Make A Safe Place to Store Tools

The last thing you want to find at your job site is a messy work truck with tools scattered among cords and tanks and whathaveyou. Instead, create a safer scenario with organized sections of the work truck where even long-handled tools have a neat and tidy home. Look at the toolbox this crew built to store tools.

When you have a flatbed truck to haul equipment and hand tools to the job site, you may need to improvise to make sure nothing falls off the truck. This crew has fashioned a homemade toolbox to hold the asphalt rakes in a stable place. They’ve welded together sheets of scrap metal that hold the tools upright, which means no one can accidentally step on an end when walking on the bed of the truck. The sheets that make up the “walls” of the box are at least 12 inches tall to prevent the tools from tipping over during transport. The walls are about 24 inches wide to accommodate the width of the longest rake.

As a side note, we choose this type of rake with straight teeth because it does a good job of leveling a pile of asphalt. It is a unique asphalt rake, heavier than a garden rake with a heavier pole near the head or tines of the tool. That heavier end makes the job of knocking over the asphalt pile and smoothing out the asphalt easier for the laborer. These wide, heavy tines also work the asphalt better than a light, bent garden rake that can cause material segregation. These heavier tines don’t pick through the mix and pull the bigger rocks to the sides as you work; instead, these tines work the material fully, allowing large and small material to remain blended.

John Ball is the proprietor of Top Quality Paving & Training, Manchester, N.H. He provides personal, on-site paving consulting services around the United States and into Canada. For more information, contact him at (603) 493-1458 or tqpaving@yahoo.com.