Tool Box in a Milk Crate and Bonus
As I wrote in the review of the Systematic Tools Knipex Multitool Sheath 2.0, Todd Parker’s obsessive kit overviews on his Youtube page inspired me to not just make a kit of my one, but make the toolbox too. This, in turn, helped prompt me to finally, after years, fix my small parts storage. This article is an overview of that system as the toolbox and the small parts storage work together.
I love tools. I love my basement workshop where I slowly tinker on projects until they are finished. I love that I can leave the basement messy and not bother anyone. I love that I can make the space look exactly like what I want. It doesn’t have to be pretty or color coordinated. It just has to be useful. It is a purely utilitarian space. And it is wonderful. My heart rate drops every time I walk down the stairs to work on a project. Even if the project isn’t going so well.
Part of the joy of owning a workshop is making it your own. And I have done that. I built a main bench, a miter station, a flip top tool stand, a knife making bench, a workbench that serves as an outfeed table, lumber storage, sheet good storage, a clamp rack and charging station. Slowly but surely I have made the place my own AND incredibly flexible. I can fix or make most stuff (my two previous projects were repairing an extensively damaged matted picture frame and making a “Commander” tray for my son for his Magic Commander deck). I do hate plumbing, but I have installed hose bibs, sinks, and performed basic repairs.
But taking that fix anything mentality to other places has always been difficult. I really detest the design of pretty much all of the tool boxes out there and I don’t do enough on-the-road work to make investing in one of the modular tool packing systems, like the Milwaukee Packout system make sense. So, instead, I designed my own toolbox. And it was designed around one of my favorite modern storage solutions—the milk crate (which, interestingly enough, was invented by one person—Geoff Milton in the 1950s).
The thought process that got me here is worth exploring. I wanted the entire design to be built around, of all things, the humble milk crate. And let me be clear—stealing milk crates, as the embossed text on all of them will tell you, is illegal. However you source them though, true milk crates are amazing containers. Don’t fall for the crappy “file folder” versions, get the originals. They are incredibly durable, the right height for a bunch of things (as a stool, for example, they let an average height American male reach the average height American ceiling, which, coincidentally, is a broadly useful test), and they are, by design, stackable. If you want TRUE unlabeled milk crates, here is a good source. I wasn't sure how I wanted to use the milk crate in the design, but I thought that it would be useful both as a carrying case and as a standing stool or a seat or a small table. And so I set out brainstorming ideas on how to make the milk crate toolbox work.
One idea I originally worked on involved making a wooden “floor” for the milk crate to prevent small tools and fasteners from falling through. It worked, of course, but they just fell out the sides instead. Then I thought about making walls to attach to the floor. That would work, but getting the milk crate in and out would be difficult. I then realized a handle would help, but instead of two handles on either side, I could make one in the middle and use that to organize tools. I then realized that using the handle as a divider could make the inside compartments useful sizes. I wanted to make sure it could hold my preferred small parts storage boxes, Really Useful Boxes (more on this below) in various sizes. A few tweaks and it would be easy to make everything fit. I could make the two compartments different sizes so that they could perform different tasks. I found this approach quite useful with my asymmetric miter saw station, seen here:
The asymmetry allows for different sizes with different functions, whereas in the miter saw station it allows for a more space efficient layout. Believe it or not, I have regularly cut 16 foot 2x4s at that station.
After deciding on the handle, the rest of the design fell in place—I would make an insert that dropped into the milk crate with a friction fit. Because the wooden handle carries almost all of the weight, the milk crate has never fallen off the insert during transport. The friction fit is quite snug.
Because the milk crate is quite light, the amount of friction needed to hold it in place is low. This allowed me to make the actual insert out of 1/2” Baltic Birch plywood, lightening the entire thing. Toolboxes tend to be exceptionally dense and while this one is not as dense as others, like the traditional metal tool box, it is pretty heavy. Any method of doing what Lotus calls “adding lightness” was taken. Thinner plywood, lighter tools, the use of light “holders”—all of it was designed to make a heavy object not so heavy.
I quickly realized that just tossing tools in, while possible, wouldn’t be ideal, especially if I wanted to make sure I brought everything I needed for a given job. I looked at a few toolboxes and tool belts that did well for actual tradesmen and a lot of them preferred kits that held tools in a vertical orientation instead of the traditional horizontal orientation most metal toolboxes used. To keep some orderliness to the entire operation, I used magnets.
I purchased three 10 pound magnets at Harbor Freight (love Harbor Freight for this kind of stuff) and I also go a magnetic parts tray (I have about a half dozen throughout my shop—this an a standing dust pan are the two easiest upgrades to make to a shop). I put some duct tape over the magnets to soften the “snap” when some lighter objects, like pliers, get put in the toolbox. I also made a spot for a tape measure. All told here are the tools that stay in the toolbox:
Komelon Self Lock Evolution 16ft (I have one in my workshop and the one that I got for the toolbox arrived while writing this article, hence the pictures with the decent Kobalt version).
Klein Tools 11-1 Impact Screwdriver
Original Milwaukee Tools Fastback
Leatherman Charge TTi
I also have two Velcro straps, one on the crate and one on the insert, to help hold non-magnetic stuff.
The divider happens to fit one large Really Useful Box and two smaller ones with space for fingers to help pull them out.
The divider also fit my Makita LXT tools quite well. The smaller portion of the box where the magnets are also has a pen and pencil holder for marking tools. Though it can hold loose stuff easily, I generally use it for the handles of longer tools.
You can see that instead of cutting a dado, I used some scrap bits to create a dado. I did this because I was worried that cutting a dado into half inch ply would either result in a weak joint or would put too much stress on the joint when pulling the insert in and out of the box. I used scraps to beef up the handle the same way. I have snapped many a handle made in half in ply like this and so using the scraps on the handle prevents that from happening AND makes it a more of a distinctive handle. This isn’t fine furniture so I used brad nails and wood glue. I have been using, beating up, and moving the toolbox for more than a year and it has held up quite nicely.
I like the design a lot but if I had the tools I would probably do a few things differently. The magnets are ponderously heavy. I would love to make them smaller but just as strong. I tried three different sizes of magnets during the build process, but none could hold a full 28 oz Estwing hammer securely. These can. If there were smaller magnets this strong, that would be a huge upgrade. If I had a 3d printer I would definitely insert a plate that held the Really Useful Boxes securely. Heck, I might even redo the small parts storage completely and use Gridfinity, then incorporate Gridfinity into this toolbox. If there were a material that was strong enough but lighter than half inch Baltic Birch ply, I would swap that out too.
I really like the milk crate insert design. It essentially doubles my carrying capacity (I can carry the insert and crate separately and fill each). It also provides a nice stool or seat for work up high or detail work. Its not pretty, but I have found the toolbox design very, very useful. The plywood for both the toolbox and the small parts storage was scrap from a larger sheet, which was $96. That was the only real cost.
Bonus: Small Parts Storage
Small parts storage is a daunting task in a workshop. There is a tendency, at least for me, to save everything. I have a bolt jar with fasteners from projects long completed and some even destroyed (poor Ikea bookcase, you lasted about ten minutes). I also hate having to make trips to the hardware store for 4 or 8 fasteners. I try to keep a lot of the standard stuff on hand. I used to use those gray plastic bins that can be wall mounted. They are okay. But they are not easy to take with you. When you do take stuff on the move, stuff spills outs or the the boxes get mushed. I use the Really Useful Boxes for battery storage for my lights and I love them.
They are relatively cheap, easily stackable, and have lids. Importantly for me, the lids don’t have a folded plastic hinge which will break over time. All of these features made them ideal for small parts storage, but I didn’t just want fifty of them laying around. Using some scrap plywood, I built this small parts storage unit around two different sizes of Really Useful Boxes. A label maker later and the entire small parts storage solution was complete. I have some spare room for extra stuff too. If you were an eagle eye you can see that I also have some Lewis Bins (which are equally nice) under the mitre saw wing. Those are for larger things, usually all related to one task—I have dado stack in my Lewis Bins and an engraving kit. Between these two storage solutions most of my stuff has a home and there are no drawers to lose stuff in.
Amazon Links
Klein 11 in 1 5/16 impact driver
Komelon Self Lock Evolution 16ft