My Fastener Storage System

Last week, Tom Iovino featured my site on his blog, Tom’s Workbench.  This was part of his write-up about my work.

“Chris has a very skilled eye for design and incorporating bold, natural shapes in his woodworking projects.”

– Tom Iovino

He also included this picture of me in my workshop.

Ben Strano (@sonicfedora) spotted my fasteners cabinet in the background and asked for some details, so here they are.

Above my workbench, fasteners and small hardware bits are stored in clear plastic divider boxes with self-locking lids that prevent spills.  (I also have another group of them near my drill press where they hold screwdriver bits, countersinks, pen parts and more.)

The top shelf contains divider boxes with small box hardware, magnets, and 8-32 bolts for handles and knobs.  The next shelf has trim-head screws, boxes of nails, wooden plugs, and picture framing hardware.  I rarely access the contents of the top two shelves.

The boxes on the middle shelf hold round-head screws and the one below holds flat-head screws.  On the bottom row are boxes of 1/4-20 hardware.

Whether working at my bench or elsewhere, I appreciate the unwillingness of the divider boxes to spill their contents regardless of whether their lids are open or closed.  Whenever working on something that requires assembly or disassembly, I grab an empty divider box to contain all the parts as well as screwdriver bits, drill bits, hex keys or other small bits.

I’ve been using these divider boxes for just over three years and have been really happy with the system.  They contain and organize my hardware, make it easy to sort, identify and select, and do not create any problems in doing so.  Which reminds me that I need to buy some more of those boxes…