Material storage

[Doug Carpenter]

How do you guys like to store materials?

I acquired some metal tools and raw materials and I am not happy with the storage situation I have going.

I bought the rack rack it was all stored on but it seems to have worked better in the shop it was in. It is an old candy rack.

I’d love to see some examples.

thanks Doug

[John K Jordan]

Like to? What sizes and lengths of stock?

Storage is a big problem unless you have a lot of space. Years ago I bought about 4 tons of miscellaneous steel stock at scrap prices from a machine shop and have it scattered all around. A separate building or lean-to shed at least 24' long on the side of the shop would be ideal for me.

I keep shorts (24" to 36") on steel wire shelves, laid flat. These are close to the metal lathe and mill.
Small offcuts and such are in sturdy shallow plastic tubs on shelves, sorted by metal types.
I lean a few pieces 6-8' long against the wall in the welding room in my shop, tubing, rod, angle iron - just to keep handy.
I keep 20 lengths and some shorter in a shed, currently laying on timbers on the floor. Not ideal - it's a lot of work to get something from the bottom.
Some long pieces are in the barn loft.
Big stuff (i-beams, 4x4 and 6x6 square tubing, large angle iron) are outside on railroad ties covered with tarps. A little rust doesn't bother me since I use most of these around the farm.

I plan to build some racks fastened to the wall in the shed. About 20 years ago I fabricated some brackets and made a rack that worked well. I welded square tubing to diagonal braces and put a lip on the end to keep things from sliding or rolling off. These are welded to heavy angle iron which I fastened to 4x4 framing timbers with lag screws. They could hold a lot of weight - all I need to do is make about 20 more.

JKJ


How do you guys like to store materials?

I acquired some metal tools and raw materials and I am not happy with the storage situation I have going.

I bought the rack rack it was all stored on but it seems to have worked better in the shop it was in. It is an old candy rack.

I’d love to see some examples.

thanks Doug

[Doug Carpenter]

I’m sorry, I should’ve mentioned what I’m storing.

i have about 6 buckets of chunks of different kinds of metal. Aluminum, steel, stainless, brass etc.

Drill rod and treaded rod all about 4’ or less. And a ton of little pieces.

so nothing large like you have.

[John K Jordan]

In that case, I'd ditch the buckets and dump the small pieces into wide, shallow containers to make them easy to dig through. I didn't measure but the containers I use are heavy clear plastic, maybe 18"x24" and 4-5" deep. I buy 6' high heavy duty commercial storage racks with 18"x48" wire shelves similar to these:
https://www.amazon.com/Commercial-Storage-Adjustable-Shelving-Capacity/dp/B00EZEN2KW
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They will hold a LOT of weight and come with wheels if you need them. I use these for steel, wood stock, wood blank drying, tools, beekeeping supplies, household storage, in the shop, house, and around the farm.

I don't have any photos of those with metals but this shows part of one of my wood drying racks and a couple with dry turning blanks with a couple of plastic containers visible at the bottom. I use heaver plastic containers for the metals. (I use 8 of these racks in the shop just for wood and more in another building - someone suggested I might need to see a professional about my wood addiction - how dare they! :))

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Unless the walking space is tight, I generally put the containers on the shelves so they stick out a bit in the front so I can put more on each shelf. I label the fronts if necessary but with the clear containers I can usually see what is in them. For bigger chunks of both wood and metal I just stack them on the shelves. If I had a lot, I'd probably store 4' lengths of allthread and such in a vertically in a shallow wooden rack and move offcuts to the shelves as I used pieces.

JKJ


I’m sorry, I should’ve mentioned what I’m storing.

i have about 6 buckets of chunks of different kinds of metal. Aluminum, steel, stainless, brass etc.

Drill rod and treaded rod all about 4’ or less. And a ton of little pieces.

so nothing large like you have.

[Doug Carpenter]

Shallow containers is a good idea. The buckets are too heavy to lift.

[Bruce Page]

I’m not very sophisticated, my bar stock stands in a corner, plate stock leans against a wall, smaller stuff goes in a metal drawer cabinet. I tend to order stock as I need it, I don’t keep a lot of extra stock on hand.

[John Ziebron]

I have to admit that I'm more of a hoarder when it comes to metals as opposed to wood. Probably because I know I can use very small pieces of metal where that size in wood would just last a couple seconds in a fire.:D

I used to have several 5 gallon buckets full, all steel except one with aluminum. And I had some larger and longer pieces hither and yon. I finally realized last year that as the buckets got fuller it wasn't worth my time to scrounge through them looking for that "perfect" piece. So I reorganized. All the smaller pieces are in a hanging bin system and are kind of sorted like rod, tube, flat stock, angle etc. and also a bit by dimensions like thickness and length. The larger bins near the bottom can hold 30 pounds worth. Taller stock is secured to the wall using bands of 4 inch PVC pipe. And some sheet stock just lays against the wall. I also do have some much larger pieces that are stored in the shed (unheated) area of my shop. Here is a picture of what I have now.

[Rick Kruger]

Stock 1-3ft long go in a wooden shelf unit I built to fit under the end of my workbench. Shorts and small pieces go in a small drawer cabinet (drawers about 1ft wide). Longs lean in a corner. Chunks go in plastic milk crates. I don't do much with large stuff.
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Rick