There are probably 10,000 ways to control cables, but let’s look at one more: the Wrap-n-Strap.  Made by Star Tech, the Wrap-n-Strap is just a rubber strap with a bunch of holes and a plastic fastener.

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Got a pile of bungee cords that are the wrong size or the hook at the end just doesn’t quite fit the application? The Joubert Smart Bungee System lets you connect bungee cords together, swap ends, create a three ended bungee, or create complex combinations you may’ve never imagined.

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This rig is the Tool Pr0n of storage. Designed to provide techs with bad-ass organization, the new 5s ISS storage system by Matco is one of the top-of-the-line items that will find itself shoved to the top of wish lists.

Matco says the 5s ISS has been designed to allow flexibility in configuration and layout. What that really means is that any number of pros can use it from maintenance to manufacturing. Top and bottom stations are available in 48″ and 60″ widths that can be used stand-alone or in combo with toolboxes. You can have any finish you want as long as it’s powder coated, but it will come in a bunch of colors.

No word on price yet but lustworthy commercial grade gear and “cheap” normally don’t reside in the same sentence, so expect to pay more than a card table and a set of milk crates.

5s ISS Storage System [Matco]

These suckers have been around for north of a hundred years. Some have come out in heavy synthetic fabrics, but leather and canvas are still the materials of choice. Duluth Trading makes versions from their excellent fire hose fabric, which are fine products. I may be a proponent of speed-density fuel injection systems and digital micrometers, but I’ve fallen completely for this old-school method of carting tools around. I get a kick out of tossing someone a harmless-looking fabric wrap that just happens to have thirty pounds of wrenches wrapped up in it.

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Maybe the milkman doesn’t arrive with glass bottles in a neat little wire rack anymore, but milk bottles still come in crates, and they’re bloody useful. I found they make perfect motorcycle engine stands, and they’re sturdy enough for storing heavy metal parts later. Those long, fragile crank case studs need to be protected, since they clamp the cylinder block and head together. With copper washers costing $2.50 apiece from the dealership, you don’t want to have to find out how much new studs cost.

You’ll almost never find milk crates on store shelves, but sources like the aptly-named UsedMilkCrates.com sell both new and used versions. Toolmongers who are going to beat the snot out of these things don’t need to bother buying shiny new ones, so there are a few dollars to be saved buying used ones.

Milk Crates [Used Milk Crates]

While TM has noted attic decking before, Infinite Attic is another contender in the race to make use of all that space you have in the attic. The structural aluminum Infinite Attic Saddles fit over 2×4 attic roof trusses; 2×2 rails (customer-supplied) fit in the saddles, and sections of 19/32″ plywood or OSB (customer-supplied) are attached to the rails using 6D nails or 1¼” long #8 screws. The $30 18-saddle kit will cover 32 square feet (lumber not included).

Unless your house is WAY bigger than mine, Infinite Attic is either hyperbole or a misnomer. I told them a billion times not to exaggerate.

Do you need more storage space in your attic? Or do you just need a way to prevent putting your foot through the ceiling?

Infinite Attic [Manufacturer's Site]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

The ancient question of a fastidiously-organized tool chest or spreading wrenches and pliers willy-nilly has been done to death, so there’s no point in starting that one up again.

*coughorganizecough*

The question this time is: what little tricks do you use to keep your tools in good condition? Those of us in the Rust Belt have a rough time keeping everything in good shape. Moisture creeps through even the tiniest gaps, turning carbon steel into an orange-flecked wreck. Every one of my chest’s drawers has an oil-soaked sheet beneath a foam liner, and a silica gel packet to keep moisture at bay. Each tool gets an occasional spritz of lightweight. The catch is, this doesn’t work. How do you keep rust and corrosion at bay when even those measures aren’t enough?

(Thanks to Flickr user Swanee 3 for the great photo)

This may be the most impressive woodworking feat I’ve ever seen. The photo above was made in the mid-1800s by a Mason named Henry O. Studley, a piano maker and carpenter. Materials include mahogany, rosewood, walnut, ebony, and mother-of-pearl, so finely crafted that each tool clicks snugly into place and remains when the wall-mounted box is vertical, even though there are no built-in locks. Two layers on one side and three on the other are enough to store around three hundred tools in 39″ x 20″ x 9″.

It takes a Toolmonger with a heart of stone to avoid falling in love with this remarkable chest. An expert craftsman with a lifetime’s experience in a demanding trade made this practical and fantastically beautiful box from scraps, and was probably the kind to use it every day. If this were your work, imagine the little twinge of satisfaction every time you reached for a tool. Mr. Studley’s work is a practical, gorgeous display of his incredible skill, and he’d undoubtedly be proud to see his work on display at its current home in the Smithsonian.

The H.O. Studley tool chest [Fine Woodworking]
Henry O. Studley [Wikipedia]

Saving the original covers for your brushes is a good idea; they help to keep the brushes’ shape when you store them. If you threw out the covers, you can still make yourself new ones from paper — or you could buy these cool magnetic covers from Whitney Innovations.

The breathable, waterproof cover allows the brushes to dry while holding their shape during storage. The adjustable cover uses a Velcro catch to fit both straight and angled 3-1/2″ brushes. The coolest part is that the cover has an integrated magnet for hanging the brush on metal surfaces.

The copy on the site is written like a Babelfish translated it from English to some other language and back again, so we can’t tell exactly if you get one or two covers for $10, not including shipping. This seems rather expensive for a brush cover. If they could price them at $2 a piece — and actually sell them someplace you’d actually shop — they might really have something.

Magna Catch Brush Cover [Whitney Innovations]

Once I saw this monster I quickly realized the race for the largest rolling tool chest had been won years ago by Craftsman. Near as we can figure, that is a three-piece, twelve-foot, rolling mechanic’s chest.

This image was taken at the Sears headquarters in Hoffman Estates, IL. The chest itself was, of course, just an advertising prop, but we still tip our hats to them for coming up with the idea and wonder who managed to walk off with it when they were done with it.

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I love this box. This is the kind of thing that gets handed down from generation to generation until no one can remember where it came from but won’t throw it away either. Yes, you read correctly: this is a 50 lb. dynamite box.

Not only does the case look like a product Wylie Coyote just ordered from Acme, but just picture the neighbor in your shop for the first time: “Hey Bob, can you hand me the wrench? It’s in that box over there marked ‘dynamite.’ Better put out that cigarette first, though.”

Even if it were fake, it would be great to mess with people’s heads. I don’t know if I could resist keeping some red road flares in there just to make someone do a head check.

Thanks to Beano for the crazy-cool picture post.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

Who doesn’t need more space in their garage?  Whether it’s that extra car that sits outside, all your lawn care equipment, snowmobiles, or ATV’s, there never seems to be enough room for it all.  With these four-post lifts from Dannmar you can recover that wasted space above your vehicles to store your stuff.  Hell, you could even set up your shop on the lift and raise it out of the way when you need to park your vehicle — how sweet would that be?

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If you just have a lawn mower, a Gas Caddy like the one pictured above might be a little overkill — but if you maintain a bunch of gas-powered equipment, you might appreciate this simple solution for transferring and storing all that fuel.

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Matco is running an online sweepstakes to promote their new line of service carts, and the grand prize is a MSC11 service cart with top chest add-on.  You can enter the sweepstakes for free — just fill out the online form and you’re entered!  Judging from the pictures on the website this cart looks pretty sweet, and it would go great in an auto shop.

Contest Info [Matco Tools]

People keep telling you, “You don’t need a truck if you don’t haul stuff regularly.  Just get a trailer.”  I see some problems with that logic: for one thing, a trailer requires extra storage space that you might not have;  and also it requires that you plan ahead and pull the trailer every time you might need it.  The Tow-N-Stow may not help with your planning ability, but it definitely takes care of the problem of where to store the trailer.

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Create more space in your garage, shop, basement, or other room by getting your bins off the floor and hanging them on the wall with the Enviro Stacker.

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With Father’s Day about a month away, I’m sure many of us are scrambling to find this year’s present.  We’ve already exhausted the pocket knife, cigar cutter, homemade picture frame, beer gift basket, necktie, and personal coupon books in past years, and we’re running short on ideas — but if your dad’s a sports fan and a Toolmonger, you might want to check out these sports-themed tool belts from Fantasia Memorabilia.

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