Choosing The Right Storage Tool Box For You and The Way You Use Your Tools
A storage tool box is an investment. That doesn’t mean it has to be incredibly expensive, but making the right choice now will mean you have a sturdy, well-built and secure storage tool box to keep your most expensive tools protected and organized for decades. As with any choice that will stay with you for more than a few years, you’ll want to consider your options carefully.
You’ll have to consider many factors when choosing a storage tool box. What should it be made out of? How big does it really need to be? Do you need a stationary tool storage solution, or something more mobile? Should you get something designed for the types of tools and equipment you use specifically, or something more general-purpose and adaptable?
Today, we’ll examine all of these options. Also, because we are who we are, we’ll also look at a few examples of DECKED storage tool boxes and other tool storage solutions when these actually fit the bill.
All Tool Storage Boxes Are Not Created Equal
They really aren’t. Some tool storage boxes are amazing—hard-wearing, secure as a vault, roomy, and adaptable to many different uses. These “unicorns” tend to be fairly expensive, though. Other choices are more specialized. They serve one or two tool storage requirements very well, but don’t do a particularly good job in any other situation. Finally, there are a few storage tool box options that simply aren’t worth anyone’s time or money.
First, let’s look at the different uses you could put a storage tool box to. Once you know what you need a tool storage system to do, you’re halfway to choosing the right one.
Garden Tool Storage Box
If you need a tool storage box to hold your garden tools, size may be your number one priority. Rakes and shovels take up a great deal of space, not to mention lawn mowers, leaf blowers, and things like that. You’ll want something at least 5 feet long on its longest dimension, and wide enough to hold everything. What you won’t need is a lot of internal divisions or modular attachments.
Outdoor Tool Storage Box
If you don’t need a storage toolbox for outside tools as such, but rather a box to store your tools outside in the weather, you’ve got an entirely different set of concerns.
Your first order of business will be finding a secure and weatherproof tool storage box. Both concerns are probably equally important, with a slight edge to security—after all, a rusty tool is worth more than a stolen tool. Either way, though, you need to be sure an outdoor tool storage box or yard tool storage box keeps out both the weather and the unauthorized. An all-weather heavy-duty storage tool box is the natural solution.
Power Tool Storage Box
Often, a power tool storage box can be on the small side. Your main concern will be keeping a few relatively heavy hand tools accessible, and keeping all of their accessories organized.
Security will be a concern as well, because your powered tools are a very tempting target for thieves. Even in a nominally secured area or worksite, power tools sometimes wander off.
If you need a cordless tool storage box specifically, an additional concern will be a large storage compartment for extra batteries, and perhaps a battery charging station. You can save yourself a lot of hassle in the long run by buying a set of cordless power tools which all use the same type of battery interchangeably, but even then you’ll want to carry a spare or two.
Small Tool Storage Box
If you need to store, transport, and organize many small tools or pieces of gear, you won’t need an incredibly large or elaborate storage tool box. Something like the DECKED Crossbox pictured below might be perfect.
Key features will include a removable or cantilevered top drawer and a sturdy closing lid. There are many sizes of storage tool boxes designed for small tools, so make sure you select one with all the capacity you need.
BBQ Grill Tool Storage Box
Your barbecue tools are just as important as your hand tools, maybe more. You can’t leave them hanging on the grill in the rain, and more than you should really be leaving the grill out in the rain.
You won’t need much to store your barbecue tools, luckily. A lightweight plastic tool box will almost certainly do for a BBQ tool storage box, though you will want something weatherproof and lockable if you are going to store your cooking implements outside.
Plastic Tool Storage Box
There are some really good plastic tool storage box options these days. Many are made of a high-impact resin rather than the fragile plastics of the old days, and the best have easily configurable internal spaces to make room for a wide range of light tools, accessories, and other bits.
Portable Tool Storage Box
If your primary concern is portability, you will want either a small, light tool box you can carry in one hand, or a larger pit box-style storage tool box mounted on wheels. A hand-portable storage tool box or “portable tool storage box” offers convenience. They can be carried easily, can generally be taken anywhere you yourself can go, and don’t take up much space, but because they are small, they don’t hold very many tools or other gear.
A pit box is essentially a tool storage box with wheels. Pit boxes tend to be fairly large, and are very suited to storing and protecting larger, heavier tools. They were originally designed as a rapid-response automotive storage tool box, after all. However, they only really work when pulled over relatively flat surfaces. Even those with “off-road wheels” are rarely suited to any terrain much rougher than a suburban lawn.
Garage Tool Box Storage
If you are looking for a storage tool box solution for the garage or workshop, you’ll have many different options. You might opt for a permanent, static storage tool box solution, essentially a tool locker. These have the advantage of being sturdily built, having a very large capacity, and typically feature highly configurable internal spaces. They are designed to be completely immobile, but then in a garage or workshop, the work often comes to the tools.
If you need something minimally mobile that will still almost never leave the garage or the driveway, some kind of combination storage tool box might be appropriate. These usually consist of a roller cabinet on the bottom, with one or more tool chests permanently or removably placed atop it. It is essentially a roller tool box with storage compartments and drawers.
Both options offer security and organization in spades, but offer little or no tool transportation capability. If you need to get the tools to the job and not the other way around, you need some kind of mobile storage tool box.
Mobile Storage Tool Box
We’re not going to lie, this is the part we’re most enthusiastic about. DECKED made its name with mobile storage tool boxes and similar pieces of equipment.
We offer a range of different DECKED storage tool box solutions which mount directly to your truck, and provide secure waterproof protection for almost any kind of tools or equipment.
We make DECKED Tool Boxes specifically to the measurements of the world’s most popular pick-up trucks and working vehicles. Each one is made of high quality high-impact plastic resin, and is reinforced with aluminum and steel in key areas. The combination is incredibly strong and keeps out the worst the weather can throw at it. It is also incredibly secure, featuring an armored locking mechanism to keep your expensive gear stay exactly where you put it, no matter where you park.
Just a few of the features that make the DECKED Tool Box an excellent mobile storage tool box choice include a watertight gasket seal, an optional integrated ladder to help you access tools in trucks with taller beds, a spring-loaded top door for easy opening and slam-free closing, and a massive 73.4 gallon internal space. It is designed to fit our smaller storage tool boxes inside, and it even ships with a DECKED Snack Tray and DECKED D-Box.
If that isn’t enough mobile tool storage for you, we also offer the DECKED Drawer System.
The DECKED Drawer System is mounted in the bed of your pick-up or working truck, but does not take up the entire space. In fact, its high-density plastic resin top can be a lot more resilient than your truck’s actual bed… and that’s great, because there is plenty of usable cargo space on top.
The best feature of the DECKED Drawer System is naturally the drawers. Two high-capacity drawers mount side by side and can be pulled out independently. Each can be easily subdivided, and the system ships with several movable dividers. The drawers are also perfectly shaped to hold our DECKED D-Box and DECKED Crossbox plastic tool storage boxes inside.
Other important features include a massive 2,000 pound storage capacity, a top-notch locking system, and the fact that we offer different versions of the DECKED Drawer System made to the measurements of today’s most popular working trucks. If you just entered “tool storage box for truck” into Google and ended up here, you found the best possible result.
¿Por Qué No Los Dos?
Indeed. Why not use both? The DECKED Drawer System is fully compatible with the DECKED Tool Box, and all moderately-sized pick-up beds will fit both at the same time.
Truck Box With Gun Storage
The DECKED Drawer System comes to the rescue again. Simply replace the internal space dividers inside either or both of the drawers with DECKED Piecekeeper dividers to convert the drawer into a secure and weathertight storage space for up to three long guns—rifles, shotguns, or even black powder muskets if you are more of a historical reenactor than a hunter. The DECKED Truck Box has you covered.
Alternative Uses For A Storage Tool Box
We are very conscious that we have only really listed the most stereotypical uses for a storage tool box here so far. Of course, a tool box doesn’t care what you keep inside it, and DECKED tool storage solutions are used every day to keep non-tools or unusual tool sets as safe, secure, and organized as any set of power drills or screwdrivers. For example, storage tool boxes like the DECKED Crossways box can make a perfect:
- Craft storage tool box M akeup storage tool box
- Art supply storage tool box
- Fishing tackle and lures storage box
They are also popular among medical and cosmetic professionals. We even know a few people who use a DECKED portable storage tool box for mani-pedi gear.
