Thread: Versatile tool belt for a DIYer

those darned english people with their sock and stocking words - using the word suspenders.

Love the pistol style holster for the cordless drill. All that's needed is a trigger guard on the cordless drill so you can spin it around your finger!!

In my earlier days, I used to like to shoot target with pistols. What's the first thing you do when you get a big stainless steel revolver? You take all of the rounds out of it, check it 36 times to make sure they're all gone, and then try to spin it around your finger.

And find out just how darned heavy it is and that it's a miserable painful trick - pistols slightly lighter(I have that same drill and battery, too!!), but they have serrated trigger texture for grip...ouch.

We have a whole generation of taskers who haven't enjoyed the productivity of wearing a tool belt in walking around work.

Hi JH. Like your style! A couple of years ago I switched from a nail belt/tool belt/ carpenter's apron/whatever that was hung across my front, to using one that hung across my bum. Although it took my back about a month to adjust (twenty odd years is a long time to do things one way) the advantages were huge. I had seen many US carpenter's wearing their belts this way but until I got sick of the tape measure poking me in the guts (which wasn't a problem when I was younger [emoji38]) I stuck with what my contemporaries were doing. Pouches also went from flat and hard to get your hands in, to ones that were more open which was great until you lifted your leg climbing frames and everything fell out!! I also switched from traditional leather to a woven Nylon type and they are lighter. So far so good. Having my most used tools on hand stops me wasting time searching for wherever I last left it.

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Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

Hi JH. Like your style! A couple of years ago I switched from a nail belt/tool belt/ carpenter's apron/whatever that was hung across my front, to using one that hung across my bum. Although it took my back about a month to adjust (twenty odd years is a long time to do things one way) the advantages were huge. I had seen many US carpenter's wearing their belts this way but until I got sick of the tape measure poking me in the guts (which wasn't a problem when I was younger [emoji38]) I stuck with what my contemporaries were doing. Pouches also went from flat and hard to get your hands in, to ones that were more open which was great until you lifted your leg climbing frames and everything fell out!! I also switched from traditional leather to a woven Nylon type and they are lighter. So far so good. Having my most used tools on hand stops me wasting time searching for wherever I last left it.

Sent from my SM-G986B using Tapatalk

Worked for a tile contractor the summer between high school and college, and we wore pretty much an open tool belt side pouch, maybe as you're describing. it was on the side, but a little toward the back.

I was given an old rigid community tool belt. you didn't see it while working, but it wasn't so far behind you that you couldn't get a look at it if you needed to see something or figure out if you were minus something.

We were on the floor all the time and up and down, which would've made anything on the front problematic with stuff jamming into a belly.

Cordless drills of good quality (1995) were just becoming common - dewalt - so nobody was lanyarding anything like that yet.

I've tried aprons and small tool belts in my workshop but don't like them. Too many opportunities to catch on spinning cutting things that might drag me in or snag on other stuff. Generally all I need for constant access in the workshop are things that can be placed in easy reach, such as pencil and square (one or more of which I will usually lose or forget where it is a minute or two after putting it down, so that's an argument in favour of putting them into a tool belt or apron).

Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

A couple of years ago I switched from a nail belt/tool belt/ carpenter's apron/whatever that was hung across my front, to using one that hung across my bum. Although it took my back about a month to adjust (twenty odd years is a long time to do things one way) the advantages were huge.

I did the same maybe five years ago, mainly because I was sick of sawdust in the front pouches, but in the past year or so have reverted to the front bag as I like to see what I'm choosing rather than going by feel and memory behind me. Tape measure in the gut issue easily solved with a tape measure holder on the side of the belt.

I've used braces on all tool belts for years as I prefer to take the weight on my shoulders rather than my lower back.

I was using a nylon belt and pouches when I had the bum bag but one of the D rings on the belt pulled out of the nylon strap supporting the braces after a year of so, admittedly with a fair bit of weight on the belt. Never happened with good leather belts before or since.

Just meaningless old school stuff, but leather feels like proper trade quality rather than nylon. Although my braces are nylon with handy pencil holders and pouches on them and weigh and cut into me a lot, lot less than heavy duty leather straps would.

Apron for me. I have my marking tools, tape measure, knives and rulers and (no duh!) an apron plane in it, and my phone. Tied up properly its never got in the way or caught on anything. Protects clothes, works really well. I find the pocket carpenters tool thingies stick out too far and make me feel off balance...Apron carries the weight well across shoulders and hips. leather or nylon is good.

Originally Posted by jpdv

I find the pocket carpenters tool thingies stick out too far and make me feel off balance.

You'll feel even more off balance with a big carpenter's bag and standard weight of 8 to 10 kg plus extra loads of another few kg with drills and things hanging off the belt, with tools 'n stuff sticking out everywhere and always perfectly positioned to catch on unseen obstructions or poke you when kneeling down, standing up, turning around, climbing and descending ladders and so on.

Also a major nuisance when working in occupied houses where you have to keep your hands on hammer head(s) and other things on your tool belt which expand your width to close to a standard door opening and risk marking painted surfaces, which you'll then have to repair at your own cost.

It's easy to get used to carrying the weight and the annoyances that come with tool belts when it's a daily event, but I sometimes wonder if there couldn't be a better design like those fisherman's / hunter's jackets with lots of pockets on the front torso rather then everything hanging off a waist belt, whether a bare waist belt or hung on a shoulder harness.

If I had to choose between a pouch belt and an apron for workshop use I'd go for one of those cheap and light little Craftright belts from Bunnings similar to the first photo in jimhanna's post #1, because they can hold the few things I need to have to hand and lack the bulk and in summer in my tin shed the unwanted insulation of an apron.

Hi 419. There is a youtuber, "Samurai Carpenter", who came up with a solution to this issue.

When I was a 3rd year apprentice we were working on some stud wall assembly. Being keen I shoved 2 hand fulls of 3" nails to 'attack" the job at hand. It didn't take very long to find my single pouch nail bag was over loaded and that a quarter of what I had stowed was enough
Another thing nail bags are good for is "polishing" small tools. I have found small tools ,like nail punches, can look really good after they have been carted around for a couple of weeks
My athletes body that is hiding under the middle age spread of a man who is close to 70, can't keep trousers up. (I have no posterior) I have been wearing braces/suspenders now for more than 10 years. I was buying them from Carba-Tec. They are really well made (in the US!!!!) they do a great job of keep your pants on. I also put them on my nail bag where they work very well

Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

Hi 419. There is a youtuber, "Samurai Carpenter", who came up with a solution to this issue.

Thanks, Mountain Ash.

I assume this is the one. Tools, The Ultimate Tool Vest - The Samurai Carpenter

The only change I'd make would be to make it in a breathable fabric for warm and hot weather work.

Love the saw on the back. Although I've switched to Japanese pull saws for a lot of small carpentry work, such as cleaning up the ends in blind cuts done by circular saw blades, I can't see myself carrying one all day.

I think the saw is more about the Samurai than about the Carpenter. His early videos were full of really nice work, now he is concentrating on "homesteading" sort of stuff. Not really my thing.