Technical How do you guys store small pieces of metal?

I was wondering what others have come up with to store small pieces of metal. I store the longer pieces standing up against the wall, but smaller pieces usually get thrown on a work bench or on a shelf. I know there are better ways. I keep everything, can't bring myself to throw anything away. Thanks.

 

Every now and then I scrap most of them. But sitting on end in a box or drawer is one way to do it, laying in a drawer is another way, and neither way is very satisfactory.

I'm looking forward to the good answers to this question.

 

5 gallon repurposed drywall mud bucket in the corner. Pieces that are too wide to fit the bucket (s) lean against the wall until the stack falls over when I’m digging for that “perfect” scrap.

 

I use four metal buckets, 2, 5, 10, and 30 gallon. As they are all different heights, almost everything has a place. Too tall for the 30 gal. leans against the wall or is behind the shop. Sheet stock too wide for the bucket goes to the wall.

 

2 5 gallon buckets

 

My shop is a real mess currently but I think you can see my storage setup. On left are shelves against the wall to store long stuff. Second shelf has chop saw on its end. Stores up to 10' long stuff. Just right and adjoining are 2 bay slots to store sheet metal. Built on the right-most wall of the bays are 4 shelves to hold the small bits and pieces.

 

I have two depositories one is a fiber drum
The other, for little bits, was once a mail box, mischief victim. I beat it kinda straight and stand it on its back end.

 

Two big totes from home depot. I have a horrible habit of keeping every single scrap of metal. Even the rusty parts I cut off when patching! Haha!

 

I have a rack that will hold up to 24', but no shorter than 10'. Shorter than 10' end up leaning against a wall or a small dimension piece slid into a longer piece on the rack. Then there's the fiber barrel that's crammed full along with a 5 gallon bucket and an old baking pan that's overflowing with 12" and shorter scraps.

The pan, bucket and barrel are my first stop when looking for metal. Too often though the right size or length just isn't there. I was working at cleaning my shop a little bit today. Maybe I should continue cleaning tomorrow as well.

Lynn

 

I have space on the second shelf of my work bench for small pieces and the larger ones are in thirteen gallon plastic trash can.

 

Here's what I got. Longer shorts on the shelf, shorter shorts in one of the black 2 or 3 gallon steel buckets, really short shorts in the other one. They are just visible on the back side of the bench. Right now they're on the front side, so I don't have to move the bench to get at them.

 

I use kitty litter buckets. Separate ones for different shapes. When the pieces are short enough to put lids on, I stack the buckets.

 

Some kind of rack or barrel system is in my future next summer. I need to get mine under control.

I've thought about building a square base with coaster wheels, sitting a 30 gal drum in the middle for long stuff. Then on the lower square base building a railing that comes up off of the the base corners at a different height on each corner that I can put different lengths of metal strap, rod, etc on each corner.

Then I can store in a corner, roll it out, spin it around to different corners for different lengths. I'll weld a couple boxes, like mail box size on a couple sides and store the small pieces in those...

Now I just need to get it done !

..

 

I just moved out of my shop in town after 30 plus years. Have a 4x8 work bench that the lower shelf was overflowing with cut off stuff. Most of the time I dig through it looking for something, I never find what I need. So all that went into the scrape dumpster. I have made the decision that the steel supply store will now store it for me.

 

Has casters on the bottom so I can wheel it around to sweep the floor.

 

Poorly.

 

Like screws, nails, etc. In stacked plastic paint & coffee cans on the floor in a corner.

 

I have a low, 3 level shelf that can handle up to about 30" length. The metal just gets stacked on the shelf. I have piles for round aluminum. not round aluminum, round steel, not round steel, and weird shaped stuff. Sheet metal and stuff too long for the shelf is on end on the floor leaning against the end of the shelf. It is far from a perfect system, but if I have something I can usually find it and dig it out.

 

I have several pieces of varying lengths of 10" diameter heavy walled plastic pipe, bolted to the wall that I stand up pieces from 1' to 8' in one building and in my garage, a set of scaffolding with planking to hold sheet steel. The lowest shelf has a 3' x 2' box built into it for holding smaller pieces. Last year I cleaned out the overflow for scrap. I like to keep a fair amount on hand for when needed but it doesn't take too long before you get overwhelmed.

 

I now use a 5 gallon bucket, when I moved I gave ALL my metal away ( stupid me), along with the cheap-o gun safe I stored it all in. The safe was one of those light weight 2x4 ones you buy from Menards or the like when on sale, removed the locks and just had a latch type thingy on the door, worked real nice for metal storage. Mitch

 

in a box

 

Lots of good stuff here. I struggle with this too, because I just save everything. Where I work we have this tree full of goodies. I don't have the space for it, but maybe some of you do.

 

The only system I've found that sort of works requires a scrapping process about every 2 years.
When I ran the welding shop I had storage for three different lengths of flat stock and tubing and storage for sheet metal.

The tubing lengths were 24'-8' along the one wall. There there was the stand on end section with the 8'- 18" length, then there was the shelf under the work bench that held lengths 18" to about 6", there was a metal pan to hold smaller stuff.
The sheet metal section had an area for 4'x 8' sheets, down to any size that could lean against the wall without falling over. Anything that would not lean against the wall without falling over occupied a part of one of my work benches.
I also had a 40 gallon steel scrap barrel that short stuff got tossed into when it was nearing the end of its usefulness. The scrap barrel got emptied on a regular basis. The process tends to work stuff towards the small pieces, so then, about every 2 years, or when the smaller storage sections got overwhelmed, the excess went to scrap. I ended up scrapping a lot of small stuff.

 

Pickup bed trailer outside the shop... I've been tossing all my small cutoffs anymore though. By the time I dig something out then modify it to look decent I should've just bought a piece from the steel yard. The steel yard here lets me look through their cutoff bins and last time they didn't even charge me for what I grabbed. I hate throwing anything away but I'm at the point where the extra clutter stresses me out...

 

I used a discarded shopping cart.

 

I'm sure you can see in the background of my build picks. Buckets and boxes of various sizes.

 

I just moved after 30 years and scrapped most of it.(Tons)
I had a narrow 4’ high steel bin for the longer shorts and inherited a friends homemade storage unit for the small diameter rounds and tubes of various lengths, it consisted of old food tins with the bottom cut out stacked and tacked at various heights, then tacked together. Made it easy to see what I had and being tacked together it was stable.
All the sheet steel was against the wall behind the lathe,
Longer lengths were on a rack outside under the eave.
Once we find the next property to buy, it will start all over again but a bit more selective.

 

Couple 5 gallon buckets for miscellaneous, sheetmetal is leaned on the wall, 1/2 inch tubing on down is on a jinga shelf, bigger tubing and angle iron is stood up in a corner.
Not very organized but I know where everything is.

 

Yessir , that's a real mess right there ! LOL Bet you can walk by it too!

 

I use milk crates for short pieces that are large enough to not go through the crates. But for smaller diameter pieces I just toss them in a 5 gal. bucket.