Sorry if this issue has been covered here already. If so, please feel free to reference previous discussions. This is my first post to Breaktime so bear with me. I’m still trying to get familiar with all of it including the search interface.
I’m going to be building a large detached garage soon on my property. I want to work efficiently so one thing I want to get right is my toolbelt setup. I currently have my belt setup with a pocket over my left thigh, a tape pocket in the middle front, and my screwgun holster over my right thigh. My hammer hangs on my backside to the right. I’m right handed. The logic is that the tools I use with my dominant hand (hammer, screwgun, are on my right side. The tools I use less often, like pliers, knife, etc. go in the left pocket along with fasteners that I naturally pick up with my left hand. I haven’t used this setup much yet though. When I do it seems unwieldy though as I’m not used to wearing a toolbelt. However, as a former auto mechanic (now engineer) I know the importance of well organized tools and materials.
What I’d like from you guys is your opinons on this setup and recommendations for changes, or just a reply on how you like yours. Though I’d do it to learn how to lay block or shingles, I don’t think I want to go to job sites and stair at guys toolbelts. 🙂
Thanks.
Edited 4/15/2006 9:24 pm ET by semipro
Replies
I don't think I want to go to job sites and stair at guys toolbelts. :)
Nah their azzes are much better.
Work with it for a day and you'll have everything where you want them. It's a natural flow, you should never have to look or think about it.
Now if you want to buy a belt system that's comfortable and built for your needs whatever they are. Look at Occidentals. I have two of their rigs one for carpentry and one for electrical and they are definatly nice. And the tape holder on the hip is the cats azz.
http://www.bestbelt.com/
Wop bop a loo bop a lop bam boom!
many moons ago i showed up on a large site wearing my tool belt backwards to the norm.(pockets in the rear). one day someone asked me why i wore it that way and i told him my pants buckle is in the front so why not my tool belt too. the truth is its way easier to move, bend, squish, climb and and when bent over the belt still hangs normal so its no problem to get into the pockets. 4 months later i left that job and a few guys had swithched theres around. my current crew all wear it that way too. i know its not the norm but it just seems way more comfortable.
i dont know if we can tell you what the best way is because its really up to you. but we can make suggestions for you to try.
good luck
Tmaxxx
Urban Workshop Ltd
Vancouver B.C.
cheers. Ill buy.
I have always (20+ years) worn my backwards, for basically the same reasons you state.
TTF
Pockets in the back IS the norm!! Why put them up front where they can get in the way? While doing commercial work [ which required a lot of diferent fasteners at a time ] we always put the tool pouches in the back , and a cheap canvas apron for the fasteners in the front.
I'm wit' you on the backwards tool belt.
Back used to hurt quite a bit...Then I realized I'm carrying an additional 15 lbs of nails & crep. Spun the belt around and the pain went away.
My memory improved too. You need to remember where the sinkers and the ring shanks are located, as well as the nail set etc. A little harder to fill the pouches but it did wonders on the back.
I suppose there is someone waiting to do a drive by nailing on my belt with a 'tude.
It's hard out here for a simp
Edited 4/17/2006 8:41 pm by booch
Let's see - I like five front main pockets, two layered on each side, tape in the middle, separate hammer loop (metal), on the right side.
25' non-Fatmax in the middle; unscrew the belt clip to keep it from hanging up. Speedsquare in the left big pocket, flange on top, point toward the center, plus whatever else is job-appropriate, av snips, nail biters, cat's paw. Fasteners in front left. Stanley tool-less change utility knife in the front right, along with drywall screws. Right big pocket against me is for 16-20d nails.
Octagonal plumb bob with braided string wrapped around it in the little two-tiered pocket thingly to the right of the main right pocket. (2) Carpenter's pencils and (2) regular pencils in the flat pocket in front of that little pocket thingy.
Use a hammer with a wood handle - the grips will grab on the metal hammer loop, and pull your leg hair below your shorts.
Use a tool belt that has a simple metal tongue and clip you twist to unlock - forget about threading stuff through behind your back - Just makes me put off going to the can.
That's just my evolved-into habit
Forrest
You do a lot of climbing and crawling on a job site. Always moving materials and getting into tight places. Toolbelts get heavy and cumbersome when you wear them 40 or more hours a week. Some guys carry a small hardware store around their waist, if all I need is a pencil, that's all I carry. On a modern job, you don't need very much. I have a bucket boss that has most of the hand tools I'll ever need. I leave it nearby and basically just carry nails, a tape, pencil, utility knife. My tool belt is as sparse as I can get it. I'm set up for finish work in the pic, I'd replace the block plane with a square, chalk line and different nails, if I was framing.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
Your carrying a lot more than I do hammer1. I'll see about snapping a picture today at work.
blue
Check out the designs by Occidental Leather <bestbelt.com>. They make excellent framer bags. For righties, fasteners are in the bag on the left and tools in the bag on the right. They make leftie bags so everyone can have their way.
Nice thing about the Occi Lights bags and the others on the high end - leather hammer loop on the front of the strong hand bag. Easy to draw, easy to reholster.
They have sheaths for the keel, utility knife, etc.
The Depot used to carry a knock off of the Occi Lights for about $80, but I don't see it any more. The bags they carry are nicley sewn but poorly designed. Check where the speed square pocket it. Even have one?
If you are just going to DIY, pick a nice tool apron. Wear it front or back. See it done either way. Thin guys can wear back bags better that those with some circumfrence.
The ToolBear
"Never met a man who couldn't teach me something." Anon.
Just spent all day saturday logging all my tool serial numbers and models etc. and a picture of each tool. Started by cleaning out the workshop actually.
Anyhow I snapped a picture of my bags for gee whiz too.
Occy's are the way to go, I like the leathers even though they are a bit heavier than the nylon/lites
They are righties, I just switched the bags around.
re-riveted the square slot and added a steel ring on the front for hooking a gun.
I used to use a Occidental framer set, but have recently switched to 1 canvas bag with a couple tool holders. The weight was getting old, and I was carrying way more stuff than I needed.
View Image
If you have any poo, fling it now.
Edited 4/17/2006 4:28 pm ET by dustinf
hey ... that stuff looks all fresh off of the shelf....
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!<!----><!---->
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Some of it is.
The hammer is a month old, give or take. The nail bag is only a week old. Craftsman tape is a couple weeks old.If you have any poo, fling it now.
I try to keep things as light as possible. I carry a double pocket bag just to the right of my right thigh. and a single small nail pouch and a hammer loop on my left side. I have a razor knife, a plastic speed square, a 16 oz Japanese hammer with an ash handle, a16 foot Stanley, a couple of pencils and a chalk line. I carry a tool box a rotate a few task related necessities in and out of it as they are needed. To be honest I don't use it everyday anymore, because my work has changed over the years and now is mainly managerial. I used a regular apron for many, many years as a young man and wore it bags to the front and I think it has benefits both ways. I know I've lost many nails climbing on scaffold, but one benefit from wearing it aprons to the front is that it is protecitve and helps to hold a board for a minute when passing them up. I had to clean a years worth of caulking and glue of off them many times
here's how i have my belt set up: i have my pouch over my left hip, a holder for my tape right above my ####, a holder for my knife in between the right hip and right ####, and my hammer just off my right hip, closer to the thigh. whenever i add in a screwgun holster, i move the knife closer to the tape, and put the screwgun between the hammer and knife. i also add suspenders when carrying that much weight, so as to lighten to load on my hips.
Oh those occidentals are nice if not a bit spendy. No matter which bags you get or how you set them up the most important think, IMO, is to be disciplined enough to put things back in the same place every time. When you start it's something that you have to consciously remind yourself of, then over time it becomes second nature.
I worked on a job where they hired some dubious characters, a threesome I believe, father,son,uncle type deal. None of the guys wore belts! I was trimming the stairs and these knuckleheads would make 200 trips a day, forgetting whatever it was they needed next downstairs. What made it worse, was that once they got downstairs, they still had to look around to see where they had laid there tools last.
Infuriating for them and me, everytime I had to stand up to let one of those hillbillies by.
Just put your stuff back in the same place everytime and you'll be ahead of the game.
KH
Good stuff guys. I'm definitely going to try the bags on the back. I'd never considered the carrying the speed square but I do use one quite a bit so I'll have to find a place for it somewhere where my left hand can get to it.
Thanks for all the response. Definitely a good first post for me. I'm sure I'll be hitting you guys up for more advice as the project moves on.
Like you my tool belt is used at home, although when I got out of high school I was a framing helper for almost a year. At that time my belt was the standard at that time a leather two pouch with a tape pocket between, worn forwards, like everyone else did. The thing that I remember the most about that style was that it was always hanging up when I wanted to pass through the walls between the 16" spaced studs.When I got a new one 12 years ago I bought one with 3 pouches that are loose on the belt. I only put on the pouches that I need for the work that I want to do, and I can position them on the belt, front, back, or the best, sideways on the hip. That position makes it easier to climb a ladder, sit, squat, and pass between studs without the pouches getting caught up. (But now the stomach is starting to do the same.) The links are to some that are similar to the arrangement that I have. I don't have any cordless drills but threw in the drill holsters because everyone else does.http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=41741&cat=1,43413,45989&ap=1http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&cat=1,43413&p=41737http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=41742&cat=1,43413,45992&ap=1