How To Choose A Tool Belt
What You Need In A Tool Belt?
A version of this article appeared in Pro Tool Reviews Magazine, August 2013
The Old Bait and Switch!
The conversation starts off like this. “Hey Rob, it’s Clint – feel like reviewing a tool bag or two for Pro Tool Review magazine?”
PTR Magazine is geared toward the residential and commercial construction industry and provides the hottest and most informative monthly tool reviews available. Pro Tool Reviews is 100 pages long and chock full of tool reviews written BY pros FOR pros. If you’re a tradesman or contractor you’re going to want this magazine. If you’re a do-it-yourselfer or hobbyist, this magazine will teach you how to know what makes a tool great—and what you should avoid. PTR doesn’t pull any punches and you can learn a lot from their writers—each of them real tradesmen who REALLY know their tools.
Back to my phone call:
While Clint is talking . . . what I’m REALLY hearing is Dick Tufelds voice saying “Danger, Will Robinson!”
I’m referring to the catchphrase from the 1960s’ American television series Lost in Space. The Robot, acting as a surrogate guardian, says this to young Will Robinson when the boy is unaware of an impending threat. In everyday use, the phrase warns someone that they are about to make a mistake or that they are overlooking something. Hmmmmm ~ Clint?
Knowing I’m about to sign up for an action pack tool reviewing adventure I always start doing the math by asking myself– what am I getting myself into? Quickly deciding that reviewing and evaluating a tool bag [rig] or two would be easy I said, “Sure Clint send them over.” A week or two later I arrived home to a massive onslaught of boxes on my doorstep. A “tool bag or two” turned into twelve tool belts with the promise of more to come.
If you read my articles you know that I try to bring all of the tools and products I review to the toughest, meanest and dirtiest testing facility of them all – the job-site! So how in the world was I going to be able to wear, test out and basically beat-the-tar out of twelve tool bags in two weeks?
Even if I gave a belt to each of my guys, I just didn’t have the time to wear these bags long enough to get a real flavor for how they perform and endure so I decided best way to approach this was to systematically go through each tool rig and give you a general overview of important features and accessories.
If you read my articles you know that I try to bring all of the tools and products I review to the toughest, meanest and dirtiest testing facility of them all – the job-site! So how in the world was I going to be able to wear, test out and basically beat-the-tar out of twelve tool bags in two weeks?
Even if I gave a belt to each of my guys, I just didn’t have the time to wear these bags long enough to get a real flavor for how they perform and endure so I decided best way to approach this was to systematically go through each tool rig and give you a general overview of important features and accessories.
Tool Bag Review
What Does A Tool Bag Mean To Me?
In my world, residential construction, I can be frame one day and installing kitchen cabinets and crown molding the next. I tend to load up my tool belt / bag based solely on the daily task at hand.
Also inside my tool bags live a few BUT permanent, resident tools that have proven their worth. These “permanent resident” tools stay in my bags at all times and all have a dedicated and very specific spot.
Over time repetition has trained me to develop the habit of being able to access and stow these tools in my bags with out looking for the storage pocket – call it muscle memory – but it is a huge plus when your working or focusing at a task and do not have to stop what your doing to look in your bag to stow a tool.
Do You Baby Your Bag? 
I’m real rough on my tool bags!
Over time my bags usually fail at the tool pockets due to my insisting on stowing and using two fixed, open utility knives and a super sharp chisel. I’m a bit old school on the utility knives and prefer the speed and lack of having to operate a switch to open them to access the utility blade. I’ve even gone as far to customize my knife and chisel pockets with pieces of plastic cut out of plastic bottles to reduce damage to my tool bag pocket. It works!
My list of permanent tool bag residents is:
o Hammer
o 25’ tape measure
o Wooden folding ruler
o 2 nail sets
o Chalk line
o Speed square
o Small combo pry bar / nail puller
o End cutters
o Needle nose pliers
o Torpedo level
o Scribes
o 2-3 carpenter pencils
o 2 fixed blade utility knives
o LED flashlight
o Multi-bit screwdriver
Do You Wear A Tool Belt?
“Wearing a tool belts means more time on task”
I wear a tool bag most of the time; there are situations where a tool bag is neither feasible nor warranted for the situation.
Wearing a tool bag for me equates to being efficient and methodical. It means having the necessary tools on my person to complete the task.
I’ve worked with carpenters that work out of toolboxes or tool bags and are constantly picking up and putting down tools on the ground, sawhorse table or in the toolbox or bag. Not only are these guys constantly looking for tool or having to go grab fasteners BUT they are working inefficiently by wasting time and energy looking for and reaching for tools that I have on me in my tool bags.
“Time is money and less time searching for tools and fasteners means more time on task.” That means working efficiently, more work completed or getting home sooner and being able to do other things!
Judge and Jury!
Last Saturday I called an emergency session of my crew telling them to bring their tool belts, grab a coffee and meet me at the shop. I swear they thought they were getting a pink slip!
Once in the shop we sat down, loaded up each tool belt with our own “permanent resident” tools and tried them on. We looked at each and every tool belt and discussed them based on their pros and cons.
Everyone was encouraged to load up tools and fasteners, wear the belts and comment. We decided to look at each rig individually and not overly compare them to each other, which was tough to do. We did have favorites!
We looked at and discussed the following:
o Fit and finish
o Durability
o Quality – material, seams, stitching and rivets
o Customization
o Belt and buckle adjust-ability, material and comfort
o Where manufactured
o Pockets and tool holders, capacity, ambidextrous use, fixed or adjustable
o Number of pockets, size and usefulness
o Hammer holders and locations
o Which trade would best utilize the belt
