The Sortatool (also known as Sort-A-Tool) wrench organizer tray is something I have known – and heard great things about – for a few years now. The company got in touch with me and sent one over for review.
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It’s pretty simple how the Sortatool works. You take your wrench, slide it along the sizing bar, a tapered edge of the tray, and the wrench stops at its rightful position. Swing the wrench over and into the tray, and it’s there until you need it next.
I have been testing the Sortatool for a few weeks, and am ready to take it out of my tool box. This is not a reflection on the Sortatool, but on how I have so many very random and different styles of wrenches in my toolbox. The Sortatool works best for neatly organizing wrench sets, and not a hodgepodge of different sets.
For a plastic organizer, the Sortatool is very well made. The ABS tray is rigid, tough, and seems to be impervious to grease and common shop chemicals. Even the dividers between wrenches are thick and rigid.
My long pattern combinations fit in the tray, but some of the sizes cover up the labels a bit. Shorter wrenches, such as the Craftsman raised panel wrenches shown in the above images, don’t obscure the labels as much. What I have found is that the Sortatool actually does a reasonably good job of holding different brands and styles of wrenches.
Small and large wrench compartments are separate to better make use of space, and there are also to fastener or accessory compartments that ensure you’re not wasting any of the real estate the wrench tray takes up in your drawer.
Dimensions of 13.5″ L x 10″ W x 1.5″ D mean the Sortatool fits into standard sized drawers.
I like the construction and design of the Sortatool a lot, but it really doesn’t fit my particular needs. That does happen from time to time. What I might do is print out some letter-sized labels and print out custom size labeling strips. That way I can combine duplicate inch wrenches in one tray and maybe metric and inch mixed sizes in another tray.
If you’re looking for a nice wrench set organizer, consider giving the Sortatool a try – it’s a good product and I definitely recommend it. It can accommodate inch and metric wrenches up to 3/4″.
The Sortatool is made in the USA and is priced at $9 to $12. It is available in black and red colors.
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Buy Now(via Sears)
More Info(via Sortatool/Sky Leap)
Thank you to Sky Leap LLC for providing the review sample unconditionally. Review samples are typically given away, donated, or retained for benchmark and comparison purposes.
Allen
Yeah, I’ve got such a mish-mash of wrenches I don’t think it would work well. I cut some dados in board and just lay them down, ‘course they don’t lock in so I can’t take the whole bunch out.
Good to see someone innovating however.
Kyle
I’ve had this thing for years and it works great – I really like it. As mentioned in the review, the quality in terms of materials and molding is very good. I agree though that it’s not for everyone and it’s a bit difficult to know how it fits your specific wrenches unless you buy it. I actually keep a set of metric combination wrenches and a set of metric gear wrenches in it (rather than inch/metric alternating) and it works great for that – but long pattern wrenches do fit better.
But its me!
I purchased one of these last year at Sears, using up my accumulated whatever they are called shopping points. It is a great idea and does indeed fit nicely in a shallow Craftsman chest drawer, but not all of my collection of wrenches fit (a mix of mostly Craftsman standard and metric wrenches, including a few of the ratcheting models). About half are too long and/or tall, so it now sits on a shelf, with my wrenches back to a jumbled mess in the drawer. Might pass it along to my oldest once I get him a set of wrenches, now that he shows an interest in DIY.
Derek L
I would be more interested in this if they had separate metric and SAE versions. I think having the 2 mixed in would drive me nuts.
Coach James
I bought two of these ten or twelve years ago. One is for my regular combos and the other is for my ratcheting combos. Having metric and SAE in the same tray is no problem. They’re well made and make organizing easy.
Cameron
I have one and love it. It swallowed up my set of SAE and metric Craftsman combos, freeing up a ton of drawer space. I don’t mind them being mixed. Often I’m dealing with a nut or bolt that I’m unsure is metric or not. I can just move up to the next size wrench if one doesn’t fit.
The slide bar is a gimmick that I don’t use, though.
John
I’ve had two of these for a couple of years – one for standard combo wrenches and the other for ratcheting wrenches. I’ve never used the slide bar feature either.
Am I the only one that wishes they made a second organizer for larger wrenches up to say 1 1/2″ or so?
RKA
I’ve got something almost identical that I bought from Sears years ago. Still use it but don’t particularly like it. I wish it stored up to 1″ wrenches. I think I have 3-4 that aren’t stored in it, and they are longer in length, so that little bolt tray in the corner would need to go. I also have grown frustrated with having metric and standard together. More than 75% of the time I know whether I want metric or standard, so the other set just gets in the way.
It’s not so bad that I want to run out and find a better solution, but if I had to do it again, I’d look for a different solution.
SteveR
I bought one of these at Sears about five years ago. It’s sitting in my Craftsman tool box, unopened, because most of my wrenches (primarily Craftsman) are already in wrench racks or pouches. It was an impulse purchase. The Sort-A-Tool takes 3/4″ to 13/16″ and 18mm to 19mm wrenches (long pattern) as the maximum size. The problem is it’s finite in it’s size, and you have to make wrenches live within its confines. You’d have to have your wrenches along with you at the time of purchase, or at least take length measurements to see if they’d fit. I think wrench racks have a more positive means to hold the wrenches, as well; you can pick one up and carry it vertically in one hand, whereas you have to hold the Sort-A-Tool horizontally, and probably need to use two hands to carry one that’s fully loaded. Unlike a rack, the Sort-A-Tool doesn’t have “grippers” built into its design, so its more of a static storage device that you’d leave in your toolbox or on top of a workbench.
Donny Taylor
Disappointed nobody ships to Canada otherwise I would order one