How do you store your drill bits?

[MikeG.]

You mixed your masonary bits in with your woodworking bits?

ewww that's dirty!

They were all previously in plastic sleeves. And those woodworking bits were only ever spares, promoted to the bench storage tin if I broke one. Now I can see what I've got, and not buy so many unnecessary replacements.

 

[TFrench]

First pic is my home setup - drill indexes next to the drill, split by type. I've got a big drawer full of other drilling stuff I keep the spares in.
I've got a similar system at work - indexes for straight shank drills, and then I've split all the taper shank drills by Morse 1,2 and 3 so I've at least got a chance of finding the one I need. They live under the big drill so they're right where I need them.

 

[Doug71]

Made mine a few weeks ago to help keep me organised.

If I was a "maker" I would talk about it's free flowing organic form based on views of the Yorkshire Dales, how it's from a piece of live edge Oak I have been saving for the right project and something about the drill bits representing wind turbines taking over our countryside......Oh yeah and give it some name like Prometheus

The truth is it's the waney edge I cut off a board (back in the day it was classed as a defect and you weren't charged for it, now it's called live edge and demands a premium ), I hit it with the belt sander for 2 minutes to remove the sharp edges and then drilled some holes in it.

 

[transatlantic]

In an old wine box. Wooden. Sliding lid. No need to over organise.

It's so much more efficient to have them in some kind of stand.

a) You can pick out the one you want straight away (not so easy when they're in increments of 0.5mm)
b) You know when one is already out or missing

I'm not a fan of the idea of having 20 of each size in a box. Like with pencils they'll go missing too quickly, and you'll just lazily grab another. Although I do think it's a good idea to have spares stored away somewhere else, incase you do genuinely lose one or break one.

 

[AndyT]

For auger bits, which can be quite big and heavy, I think the most convenient way to store them is in a canvas roll. I use one I acquired second hand that still has some strength to it, but YouTube people say you can easily make your own from old denim jeans or similar. Compartments don't have to be an exact fit so I can put several of similar size in one pocket. That avoids needing to over-organise and keep Scotch bits separate from Irwin or Geddes, etc. The bits are all sorted in size order but occupy as little space as if they were all in a shoebox, jumbled up.

 

[billw]

I can see another project on the horizon, even though I don't own any drill bits of my own.