Does any bodies toolbox look like this?

Mine sure doesn't.

You would cringe if you saw mine right now.

Now my brother who is a mechanic looks like that. His statement "every tool has its place!"

You can get way more tools in the box without the fancy organizers.

Friends that work in aircraft have boxes that look like that.

At the end of the day they have to account for every tool.

Well, almost.

But it doesn't explain why I have to clean the garage to find a quarter inch ratchet used for "only a minute" 6 months ago or why a Philips screwdriver is never around when you need it.

i have "notes" in different places in the garage where tools have "disappeared" into the piles of "stuff" when dropped while around said piles of "stuff".
that way, one of these days i will be moving these piles and the "notes" will help remind me to be on the lookout for the tool that "disappeared" in that particular pile !

[i][/i]

Pretty much, yeah.
Mentored by guys from the Indy car world, who are fanatics about that.
Plus I HATE searching for things !

Here is my socket drawer. Not quite as neat but good enough for me.

This! I have 3 large boxes and a 4 drawer roll cart along with 2 open roll carts and still need more room. No place for fancy organizers. I do however know where most tools are, or at least a good idea of where it is.

I keep my tools in an organized drawers without special trays. When you work 100% flat-rate you need to know where your tools are at all times so you don't waste precious clock time trying to find a wrench. I work with a couple of younger techs with tools scattered everywhere. Now my home toolbox is a little less organized but I have specialized boxes at home, one for transmission work, carb and tuning , and engine work including valve spring compressors ,compression testers ,torque wrenches etc...

Gus

I've parted out hundreds of car, I have filled a tool box with all the tools I have found in them...LOL

I'm not anywhere near that organized, but I do have a pretty simple method for keeping track of my tools. They are somewhat laid out in each drawer by size. When I put them back in the box and lay them in order....
When I was working on other peoples stuff, I was very good at making sure everything was back in the box where it belonged. I didn't loose many tools that way. Now that I'm retired and working on my own junk, I'm not so fanatic about putting the tools away at the end of the day, it more like once a week these days. I do have a place on my bench I pile the tools between the days they get put away. If I'm working on a specific area and I didn't get done at the end of the day, I will leave the tools at that location for the next time.

I wish I had the discipline to be that organized, but I do not!

Don't feel bad, I'm pretty OCD, really bad but that is not an excuse to be that anal about tools. It works for me, you get used to it.
Now buddy Wayne, no can't do that, 12,000 sq/ft shop and can't find anything? Nope. I at least put stuff back when I'm done.

Absolutely. In the Air Force, if your end product ends up on the flightline, every tool box is shadowed, every tool has its specific inventory number, every box has an inventory sheet, and every box is inventoried before and after every job. If you're a back shop, at the beginning and end of every shift. Jet engines are like very expensive vacuum cleaners. Sucked up random objects (like misplaced tools) play havoc on them, and they're very expensive to fix. Almost weekly (sometimes more often) an AF flightline gets shut down for a "lost object"...and a "lost object reports" go straight to the maintenance commander (colonel). They're normally lacking in the sense of humor department. I would hope similarly strict standards are held at civilian airports.

EDIT: I didn't intend to be vague when I said the "flightline gets shut down." That means NOTHING moves until THAT tool is found (or the commander deems that all leaves have been turned). Flight hours lost, flight training for the day is disrupted....a very big deal. The sole mission of the Air Force in peacetime is to prepare for war...and a lost object brings it all to a halt..

I am super familiar with mechanical objects. That is why I don't fly unless it's absolutely necessary.
I also will not drive next to a semi truck..

Most my tool drawers are kept organized , except the screw driver area .. ..never found a good way to keep them organized

Yes and no.

On the upside: comes in handy in the boneyard - never lost a tool there. I also always know exactly where whatever I need is. Spare parts too.

On the downside: I spend entirely too much time picking up the tool I just used and then getting it out again later. I also spend way too much time looking for that one tool than landed in the wrong drawer.

My tool boxes aren't wide or deep enough to hold trays. One box is buy only holds one tray. Had I bought the wider box I could have got two in but the box I bought was on a black friday sale and with my additional discount was more then half off so it was a no brainer. I do have some socket organizers for shallow sockets and the deep ones end up rolling around. I still have to get some wrench organizers but they're usually over priced. So as long as my tools hit the right drawer going back in it's usually not a problem finding them.

Yeah, me too. I've had people look at my shop and ask if anyone survived the explosion. My toolbox is no different.

I have too many tools to space so neatly without 20 tool boxes.

I break then down to Screwdriver drawer, Pliers, Vise Grips, Metric Wrenches,Etc. then several drawers of specialty tools. Clamps, pullers, trim tools, etc. There are some drawers with organizers but not many.

I have enough tools to fill a whole 1 car garage wall to wall. Some would say I have to many tools I say I always need 1 more. LOL

My method of on the job organization is several steps.

1. I make a mental note of every tool I use and count it back in place before the job is done and released. (I do have a place for each tool even if loose in a specific drawer)
2. When I drop a tool I do not wait to get it later. I go on a hunt and retrieve it immediately. (Most tools are lost when people say I'll get it later and then forget about it.)
3. If the job takes over night I put all my tools I am using in a metal tray so they are ready for the next day. Counted and accounted for when I do it.
4. When I have multiple cars to be done all tools are put up and accounted for before I move to the next.
5. If the job is long, I will retrieve and count all tools every 2 or 3 hours to keep my focus on what tools are being used.
6. Whenever possible I prefer not to lay tools on the cowl or fender. I prefer to use a tool tray and NEVER LAY TOOLS ON A BATTERY. (Obvious Safety concerns)
7. The above rules don't change if I am working in a junkyard or a shop.

Has worked out pretty good for me.

Now I just have to retrieve my tools from the neighborhood kids who borrow them periodically.

Yep, our boxes had orange pockets on the black so that a missing tool is easy to spot.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/new...84-hitting-driver/ar-BB1fgyEk?ocid=ientp
My first Snap On tool I ever owned was a socket I found in the curb in front of my house. I have since found several more sockets lying around in the road by my house. And I live in a neighborhood, not a heavily traveled roadway!
A couple years ago I was driving to work one morning and something caught my eye lying by the shoulder of the road. I realized it was a ratchet wrench. I thought about it the rest of my drive to work and kicked myself for not stopping to try to get it. I even called a coworker who gets to work later than me and takes the same route to tell him about it, but it was too late, he was already pulling into the parking lot.
I still am kicking myself for not turning around and going back to get that tool!

I need to show this to my wife. She always accused me of being OCD since I kept everything fairly neat and put up when I finished using it. I told her that the quicker I could put my hand on a tool, the quicker I finished the job and that put more money in my (her) pocket. Worked with a lot of techs over the years that wasted a lot of time pawing around in a rollaround piled high with tools. I would leave mine full if I worked late finishing a job but everything was cleaned and put away first thing the next morning.


Tim

I used to be better about it, but I have too many tools for the boxes I have,
and I just inherited all my BIL's tools, so now there is stuff stacked everywhere!
Once I'm back on my feet I'll have to sort through it all. I have a 4 drawer cart just for
measuring tools and taps/drills.