Last night I completed a huge task in my new basement workshop by doing a first pass at organizing all of my hand tools. My toolbox (so to speak) has expanded a lot in the last few months. For reference, I posted the photo below in May of 2015 when I setup a tool bench in the garage.

Fast forward 2 years to May of this year, when I added more pegboard.

I’ve been acquiring a lot from garage and estate sales in the last few months. When I transplanted everything to the basement it was the perfect time to organize everything. Here is what I ended up with last night.

The lighting really is terrible down there. I think I’m going to take out the drop ceiling to give me more space and put in LED lighting. Anyway, as you can see my pegboard area more than doubled!

I kept thinking about two things as I was figuring out where to put everything. First, I wanted like things grouped together. Measuring tools like squares, levels, and tape measures are all together. Cutting tools like saws, knifes, tin snips, and scissors got grouped. You get the idea. The second thing was what Adam Savage refers to as first order of retrievability; almost every hand tool can be accessed without having to move something else.

I can’t even begin to explain how satisfying this process was. I’m not married to the result though. As I use the workshop I’ll see if it makes sense to move things around and iterate.