are these boards with a top edge at 45 degree angle, and whatever you want to hang on them, you put an opposing edge on them. So I though, hmm, what if I made a tool cart that I could put caddies on and whatever height suited me, and even be able to swap them from the cart to the wall.
The reasons things are easy to grab from this sort of design, you put things at reaching height. and by giving it a slated design, you can grab something on a lower tier and it’s just slightly more available to you as you bend down, like a partially open drawer.
Making use of the sides, I was seeing a perfect place to store tracksaw tracks. Those being 55 inches tall that helped me figure out how tall or deep the cart needed to be if I wanted to take advantage of housing the tracks. Also put a lip at the bottom to keep the tracks from slipping out.
Up top was a catch-all try, which I ended up putting little cups for smaller implements and glue and oil bottles I could keep segregated and free of drip mess. And pencils of course. The back side I built a couple flat platforms into it so I could have shelves and I also put a couple more french cleats. And my plan was to put hooks in certain places. If it were necessary, some peg board or magnetic areas would be nice to stick certain things to.
For a cart like this, it’s best to put on 4 full-rotation casters. You really want to be able to spin it freely. Also I built mine a bit too big. If you’re going to utilize every side of it, you kind of want it lighter to spin around, right in front of you. I could spin mine, but as usual, it was slightly overbuilt.
When it comes to tool caddies, here’s where it gets interesting. So there’s a problem I encountered with tool caddies which I think would happen to people. Tools are of varied heights and so if you want to have caddies with compartments you really need to either be able to capture each tool so tightly that it can’t move, or have varying height cups or compartments. that way the long tools won’t fall out and the short objects won’t get lost down a hole. Consider a sloping or tiered height caddy as well. Also consider categorical caddies. Maybe paints and glues and brushes get a caddy. Then you have a plumbing caddy. Then a wordworking caddy. Then vehicle caddy. Perhaps and abrasives caddy.
There’s all sorts of ways to categorize them. I won’t illustrate here but just know when you are doing a certain task, usually it can fit inside a category that you will do based on your work, your interests, your skillset. And so consider those categories or how you think and where you would go if you had to guess where something was supposed to be located. I’ve gotten to the point where I might buy multiples of a tool, perhaps a couple cheap ones just so they exist in their appropriate category.
So what’s the downside of all of this? Well there are a few of them. And they aren’t trivial. First, the major downside is dust. And if you do a project where you release a lot of dust in the air, you will appreciate drawers more. Especially if your tools need to be oiled, dust makes them gross, unworkable and can rust them.
Secondly, might be thievery or misuse. Tools that are out, unlocked are vulnerable to being stolen or misused. So not a problem for everyone. And you could put hazard in that category. If you fall against a closed toolbox, it’s going to hurt. But it’s not going to stab you in the eye probably. But dozens of implements poking out at you is a real hazard and falling onto that tool box or even backing against it, not good. Knocking it over might be worse than knocking over a toolbox.
Next problem depends on the person but people’s brains may not operate too well with too much visual clutter and stimulus. One person’s retrievability is the next guy’s chaos and exhaustion.
And the last problem is portability. Because this is an open setup, it’s not for transport. And transport is a HUGE thing for a good percentage of makers, builders, crafters etc. Because you want to bring the work to a site. That’s why all the portable stacking, locking toolboxes are so great. Because you can close them, stack them and bring them along and you have your shop with you. Nobody wants to travel with open sharp metal implements flying all over the place or falling over on a hard right turn. And nobody wants to have to own too many copies of tools for both shop and home. Gets unwieldy.
I think there’s a hybrid solution to this that might fit people quite good. Too much to go into here, but I’ve seen very workable variations of them and I’m finding my own way too. For some, they will never want the portability, dust may not be an issue and they will risk the sharp object problem. So this toolcart style and ‘first order retrievability is still a huge win for many and I hope if you see this you’ll appreciate the modularity and maybe build upon the idea.