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Here's a description of an evolution of lego collection sorting. It might
be yours, at least in parts. It's certainly been mine.
I might turn this into an essay some day, but for now it will have to begin
life as a series of unsupported claims. If you have any comments or
additions, toss'em in.
The Evolution of Lego Sorting
-----------------------------
Let's assume you start your lego collection like most of us did: with one
set.
1. You don't sort your Lego. You just keep them in the box they came in.
(Then, over time, you get another set, then another, then another.
And your pile of bricks grows. How do you cope?)
2. You start sorting your Lego. You sort it by set.
(Your collection grows.)
3. You give up on individual set boxes and toss all your Lego in a big
storage bin or a Lego denim bag, or a couple of your large set boxes. You
become very familiar with the sound of someone digging through large bricks
looking for a 1x1 transparent red plate.
(Your collection grows.)
4. You begin to sort your Lego by category: normal-looking bricks in one
set box, other pieces in another box.
(And grows.)
5. Ok, you realize you actually have to sort it. You decide to sort the
obvious way: by color.
(And grows.)
6. You keep sorting by color, but you get pickier about how you do it,
and you start filtering out by type for the first time: probably the
first things you sort out by type are minifigs and wheels. You realize
you already had baseplates sorted out separately.
(Let's just assume at this point that between every paragraph, your
keep adding lego to your collection.)
7. You cave in and actually get a storage system. Maybe it's rubbermaid
bins, or piles of blue buckets, or fishing tackle boxes, or ziplocks. But
now you've got a system.
8. You grow weary of digging through all the yellow bricks looking for that
one specialized yellow piece somewhere in 2 cubic feet of yellow. But you
think of how much work it's going to take to split by part and you don't do
it.
9. Sorting becomes difficult enough that you decide, in some cases, not to
break some sets down and put them in your main pile of lego... instead, you
store them as a set, because that set is so cool just the way it is. (Ok,
so this set is from the 80s...) The pieces for that set are either in their
box, or in a ziplock or something. Congratulations, you've just invented
Set Archiving, and now you have two ways you store your Lego: broken down
by parts, and archived by set.
10. You give up and decide to sort your parts by type rather than by color.
You go get more bins or tackle boxes or whatever your container of choice
is, you dedicate an evening or a weekend or a month to it, and you split by
type.
11. You have now invented your own Lego categorization system. You have no
doubt separated out bricks, plates, wheels, minifigs, slopes, and so on,
but you've also clumped "things with curves" together, and doors and
windshields together. You also have a category called "misc". Your
categories, amazingly, don't look much like the LDraw categories.
12. You realize you have piles of stuff that don't fit easily into the
categorization system: RCX bricks, train track, those huge A-shaped
pieces, monorial supports, and rubber bands. You get a different sized
drawer system for stuff like that.
13. Your collection is now clearly housed in many different types of
containers ranging from buckets to drawers to bins to individual tackle box
components.
14. You begin to develop large piles of lego in various states of being
sorted, i.e:
the sorted stuff
the stuff you've kinda sorted and is ready to be put away
piles of lego you aren't going to sort because you think you'll use
it all to build something else anyway
lego sorted some other way than the way you sorted into drawers to see
if this way works better than that way did
your building projects
your new boxes of lego, some opened, some not
oh, and let's not forget your various models and MOCs
15. You begin to develop strong opinions on Plano vs. Stak-On and
Rubbermaid vs. Sterilite.
16. The original categories you made begin to follow this life cycle:
- They grow too large to fit into their container.
- You divide the category into two categories in order to get them
to fit into the containers... one for each category. (Now you
have windshields, doors, and windows, each as a different category
of pieces, each in their own containers.)
- You store those subcategories together, but as parts of them become
too numerous or too hard to find, you split them out. So your tackle
boxes now have a different compartment for each type of door.
You realize that at this point the endgame is that you will have a
different compartment for every type of piece you have.
16.5. Every once in a while, you open a drawer you haven't opened in a
while and discover that you've been sorting some piece into two separate
places in your drawers. This throws your categorization for a loop.
How exactly do you categorize the 1x2 plate with the little robot-looking
thing on it? Oh no... partsref doesn't have it either, augh!
17. You rearrange your house so that you can fit your storage system into,
hopefully, just one room.
18. You give up on the "one compartment for every piece" theory because you
can't keep up with that. Instead, you start putting some of the similar
things into shoebox-sized bins. The way you decide what to
compartmentalize and what to put into bins together is to think about how
long it takes to find an individual element. It's ok to dig through a pile
of windshields looking for the trans yellow blacktron hood. It's not ok to
dig through a pile of slopes looking for the specialized corner cap slope.
18.5. You document your categories so you don't get lost.
19. You develop a multi-stage sorting system. It may take a piece several
hops before it ends up in its final resting spot, but it's a bit more
efficient to sort this way, and you can do some of it while watching a
video.
20. Bizarrely enough, you actually give up and go back to sorting by color.
Only this time, you sort by color after sorting by piece. So you now have
a bin for yellow 1x3 plates, and a bin for black 1x3 plates, and so on.
21. Finally you create an "overflow" system of buckets, where, if the bin
of 1x3 yellow plates is full, you just any additional ones into that
overflow bucket, along with other plates. (One of the first indicators that
you should do this was that you didn't have a compartment big enough to hold
all your Lego horses...)
22. You begin to toss most pieces directly into overflow.
23. You now have what, to a stranger, would be a bizarre sorting system. You
have some parts thrown together in bins by type. You have some parts split
out with a separate bin for each part. You have some parts split out with
a separate bin for each color. You even have some parts split out by how
old they are: red 1x2s from the 60s, red 1x2s from the 70s, new red 1x2s
that hold really well, and all the other red 1x2s. And you have an
alphabetized pile of large buckets for the overflow pieces and another one
for the 1st stage of sorting.
23.5. That stranger would also think you were certifiably insane. Or at
least retentive.
24. You start looking for a new house. One with a large basement.
25. Vision recognition becomes interesting to you.
26. You begin to long for the day when you could sit at your desk and
actually reach every piece you owned without getting up.
27. You decide to keep a special set or two at your desk, away from the
huge sorting system, just to play with a few great sets without having
to sort them. And then you add another cool set. Pretty soon
you're digging through 3 inches of bricks trying to find that 1x1
transparent red plate and you think about sorting your bricks...
Of course, somewhere along the way, you probably quit buying just sets, and
started to do things like:
- Buy lego sets in bulk, to the point where you have 10s to 100s
of unopened boxes.
- Work on very large construction projects.
- Acquire other people's collections.
- Run large auctions over the net.
And those bring up entirely new sorting challenges.... but those won't
be written about tonight, at least not by me.
-r'm
Remy Evard / evard@mcs.anl.gov
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> 27. You decide to keep a special set or two at your desk, away from the
> huge sorting system, just to play with a few great sets without having
> to sort them. And then you add another cool set. Pretty soon
> you're digging through 3 inches of bricks trying to find that 1x1
> transparent red plate and you think about sorting your bricks...
>
> Of course, somewhere along the way, you probably quit buying just sets, and
> started to do things like:
> - Buy lego sets in bulk, to the point where you have 10s to 100s
> of unopened boxes.
> - Work on very large construction projects.
> - Acquire other people's collections.
> - Run large auctions over the net.
> And those bring up entirely new sorting challenges.... but those won't
> be written about tonight, at least not by me.
...You begin trading in all of your other worldly possesions, lose your
job, lose your wife, kids, and life...your family members disown you,
you begin to drool and froth at the mouth and spend the rest of your
days in a mental institution, never recognizing that maybe, just maybe,
it is possible for your LEGO hobby to get a liiiitttle out of
hand........meanwhile your entire collection is donated to billy-joe the
local redneck kid where he leaves it outside in his sandbox to be chewed
by the local raccoon and pooped on by the cat.
[ Actually I rather enjoyed this piece of writing - thanks! ]
--
-TiM
NB, CA
http://echofx.itgo.com
t_c_c@yahoo.com
3ch0fx
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"Remy Evard" <evard@mcs.anl.gov> wrote:
> Here's a description of an evolution of lego collection sorting. It might
> be yours, at least in parts. It's certainly been mine.
>
> I might turn this into an essay some day, but for now it will have to • begin
> life as a series of unsupported claims. If you have any comments or
> additions, toss'em in.
>
> The Evolution of Lego Sorting
> -----------------------------
[big snip]
Thanks a lot Remy for sharing this story with us. I did enjoy it, being
myself currently at stage 17 now I know what to expect from the future...
:-)
Ciao
Mario
Lego web page: http://www.geocities.com/mario.ferrari/lego.html
LUGNET member page: http://www.lugnet.com/people/members/?m=22
Proud member of ItLUG: http://www.itlug.org
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In lugnet.storage, Remy Evard writes:
> Here's a description of an evolution of lego collection sorting. It might
> be yours, at least in parts. It's certainly been mine.
Heh. Very good!
Mine slightly diverges, mostly because I am so full of what the SubGenius call
"slack" (to the rest of you, that means I'm "lazy").
I bought many, many sets over the years. After buying a set, I would always
put it together, play with it for a while, and eventually disassemble it just
enough to jam it back into the box it came in.
This went on from roughly age 12 till age 26.
Recently (at least, on that timescale) I had the opportunity to visit a couple
of friends who had their LEGO sorted in various ways. It was then that I heard
the magic words... "AKRO-MILS". Since then, I have been half-heartedly
sorting. I told myself at one point that I was allowed no new acquisitions
until what I had was sorted. That didn't last very long.
Right now, I'm at the stage where I am sorting things by type, and trying in
vain to keep the types near each other (ie, 1x2 slopes get a bin near 2x2
slopes).
I'm also at the point where I want very specific configurations of drawers,
which means finding a serious source for Akro-Mils bins.
Anyway, what generally happens at this point is that I sort until I can't see
any more boxes in my room. Then I think "I can take a break for a few days".
That's because I have forgotten that under my bed are a bunch of sets, and in
my closet there are a bunch of sets, and in my pantry there are two boxes full
of sets.
And that break turns into a couple weeks, and by then I have more sets sitting
around in my room again. And I sort those, and you get the idea.
Man. Now I want to go home and sort.
eric
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> 10. You give up and decide to sort your parts by type rather than by color.
> You go get more bins or tackle boxes or whatever your container of choice
> is, you dedicate an evening or a weekend or a month to it, and you split by
> type.
I have it sorted mostly like that, I did a big sort between xmas and new
year.
I have my lego kept in my 6 roboriders canisters, a 2 litre icecream tub
(for my 8448 wheels) a 2 tray tackle box for parts like my large
collection of angle beams then various sized compartmentalized plastic
containers
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Remy Evard wrote:
>
> Here's a description of an evolution of lego collection sorting. It might
> be yours, at least in parts. It's certainly been mine.
My evolution was:
1. sorting by size, I forget what I did with the non-bricks
2. sorting bricks by size and color, same color grouped together, still
not sure how other parts were sorted
3. realized it's a pain to find the bag of yellow 1x2s amongst all the
other bags of yellow bricks so changed bins to group by size,
somewhere's by now the other parts are stored in small parts boxes
(Plano and other brands), larger parts stored in bags and compartments
of other storage
4. parts start to overflow small parts boxes bins
5. numerous cycles of things overflowing causing sorting to get more
specific and many re-arrangings of bins
6. eventually bricks started overflowing, so overflow bags were created
7. overflow bags are a pain to get to (stored in the other room) so an
overflow bucket is used
8. plates start to overflow
9. bins no longer all fit in work area, less interesting parts moved to
other parts of the room (most storage is still in my living/dining room)
10. overflow bucket overflows, brick overflow eventually gets more
specifically sorted (1x1s, white and black 1x2s and 1x4s,
red/blue/yellow 1x2s, red/blue/yellow 1x4s,
red/white/blue/yellow/black/grey 1x6s, red/white/blue/yellow/black/grey
1x8s, 2x2/2x3/2x4 bricks, 2x6/2x8 bricks, grey overflow in inconvenient
bags
11. to deal with the storage which isn't in the work area, various boxes
get used to hold various classes of parts
> 1. You don't sort your Lego. You just keep them in the box they came in.
>
> (Then, over time, you get another set, then another, then another.
> And your pile of bricks grows. How do you cope?)
This really didn't happen for me. I started sorting almost immediately.
> 4. You begin to sort your Lego by category: normal-looking bricks in one
> set box, other pieces in another box.
My storage system almost immediately made a fair amount of
differentiation.
> 8. You grow weary of digging through all the yellow bricks looking for that
> one specialized yellow piece somewhere in 2 cubic feet of yellow. But you
> think of how much work it's going to take to split by part and you don't do
> it.
Having all the bricks of the same color together lasted only a week or
so, and even then, they were separated by size, it was just that all the
bags for a given color were in the same bin.
> 9. Sorting becomes difficult enough that you decide, in some cases, not to
> break some sets down and put them in your main pile of lego... instead, you
> store them as a set, because that set is so cool just the way it is. (Ok,
> so this set is from the 80s...) The pieces for that set are either in their
> box, or in a ziplock or something. Congratulations, you've just invented
> Set Archiving, and now you have two ways you store your Lego: broken down
> by parts, and archived by set.
I have almost no sets archived in this way (though I have an overflow of
builtup sets on shelves, tables, or any other semi-flat surface).
> 10. You give up and decide to sort your parts by type rather than by color.
> You go get more bins or tackle boxes or whatever your container of choice
> is, you dedicate an evening or a weekend or a month to it, and you split by
> type.
I started sorting by type early enough that it only took an evening to
re-sort.
> 11. You have now invented your own Lego categorization system. You have no
> doubt separated out bricks, plates, wheels, minifigs, slopes, and so on,
> but you've also clumped "things with curves" together, and doors and
> windshields together. You also have a category called "misc". Your
> categories, amazingly, don't look much like the LDraw categories.
My categories have definitely mutated over time. Mostly they have gotten
more specific, but some have just been re-arranged.
> 13. Your collection is now clearly housed in many different types of
> containers ranging from buckets to drawers to bins to individual tackle box
> components.
I have:
- stacks of small parts boxes, with numerous compartments in each of
varying size
- tubs/bins/boxes/drawers containing resealable bags (Ziploc or Hefty
One Zip)
- occaisionally tubs have some loose parts at the bottom under the bags
- a few parts are loose in their own tubs
- small technic parts are in small parts boxes stored in a large tackle
box, the bins on top of the tackle box hold the electric parts, hoses,
etc, plus smaller small parts boxes of connectors or other very small
parts, a box sits on top holding bags of beams etc.
I find the resealable bag a very effective container. They are
reasonably efficiently packed into a tub, and it is relatively easy to
fluff them around to get the specific part or color you want up to the
top. I mostly use freezer strength quart and gallon sizes (and wish the
Hefty One Zip brand came in a 1/2 quart or smaller bag).
It is fairly easy to remember which tub holds which general type of
part.
> 14. You begin to develop large piles of lego in various states of being
> sorted, i.e:
> the sorted stuff
> the stuff you've kinda sorted and is ready to be put away
> piles of lego you aren't going to sort because you think you'll use
> it all to build something else anyway
> lego sorted some other way than the way you sorted into drawers to see
> if this way works better than that way did
> your building projects
> your new boxes of lego, some opened, some not
> oh, and let's not forget your various models and MOCs
>
> 15. You begin to develop strong opinions on Plano vs. Stak-On and
> Rubbermaid vs. Sterilite.
This happened pretty fast. I quickly decided Plano wasn't very good (the
dividers kept falling out, also the brand I found at Target had twice as
many divider positions, the new Plano with twice as many divider
positions works about 99% as good as the Target ones). Hefty One Zip
resealable bags are much better than the Ziploc Slideloc bags, the Hefty
slider is much less likely to run off the end of the track.
> 16.5. Every once in a while, you open a drawer you haven't opened in a
> while and discover that you've been sorting some piece into two separate
> places in your drawers. This throws your categorization for a loop.
> How exactly do you categorize the 1x2 plate with the little robot-looking
> thing on it? Oh no... partsref doesn't have it either, augh!
I've only once or twice discovered I had multiple containers for the
same part (on the other hand, I'm at a loss as to where my original
container of yellow rubber rafts went, so I may still have two
containers of those). My categorization seems to be about 95% effective,
though right after a re-categorization, I sometimes fumble for the right
tub. Note that this is actually all accomplished without any labeling of
the containers.
> 17. You rearrange your house so that you can fit your storage system into,
> hopefully, just one room.
90% of my sorted collection actually is still in one room, though I need
to re-organize to gather it closer together. The only stuff in the other
room is:
- printed, raised, and 32x32 or larger baseplates
- train track
- buckets of used bricks and discolored parts
- Most Scala stuff
Stuff which did at one time live in the other room:
- overflow bricks
- Belville stuff
> 18. You give up on the "one compartment for every piece" theory because you
> can't keep up with that. Instead, you start putting some of the similar
> things into shoebox-sized bins. The way you decide what to
> compartmentalize and what to put into bins together is to think about how
> long it takes to find an individual element. It's ok to dig through a pile
> of windshields looking for the trans yellow blacktron hood. It's not ok to
> dig through a pile of slopes looking for the specialized corner cap slope.
I haven't uncategorized much if anything yet.
> 19. You develop a multi-stage sorting system. It may take a piece several
> hops before it ends up in its final resting spot, but it's a bit more
> efficient to sort this way, and you can do some of it while watching a
> video.
Multi-stage sorting is definitely a time saver. Most efficient 1st stage
sorting requires that each bin is reachable without moving very far and
without lifting up a box to get at the bins underneath (though some
stacking doesn't kill efficiency so long as you try and get all the
stuff for the bottom bin at the same time).
> 21. Finally you create an "overflow" system of buckets, where, if the bin
> of 1x3 yellow plates is full, you just any additional ones into that
> overflow bucket, along with other plates. (One of the first indicators that
> you should do this was that you didn't have a compartment big enough to hold
> all your Lego horses...)
Hmm, haven't overflowed the box of horses in a long time (it once was in
a tissue box in a draw, now is in a 12"x18"x4" box which is close to
full. Bricks were the first to overflow. Most plates are now
overflowing. Overflow is relatively sorted (I recently sorted the large
plates overflow).
> 22. You begin to toss most pieces directly into overflow.
For some sets, definitely most of the volume goes straight into overflow
(black, blue, and grey 4x4 or larger plates, black and blue 2xY plates,
grey 2xY plates, all 1xY plates except 1x10 and 1x3 (the 1xY plates
actually effectively have a dual storage system, I probably need to
merge it and sort by size and color completely), most bricks (all but
1x3, 2x10, 1x10 or longer, 4x6 or larger), wheels.
> Of course, somewhere along the way, you probably quit buying just sets, and
> started to do things like:
> - Buy lego sets in bulk, to the point where you have 10s to 100s
> of unopened boxes.
I've been there for quite some time...
> - Work on very large construction projects.
Started one large project, it's currently stalled.
> - Acquire other people's collections.
Done this once. That collection is still waiting to be fully processed.
For some stupid reason, despite the fact that I have determined that it
almost never is worthwhile re-building sets from a sorted collection, I
still am saving these to be built into sets.
You forgot another step: the one where your life revolves around buying
and sorting and you almost never build anything.
There's also another thing which causes a hitch in the system. If you
buy used LEGO, there's a whole ordeal of washing it. I have spent entire
days washing and laying out to dry, and then finally sorting or rarely
building the set.
Frank
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Remy Evard wrote:
> 3. You give up on individual set boxes and toss all your Lego in a big
> storage bin or a Lego denim bag,
Ahh, the old denim bag. I think I still have mine around soemwhere...
> or a couple of your large set boxes. You
> become very familiar with the sound of someone digging through large bricks
> looking for a 1x1 transparent red plate.
Soothing, isn't it?
> 5. Ok, you realize you actually have to sort it. You decide to sort the
> obvious way: by color.
I never actually went through this stage - when I started sorting, it went by
type. I realized very early on that it was *far* easier to find a blue 2x4 in a
bin of 2x4s than it was to find a bue 2x4 in a bin of blue bricks.
(Although oddly enough, I now have my lt. grey bricks sorted out by color.)
> 9. Sorting becomes difficult enough that you decide, in some cases, not to
> break some sets down and put them in your main pile of lego... instead, you
> store them as a set, because that set is so cool just the way it is.
Usually when I do this, I leave the set assembled. At least until I want the
parts for something else. This happened to a lot of the Star Wars sets, for
example.
> 13. Your collection is now clearly housed in many different types of
> containers ranging from buckets to drawers to bins to individual tackle box
> components.
And the worst part is that when buying Rubbermaid/Sterilite/Home
Essentials/whatever bins, I can never seem to find the same kind twice. So
most of my bins don't stack with most of my other bins. *sigh*
> 15. You begin to develop strong opinions on Plano vs. Stak-On and
> Rubbermaid vs. Sterilite.
Never went through this stage...there's really that much of a difference?
> 16. The original categories you made begin to follow this life cycle:
> - They grow too large to fit into their container.
> - You divide the category into two categories in order to get them
> to fit into the containers... one for each category. (Now you
> have windshields, doors, and windows, each as a different category
> of pieces, each in their own containers.)
> - You store those subcategories together, but as parts of them become
> too numerous or too hard to find, you split them out. So your tackle
> boxes now have a different compartment for each type of door.
> You realize that at this point the endgame is that you will have a
> different compartment for every type of piece you have.
Since I just got the Destroyer Droid, I fear that my Technic collection
(formerly jammed into one little drawer of an Akro-Mils unit cos I didn't use
it much) is going to have to be...sorted. And I know that once I sort it I'll
start to expand it...maybe I better get another drawer unit while I'm out...
> 21. Finally you create an "overflow" system of buckets, where, if the bin
> of 1x3 yellow plates is full, you just any additional ones into that
> overflow bucket, along with other plates. (One of the first indicators that
> you should do this was that you didn't have a compartment big enough to hold
> all your Lego horses...)
Well, crossbows, lances & halberds in my case, but the sentiment is there. I
only really have overflow for certain specific things (like minifig stuff).
J
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Since we're giving testimonials...
After the dark ages, living at home with no room for sorting/playing/ making
$$$ to buy lots of LEGO I have:
5 gallon Rubbermaid bucket with my stuff, now mostly built and sitting on my
bookshelves in new apartment.
About 25 lbs from a yard sale from last year of Classic Space and Town.
Some built, much of it missing pieces. Lots of doubles, missing some
manuals, using Brickshelf to build. More stuff on the bookshelves.
A recently aquired eBay lot of 25lbs. More doubles on some sets, missing
pieces, dirty, teeth (see "What's in your LEGO posting").
Another eBay lot from almost years ago. Sorted out non-LEGO stuff and put
into 11 gallon Rubbermaid container. No baseplates, auctioned in another
lot and I didn't have the funds to get them also.
Several 3033 buckets, smaller parts lots stuffed into 3033 buckets.
40 or so sets, ranging from Classic Space to Ninjas. Many not built yet.
So I have to sort:
Eight 11 gallon Rubbermaid containers
Nine 3033 buckets full of ABS
And the 40+ sets to build.
This doesn't include the closet full of Star Wars action figures and playsets.
And about 10,000 die-cast vehicles in the bedroom closet also yet to be
inventoried and sorted. And then there are the Lionel trains in the attic
back home...
junior
currently sorting by piece type in 3033 bins and AkroMils and soaking 2X4
and 1X8 bricks in the kitchen sink.
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In lugnet.storage, Remy Evard writes:
> 21. Finally you create an "overflow" system of buckets, where, if the bin
> of 1x3 yellow plates is full, you just any additional ones into that
> overflow bucket, along with other plates. (One of the first indicators that
> you should do this was that you didn't have a compartment big enough to hold
> all your Lego horses...)
Ouch. I hit this stage about a week ago.
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In lugnet.storage, Remy Evard writes:
> 4. You begin to sort your Lego by category: normal-looking bricks in one
> set box, other pieces in another box.
I think I started doing that when I was 9 years old. May be earlier
> 5. Ok, you realize you actually have to sort it. You decide to sort the
> obvious way: by color.
Never done that since it was obviously wrong.
> 7. You cave in and actually get a storage system. Maybe it's rubbermaid
> bins, or piles of blue buckets, or fishing tackle boxes, or ziplocks. But
> now you've got a system.
I used big plastic ice cream boxs. Those cheap plastic boxs are all broken
now, while the ABS LEGO pieces are still in good conditions.
> 9. Sorting becomes difficult enough that you decide, in some cases, not to
> break some sets down and put them in your main pile of lego...
I made a rule, before dark age, that all broken down sets must be sorted right
away even if it means I need to split up a full box. I am still using that
rule, and that is why I got too many assembled set sitting around since sorting
a 600 pieces set is a pain...
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[...]
> 21. Finally you create an "overflow" system of buckets, where, if the bin
> of 1x3 yellow plates is full, you just any additional ones into that
> overflow bucket, along with other plates. (One of the first indicators that
> you should do this was that you didn't have a compartment big enough to hold
> all your Lego horses...)
>
> 22. You begin to toss most pieces directly into overflow.
Dear Remy,
great article! Every single word is 100% true and I'm still laughing about our
shared experience.
BTW: I just reached more or less step 22.
Leg Godt!
Ben
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In lugnet.storage, Remy Evard writes:
> Here's a description of an evolution of lego collection sorting. It might
> be yours, at least in parts. It's certainly been mine.
Wow. It's suprising how similar it's been-- granted I'm somewhere between
16.5 and 21 (I've got 'overflow' bins, but haven't yet rearranged my apt to
fit it all) Actually, I almost forgot that I once tried sorting by color!
And on that note-- I had two problems sorting by color. The obvious one
being that it's tough to find that ONE special brick in a bin of other
bricks of the same color (ESPECIALLY black). The 2nd being that for
windshields and multi-colored hinges, I couldn't bear to separate out one
color part of the hinge from another...
Great article!
DaveE
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This was quite cool. Seems to be a pretty accurate description of the
average LEGO-phile. I'm currently sorted by piece type (all 1x2s together),
with pieces that I either don't have enough of and sort of seem congruous
kept together ("plants", "wheels"), or stored by theme ("Pirates", "Space").
Most largish categories live in "400 piece" blue buckets, or "1200 piece"
blue tubs. I specifically got a 2 bedroom apartment to house my computer
and my LEGO collection, but the LEGOs have now managed to take over the 2nd
bedroom and the living room, with largish models invading the dining room
table and my bedroom. I can't have anyone over because I'm starting to have
problems moving between rooms.
I also have a 40 gallon, doubled up, plastic garbage bag full of random
pieces, mostly from fairly recent sets (Star Wars, Adventurers, some the
newer Technic). The sheer size of the plastic bag is sufficiently daunting
that I hate the idea of sorting it (major neck cramps!), but I know there's
highly necessary pieces floating around in there, so I wind up dumping it a
couple times a week and rooting around in it for a while. The bag is full,
so my latest spree of buying has been lumped together into largish boxes
(UCS Star Wars work well, except the boxes are so flimsy - good thing this
is only temporary. Right.) Finding an open space large enough for the
garbage bag is becoming challenging.
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Remy Evard wrote:
>
> Here's a description of an evolution of lego collection sorting. It might
> be yours, at least in parts. It's certainly been mine.
>
> I might turn this into an essay some day, but for now it will have to begin
> life as a series of unsupported claims. If you have any comments or
> additions, toss'em in.
>
> The Evolution of Lego Sorting
Great story... I'm glad I started visiting LUGNET almost immediately after
exiting my "shadow" period (I never really stopped playing with my LEGO,
but for about 4 years I hardly bought anything) Because of what I read
here, I started sorting by part type, although I do need to admit that I
keep adding more boxes and further sort out each category. Then again, I'm
not having much trouble so far since I only have about 60k pieces.
So far I found some cheap plastic boxes (clear, so I can see what's in
them) in three sizes and they stack nice. They hold my sets. Now all I need
is another good system to keep my spare parts (which I don't want to mix
with my collection) sorted as well, since they're becoming harder to
manage... already over 10k.
--
Jan-Albert "Anvil" van Ree | http://www.nl.3dgamers.com
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In lugnet.storage, Remy Evard writes:
> Here's a description of an evolution of lego collection sorting. It might
> be yours, at least in parts. It's certainly been mine.
>
> I might turn this into an essay some day, but for now it will have to begin
> life as a series of unsupported claims. If you have any comments or
> additions, toss'em in.
Great insight! One would have had to go through this to have been able to
write it so well. Thanks.
<Major Snippage>
> 24. You start looking for a new house. One with a large basement.
I got to this step about 6 years ago ;-) I now call my basement: "My Shop".
>
> 25. Vision recognition becomes interesting to you.
>
> 26. You begin to long for the day when you could sit at your desk and
> actually reach every piece you owned without getting up.
Step 26 is in the wrong order. It should have been somewhere around step 10
or 12.
>
> 27. You decide to keep a special set or two at your desk, away from the
> huge sorting system, just to play with a few great sets without having
> to sort them. And then you add another cool set. Pretty soon
> you're digging through 3 inches of bricks trying to find that 1x1
> transparent red plate and you think about sorting your bricks...
>
>
> Of course, somewhere along the way, you probably quit buying just sets, and
> started to do things like:
> - Buy lego sets in bulk, to the point where you have 10s to 100s
> of unopened boxes.
Been there, done that - oops, still doing that ;-)
> - Work on very large construction projects.
For many years. It gets harder and harder to think small :-)
> - Acquire other people's collections.
Working on this now :-)
> - Run large auctions over the net.
Just small ones so far, I want to keep my pieces!
> And those bring up entirely new sorting challenges.... but those won't
> be written about tonight, at least not by me.
>
> -r'm
>
> Remy Evard / evard@mcs.anl.gov
Just for info, I mostly use cardboard bin boxes that fold into shape (4, 6,
8 and 12 inches wide and 12 or 18 inches long), and have only recently moved
toward the Sterilite containers. I am definitely an Akron Mills supporter -
I have about 20 of their bin boxes (9, 18 and 23, 30 and 60 drawer types).
The advantage is being able to see those small pieces. Very important when
one cannot remember which of the separate containers may have the piece
wanted. My sorting has suffered (from lack of doing it) over the last year -
must be that cursed web ;-).
Wayne
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I followed what you said almost exactly until about step 6. Right now, I'm
about an 8 or 9. I sort my pieces by color (though I separated black plates
and blocks as I had so many) in shoeboxes and those cardboard boxes that
come in the larger sets. However, I keep most sets intact so it doesn't
*really* apply to me that much. Pretty cool though.
Brian
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On Sun, 7 Jan 2001 04:41:39 GMT, Frank Filz <ffilz@mindspring.com> wrote:
> Remy Evard wrote:
[Lots of snipping. Frank and I generated some serious text in here.]
Thanks for the detailed response Frank... it was very insightful for
me to read it from your perspective.
> > (Then, over time, you get another set, then another, then another.
> > And your pile of bricks grows. How do you cope?)
>
> This really didn't happen for me. I started sorting almost immediately.
To be completely honest, I don't remember quite what happened for me
in the beginning either. By the time I was 10 or so (20+ years ago),
I was sorting by part, if I sorted at all. But I do remember sorting
by color for about a day or two and realizing it just wouldn't work for
me. So the early bits in this evolution were written more based on
what I've seen people say they were doing here and a faint recollection
of my really early Lego days.
> > 9. Sorting becomes difficult enough that you decide, in some cases, not to
> > break some sets down and put them in your main pile of lego... instead, you
> > store them as a set, because that set is so cool just the way it is. (Ok,
> > so this set is from the 80s...) The pieces for that set are either in their
> > box, or in a ziplock or something. Congratulations, you've just invented
> > Set Archiving, and now you have two ways you store your Lego: broken down
> > by parts, and archived by set.
>
> I have almost no sets archived in this way (though I have an overflow of
> builtup sets on shelves, tables, or any other semi-flat surface).
I've got quite a few, in part because those particular pieces are
special. For example, my yellow castle is either displayed or archived..
those pieces are never mixed in with the large pile. Same with some of
my really really old sets, from the early 60s. Those pieces are too
different from the rest to really mix in.o
The other reason I archive by set is that I just plain enjoy building
some of the sets as their own set. For example, the Guarded Inn is this
way. I build it, set it up, then eventually need the shelf space, but
can't bear to mix it in to the large pile because finding all the pieces
is such a pain I'll never rebuild it... and it's too great to not
rebuild every once in a while.
> I find the resealable bag a very effective container. They are
> reasonably efficiently packed into a tub, and it is relatively easy to
> fluff them around to get the specific part or color you want up to the
> top. I mostly use freezer strength quart and gallon sizes (and wish the
> Hefty One Zip brand came in a 1/2 quart or smaller bag).
I don't like to do this because I find it pretty hard to find the one
ziplock I'm looking for in a huge pile of ziplocks. (On the other hand,
due to space constraints, I may have to start doing that. It's a very
space efficient way to store.)
> > 21. Finally you create an "overflow" system of buckets, where, if the bin
> > of 1x3 yellow plates is full, you just any additional ones into that
> > overflow bucket, along with other plates. (One of the first indicators that
> > you should do this was that you didn't have a compartment big enough to hold
> > all your Lego horses...)
>
> Hmm, haven't overflowed the box of horses in a long time (it once was in
> a tissue box in a draw, now is in a 12"x18"x4" box which is close to
> full. Bricks were the first to overflow. Most plates are now
> overflowing. Overflow is relatively sorted (I recently sorted the large
> plates overflow).
Yeah, my bricks and such overflowed long ago. But that didn't seem
unusual. It did seem strange to me that I had so many horses I actually
had a box on a shelf marked "horses". It was easy to envision this
turning into an entire shelf with "dragons", "monkeys", "parrots",
"polar bears"... overflow for animals makes a lot more sense.
> You forgot another step: the one where your life revolves around buying
> and sorting and you almost never build anything.
Yep, you've hit the nail on the head with that one. I've got some
thoughts on that which I will perhaps write up the next time I've spent
too much of an evening sorting and can't sleep...
But that's definitely the big issue. The people who amaze me are the
ones who have large lego collections, have time to build MOCs, and also
have time to keep up with the article flow here and even post regularly.
I'm guessing they don't have a 2-year old. :-)
> There's also another thing which causes a hitch in the system. If you
> buy used LEGO, there's a whole ordeal of washing it. I have spent entire
> days washing and laying out to dry, and then finally sorting or rarely
> building the set.
Net bags and a dishwasher.
-r'm
Remy Evard / evard@mcs.anl.gov
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On Sun, 7 Jan 2001, William Brumbach <willbrum1@earthlink.net> wrote:
> About 25 lbs from a yard sale from last year of Classic Space and Town.
> Some built, much of it missing pieces. Lots of doubles, missing some
> manuals, using Brickshelf to build. More stuff on the bookshelves.
>
> A recently aquired eBay lot of 25lbs. More doubles on some sets, missing
> pieces, dirty, teeth (see "What's in your LEGO posting").
>
> Another eBay lot from almost years ago. Sorted out non-LEGO stuff and put
> into 11 gallon Rubbermaid container. No baseplates, auctioned in another
> lot and I didn't have the funds to get them also.
Yep... I also have quite a pile of collections I've picked up on Ebay
and in local garage sales.
I actually sort those independently of my main pile, and only integrate
them once I've either completed all the sets that I can from the collection
or else determined there are none left to build.
So the way that I actually sort is far more complicated than the way
presented in my posting about the evolution.... (which is nuts.)
But at least I don't have this problem:
> And about 10,000 die-cast vehicles in the bedroom closet also yet to be
> inventoried and sorted. And then there are the Lionel trains in the attic
> back home...
Wow.
-r'm
Remy Evard / evard@mcs.anl.gov
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On Mon, 8 Jan 2001, Reinhard \"Ben\" Beneke <r.beneke@tu-bs.de> wrote:
> [...]
>
> Dear Remy,
>
> great article! Every single word is 100% true and I'm still laughing about our
> shared experience.
>
> BTW: I just reached more or less step 22.
>
> Leg Godt!
>
> Ben
Glad you enjoyed it! No one replied for a while, so I figured that
either no one was reading it or everyone thought I was insane... :)
Let me know if you get past step 26 and solve the vision recognition
problem. I could use some help on that one.
-r'm
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In lugnet.storage, Remy Evard writes:
> On Sun, 7 Jan 2001, William Brumbach <willbrum1@earthlink.net> wrote:
> > About 25 lbs from a yard sale from last year of Classic Space and Town.
> > Some built, much of it missing pieces. Lots of doubles, missing some
> > manuals, using Brickshelf to build. More stuff on the bookshelves.
> >
> > A recently aquired eBay lot of 25lbs. More doubles on some sets, missing
> > pieces, dirty, teeth (see "What's in your LEGO posting").
> >
> > Another eBay lot from almost years ago. Sorted out non-LEGO stuff and put
> > into 11 gallon Rubbermaid container. No baseplates, auctioned in another
> > lot and I didn't have the funds to get them also.
>
> Yep... I also have quite a pile of collections I've picked up on Ebay
> and in local garage sales.
>
> I actually sort those independently of my main pile, and only integrate
> them once I've either completed all the sets that I can from the collection
> or else determined there are none left to build.
I am still undecided about comingling pieces. I have mixed some smaller
elements together in Akro but have kept apart larger bricks. A 20 year old
yellowing white brick is in stark contrast to something from 3033.
>
> So the way that I actually sort is far more complicated than the way
> presented in my posting about the evolution.... (which is nuts.)
I think it is for everyone.
> But at least I don't have this problem:
>
> > And about 10,000 die-cast vehicles in the bedroom closet also yet to be
> > inventoried and sorted. And then there are the Lionel trains in the attic
> > back home...
>
> Wow.
Almost seven years of 10-20 Hot Wheels here and there buying at retail plus
some collections from ebay earlier this year. The worst part is that I have
no idea what I have because it is all in boxes. And I REALLY miss my
Lionels. They'll be back soon hopefully.
junior
> -r'm
>
> Remy Evard / evard@mcs.anl.gov
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Remy Evard wrote:
> To be completely honest, I don't remember quite what happened for me
> in the beginning either. By the time I was 10 or so (20+ years ago),
> I was sorting by part, if I sorted at all. But I do remember sorting
> by color for about a day or two and realizing it just wouldn't work for
> me. So the early bits in this evolution were written more based on
> what I've seen people say they were doing here and a faint recollection
> of my really early Lego days.
As a child, I don't think we (me and my sisters) sorted the LEGO at all,
or at least not into more than a few bins (I just remembered my dad
built a box with drawers and dividers which might have been for the
LEGO), but then we didn't have all that much (basic bricks, a few
plates, classic doors and windows, slopes [but no peaks or corner
slopes], a train set, and a fire truck set, and probably a few other
pieces).
> > I have almost no sets archived in this way (though I have an overflow of
> > builtup sets on shelves, tables, or any other semi-flat surface).
>
> I've got quite a few, in part because those particular pieces are
> special. For example, my yellow castle is either displayed or archived..
> those pieces are never mixed in with the large pile. Same with some of
> my really really old sets, from the early 60s. Those pieces are too
> different from the rest to really mix in.o
I don't have enough older sets to worry about, of course I also have a
separate bucket of older used bricks from various eBay lots and the
kid's collection I bought...
> The other reason I archive by set is that I just plain enjoy building
> some of the sets as their own set. For example, the Guarded Inn is this
> way. I build it, set it up, then eventually need the shelf space, but
> can't bear to mix it in to the large pile because finding all the pieces
> is such a pain I'll never rebuild it... and it's too great to not
> rebuild every once in a while.
I haven't broken down any set which I really think I will want to
re-build, so so far, this isn't an issue for me.
> > I find the resealable bag a very effective container. They are
> > reasonably efficiently packed into a tub, and it is relatively easy to
> > fluff them around to get the specific part or color you want up to the
> > top. I mostly use freezer strength quart and gallon sizes (and wish the
> > Hefty One Zip brand came in a 1/2 quart or smaller bag).
>
> I don't like to do this because I find it pretty hard to find the one
> ziplock I'm looking for in a huge pile of ziplocks. (On the other hand,
> due to space constraints, I may have to start doing that. It's a very
> space efficient way to store.)
In a 3033 tub or similar sized tub, it isn't too hard to find the
particular bag. In a much larger tub it would be more of a problem.
Another nice thing about the bags is that if you want to work someplace
not next to your storage, you can take just the bags you will need (and
of course you will only take about 1/4 of those, so you will make
several trips back to the storage, and eventually the bags will
overwhelm your work area, meanwhile a couple of them have spilled over
and made a big mess).
> Yeah, my bricks and such overflowed long ago. But that didn't seem
> unusual. It did seem strange to me that I had so many horses I actually
> had a box on a shelf marked "horses". It was easy to envision this
> turning into an entire shelf with "dragons", "monkeys", "parrots",
> "polar bears"... overflow for animals makes a lot more sense.
I don't have any overflow boxes for animals, they so far have just
migrated into larger containers. The horses have done so once (but the
container they moved into also had tissue boxes tucked into it with
other animals. Those tissue boxes have for the most part been evicted
from the horse box.
> But that's definitely the big issue. The people who amaze me are the
> ones who have large lego collections, have time to build MOCs, and also
> have time to keep up with the article flow here and even post regularly.
> I'm guessing they don't have a 2-year old. :-)
Like Larry? Who not only buys and builds, but also puts together kits
(of course his LEGO may not be very well sorted)?
> > There's also another thing which causes a hitch in the system. If you
> > buy used LEGO, there's a whole ordeal of washing it. I have spent entire
> > days washing and laying out to dry, and then finally sorting or rarely
> > building the set.
>
> Net bags and a dishwasher.
I prefer to hand wash so I can scrub the pieces which need it, and be
gentle with the transparent parts etc. I'd also be concerned about the
temperature of my dishwasher.
Frank
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In lugnet.storage, Remy Evard writes:
> On Mon, 8 Jan 2001, Reinhard \"Ben\" Beneke <r.beneke@tu-bs.de> wrote:
>
> Glad you enjoyed it! No one replied for a while, so I figured that
> either no one was reading it or everyone thought I was insane... :)
I just read the lugnet.trains group and try to read the highlighs. Your posting
became highlighted, so I found it at last... (never been in this corner of
Lugnet before)
> Let me know if you get past step 26 and solve the vision recognition
> problem. I could use some help on that one.
If I should reach step 26 and still be able to have time for lugnet, then I
will surely let you know how I got through it!
Leg Godt!
Ben
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In lugnet.storage, Remy Evard writes:
> 3. You give up on individual set boxes and toss all your Lego in a big
> storage bin or a Lego denim bag, or a couple of your large set boxes. You
> become very familiar with the sound of someone digging through large bricks
> looking for a 1x1 transparent red plate.
One of the parameters of my growing storage dillema is how to keep pieces
sufficiently separated such that scratching and scarring is kept to an absolute
minimum when I have to rummage around. My experience is that, in the long run,
if one has to scoop through the parts bin looking for that trans-red plate one
too many times, then visible and often unacceptable wear and tear to the bricks
can't be avoided. This is a real issue for me when it comes to storing pieces
of which I have a lot, e.g., 1x2 bricks; if I'm working on a big project that is
depleting the reserves of, say, white 1x2's, then it becomes necessary to
shuffle through hundreds of other colors until I find that last white one that
is inevitably at the bottom. Perhaps I'm just AR (my wife thinks so), but I *
hate* to scratch my bricks - my goal is pristine pieces for life.
james
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In lugnet.storage, James Simpson writes:
>
> One of the parameters of my growing storage dillema is how to keep pieces
> sufficiently separated such that scratching and scarring is kept to an absolute
> minimum when I have to rummage around. My experience is that, in the long run,
> if one has to scoop through the parts bin looking for that trans-red plate one
> too many times, then visible and often unacceptable wear and tear to the bricks
> can't be avoided. This is a real issue for me when it comes to storing pieces
> of which I have a lot, e.g., 1x2 bricks; if I'm working on a big project that is
> depleting the reserves of, say, white 1x2's, then it becomes necessary to
> shuffle through hundreds of other colors until I find that last white one that
> is inevitably at the bottom. Perhaps I'm just AR (my wife thinks so), but I *
> hate* to scratch my bricks - my goal is pristine pieces for life.
It's been a long time since I've seen any discussion about this, and I don't
remember the conclusion.
Do you do more damage to bricks keeping them built in walls/cubes/piles which
keeps them "flexed" or keeping them loose which lets them get scratched?
The bricks that show the scratching most (clear) are also the bricks that
lose their sticking ability easiest.
I try to keep bulk ABS bricks built in cubes or walls of the same color and
shape (hard to do, though), and over the past 5 years or so I haven't seen
any problem with the bricks fitting together more loosely. I may be damaging
the bricks, but I really like picking up a cubes of 1000 2x4's to build
something big.
John Boreczky
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My friend put all the yellow 1x bricks into 12x1x10 walls in preparation for
a new project.Oh, and the 2x4 into plus-sign shaped 4x4x10 pillars. The
project never got built, but I love those walls. They are great for scoping
out what a mountain side scene would consume, for propping up platforms,
etc. (Even good for houses...)
Anyway, since you and bricks can't live forever, why let those bricks get
lazy? Keep 'em busy, and to heck with wear and tear.
-Erik
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In lugnet.storage, James Simpson wrote:
> In lugnet.storage, Remy Evard writes:
>
>
> > 3. You give up on individual set boxes and toss all your Lego in a big
> > storage bin or a Lego denim bag, or a couple of your large set boxes. You
> > become very familiar with the sound of someone digging through large bricks
> > looking for a 1x1 transparent red plate.
>
> One of the parameters of my growing storage dillema is how to keep pieces
> sufficiently separated such that scratching and scarring is kept to an absolute
> minimum when I have to rummage around. My experience is that, in the long run,
> if one has to scoop through the parts bin looking for that trans-red plate one
> too many times, then visible and often unacceptable wear and tear to the bricks
> can't be avoided. This is a real issue for me when it comes to storing pieces
> of which I have a lot, e.g., 1x2 bricks; if I'm working on a big project that is
> depleting the reserves of, say, white 1x2's, then it becomes necessary to
> shuffle through hundreds of other colors until I find that last white one that
> is inevitably at the bottom. Perhaps I'm just AR (my wife thinks so), but I *
> hate* to scratch my bricks - my goal is pristine pieces for life.
I think this is were subcontainers, or even ziplock bags, can be very
handy. I can't imagine having separate compartments for each color of 1x2
bricks, but I can imagine having a number of bags in a single container,
each bag having a single color of 1x2 bricks. Even if each bag had two or
three colors, you can still quickly zoom in on the specific bag needed, and
avoid unnecessary wear-and-tear on bricks of any other colors.
Steve
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Steve Bliss wrote:
>
> In lugnet.storage, James Simpson wrote:
>
> > In lugnet.storage, Remy Evard writes:
> >
> >
> > > 3. You give up on individual set boxes and toss all your Lego in a big
> > > storage bin or a Lego denim bag, or a couple of your large set boxes. You
> > > become very familiar with the sound of someone digging through large bricks
> > > looking for a 1x1 transparent red plate.
> >
> > One of the parameters of my growing storage dillema is how to keep pieces
> > sufficiently separated such that scratching and scarring is kept to an absolute
> > minimum when I have to rummage around. My experience is that, in the long run,
> > if one has to scoop through the parts bin looking for that trans-red plate one
> > too many times, then visible and often unacceptable wear and tear to the bricks
> > can't be avoided. This is a real issue for me when it comes to storing pieces
> > of which I have a lot, e.g., 1x2 bricks; if I'm working on a big project that is
> > depleting the reserves of, say, white 1x2's, then it becomes necessary to
> > shuffle through hundreds of other colors until I find that last white one that
> > is inevitably at the bottom. Perhaps I'm just AR (my wife thinks so), but I *
> > hate* to scratch my bricks - my goal is pristine pieces for life.
>
> I think this is were subcontainers, or even ziplock bags, can be very
> handy. I can't imagine having separate compartments for each color of 1x2
> bricks, but I can imagine having a number of bags in a single container,
> each bag having a single color of 1x2 bricks. Even if each bag had two or
> three colors, you can still quickly zoom in on the specific bag needed, and
> avoid unnecessary wear-and-tear on bricks of any other colors.
Yea, that's what my system is, though I use Hefty brand resealable bags
(note that it's Ziploc without a K and that's a particular brand's
trademark).
--
Frank Filz
-----------------------------
Work: mailto:ffilz@us.ibm.com (business only please)
Home: mailto:ffilz@mindspring.com
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"Wayne R Hussey" <eskimo2@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:G6v1rF.F8H@lugnet.com...
> > 26. You begin to long for the day when you could sit at your desk and
> > actually reach every piece you owned without getting up.
>
> Step 26 is in the wrong order. It should have been somewhere around step • 10
> or 12.
Totally agree here! Although I must admit my own story skips completely
random around Remy's. I've never sorted by set or by color. A factor may be
that pretty early in my LEGO history my dad made me this big box with 10
compartments (still housing my basic bricks, my collection is pretty
moderate compared to some stories I've read here) and my mum made a copy of
the denim bag. Right now my LEGO is sorted by category and sometimes by
part. Nothing is sorted by color. It's housed in 1 big wooden box, 1 small
wooden box(wheels), 3 Rolykits (A few dozen compartments, and you simply
roll the whole thing up. See http://www.rolykit.com/original.html. Probably
unknown in the US, and impossible to get nowadays), 3 shoeboxes, 6 large
setboxes, 1 biscuit-tin. The denim bag is now my daughter's.......
Duq
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In lugnet.storage, Remy Evard writes:
> Here's a description of an evolution of lego collection sorting. It might
> be yours, at least in parts. It's certainly been mine.
<snip>
> 14. You begin to develop large piles of lego in various states of being
> sorted, i.e:
> the sorted stuff
> the stuff you've kinda sorted and is ready to be put away
> piles of lego you aren't going to sort because you think you'll use
> it all to build something else anyway
> lego sorted some other way than the way you sorted into drawers to see
> if this way works better than that way did
> your building projects
> your new boxes of lego, some opened, some not
> oh, and let's not forget your various models and MOCs • <snip>
> -r'm
>
> Remy Evard / evard@mcs.anl.gov
I'm about here. I've got 128-gals. worth of Rubbermaid tubs, 4 tubs filled to
the brim with pieces sorted by type into Ziploc freezer bags, the other two
tubs unsorted pieces. I used to sort baseplates, but that seemed to be a waste
of baggies. Never sorted by color, except when I was building a Klingon
Battlecruiser; grabbed all the grey plates I could find a threw 'em in a
baggie.
I've got MOCs and other models at my apartment, my office, parents' house, and
my new townhouse (slowly moving). I've got unopened sets in my car and the
aforementioned places. Probably enough to fill another 48 gals. worth of
Rubbermaid (it's been a while since my last sort...)
The scariest thing for me is I label the bags.
So now that I've admitted I have a problem, who do I sit in a chruch basement a
drink coffee with?
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Duq wrote:
> wooden box(wheels), 3 Rolykits (A few dozen compartments, and you simply
> roll the whole thing up. See http://www.rolykit.com/original.html. Probably
> unknown in the US, and impossible to get nowadays)
Quite available in the US, and I've seen them at least within the past
12 months. I wouldn't swear that Rolykits is the brand their sold under
here, but they definitely are around (and the website confirmed my guess
as to what you were talking about). I looked at them, but they looked
more like one of those "Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time"
things which turn out not quite as practical as they initially appear
(my thoughts run to: how well and efficiently do they stack, how much
space is wasted by the "corners", do they actually hold your stuff or do
they sometimes spill [especially what happens before you understand the
way to open them up]).
Frank
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In lugnet.storage, Remy Evard writes:
> Here's a description of an evolution of lego collection sorting. It might
> be yours, at least in parts. It's certainly been mine.
>
> I might turn this into an essay some day, but for now it will have to begin
> life as a series of unsupported claims. If you have any comments or
> additions, toss'em in.
>
> The Evolution of Lego Sorting
> -----------------------------
> Let's assume you start your lego collection like most of us did: with one
> set.
>
> 1. You don't sort your Lego. You just keep them in the box they came in.
>
> (Then, over time, you get another set, then another, then another.
> And your pile of bricks grows. How do you cope?)
>
> 2. You start sorting your Lego. You sort it by set.
>
> (Your collection grows.)
>
> 3. You give up on individual set boxes and toss all your Lego in a big
> storage bin or a Lego denim bag, or a couple of your large set boxes. You
> become very familiar with the sound of someone digging through large bricks
> looking for a 1x1 transparent red plate.
>
> (Your collection grows.)
>
> 4. You begin to sort your Lego by category: normal-looking bricks in one
> set box, other pieces in another box.
>
> (And grows.)
>
> 5. Ok, you realize you actually have to sort it. You decide to sort the
> obvious way: by color.
>
> (And grows.)
>
> 6. You keep sorting by color, but you get pickier about how you do it,
> and you start filtering out by type for the first time: probably the
> first things you sort out by type are minifigs and wheels. You realize
> you already had baseplates sorted out separately.
>
> (Let's just assume at this point that between every paragraph, your
> keep adding lego to your collection.)
>
> 7. You cave in and actually get a storage system. Maybe it's rubbermaid
> bins, or piles of blue buckets, or fishing tackle boxes, or ziplocks. But
> now you've got a system.
>
> 8. You grow weary of digging through all the yellow bricks looking for that
> one specialized yellow piece somewhere in 2 cubic feet of yellow. But you
> think of how much work it's going to take to split by part and you don't do
> it.
>
> 9. Sorting becomes difficult enough that you decide, in some cases, not to
> break some sets down and put them in your main pile of lego... instead, you
> store them as a set, because that set is so cool just the way it is. (Ok,
> so this set is from the 80s...) The pieces for that set are either in their
> box, or in a ziplock or something. Congratulations, you've just invented
> Set Archiving, and now you have two ways you store your Lego: broken down
> by parts, and archived by set.
>
> 10. You give up and decide to sort your parts by type rather than by color.
> You go get more bins or tackle boxes or whatever your container of choice
> is, you dedicate an evening or a weekend or a month to it, and you split by
> type.
>
> 11. You have now invented your own Lego categorization system. You have no
> doubt separated out bricks, plates, wheels, minifigs, slopes, and so on,
> but you've also clumped "things with curves" together, and doors and
> windshields together. You also have a category called "misc". Your
> categories, amazingly, don't look much like the LDraw categories.
>
> 12. You realize you have piles of stuff that don't fit easily into the
> categorization system: RCX bricks, train track, those huge A-shaped
> pieces, monorial supports, and rubber bands. You get a different sized
> drawer system for stuff like that.
>
> 13. Your collection is now clearly housed in many different types of
> containers ranging from buckets to drawers to bins to individual tackle box
> components.
>
> 14. You begin to develop large piles of lego in various states of being
> sorted, i.e:
> the sorted stuff
> the stuff you've kinda sorted and is ready to be put away
> piles of lego you aren't going to sort because you think you'll use
> it all to build something else anyway
> lego sorted some other way than the way you sorted into drawers to see
> if this way works better than that way did
> your building projects
> your new boxes of lego, some opened, some not
> oh, and let's not forget your various models and MOCs
>
> 15. You begin to develop strong opinions on Plano vs. Stak-On and
> Rubbermaid vs. Sterilite.
>
> 16. The original categories you made begin to follow this life cycle:
> - They grow too large to fit into their container.
> - You divide the category into two categories in order to get them
> to fit into the containers... one for each category. (Now you
> have windshields, doors, and windows, each as a different category
> of pieces, each in their own containers.)
> - You store those subcategories together, but as parts of them become
> too numerous or too hard to find, you split them out. So your tackle
> boxes now have a different compartment for each type of door.
> You realize that at this point the endgame is that you will have a
> different compartment for every type of piece you have.
>
> 16.5. Every once in a while, you open a drawer you haven't opened in a
> while and discover that you've been sorting some piece into two separate
> places in your drawers. This throws your categorization for a loop.
> How exactly do you categorize the 1x2 plate with the little robot-looking
> thing on it? Oh no... partsref doesn't have it either, augh!
>
> 17. You rearrange your house so that you can fit your storage system into,
> hopefully, just one room.
>
> 18. You give up on the "one compartment for every piece" theory because you
> can't keep up with that. Instead, you start putting some of the similar
> things into shoebox-sized bins. The way you decide what to
> compartmentalize and what to put into bins together is to think about how
> long it takes to find an individual element. It's ok to dig through a pile
> of windshields looking for the trans yellow blacktron hood. It's not ok to
> dig through a pile of slopes looking for the specialized corner cap slope.
>
> 18.5. You document your categories so you don't get lost.
>
> 19. You develop a multi-stage sorting system. It may take a piece several
> hops before it ends up in its final resting spot, but it's a bit more
> efficient to sort this way, and you can do some of it while watching a
> video.
>
> 20. Bizarrely enough, you actually give up and go back to sorting by color.
> Only this time, you sort by color after sorting by piece. So you now have
> a bin for yellow 1x3 plates, and a bin for black 1x3 plates, and so on.
>
> 21. Finally you create an "overflow" system of buckets, where, if the bin
> of 1x3 yellow plates is full, you just any additional ones into that
> overflow bucket, along with other plates. (One of the first indicators that
> you should do this was that you didn't have a compartment big enough to hold
> all your Lego horses...)
>
> 22. You begin to toss most pieces directly into overflow.
>
> 23. You now have what, to a stranger, would be a bizarre sorting system. You
> have some parts thrown together in bins by type. You have some parts split
> out with a separate bin for each part. You have some parts split out with
> a separate bin for each color. You even have some parts split out by how
> old they are: red 1x2s from the 60s, red 1x2s from the 70s, new red 1x2s
> that hold really well, and all the other red 1x2s. And you have an
> alphabetized pile of large buckets for the overflow pieces and another one
> for the 1st stage of sorting.
>
> 23.5. That stranger would also think you were certifiably insane. Or at
> least retentive.
>
> 24. You start looking for a new house. One with a large basement.
>
> 25. Vision recognition becomes interesting to you.
>
> 26. You begin to long for the day when you could sit at your desk and
> actually reach every piece you owned without getting up.
>
> 27. You decide to keep a special set or two at your desk, away from the
> huge sorting system, just to play with a few great sets without having
> to sort them. And then you add another cool set. Pretty soon
> you're digging through 3 inches of bricks trying to find that 1x1
> transparent red plate and you think about sorting your bricks...
>
>
> Of course, somewhere along the way, you probably quit buying just sets, and
> started to do things like:
> - Buy lego sets in bulk, to the point where you have 10s to 100s
> of unopened boxes.
> - Work on very large construction projects.
> - Acquire other people's collections.
> - Run large auctions over the net.
> And those bring up entirely new sorting challenges.... but those won't
> be written about tonight, at least not by me.
>
> -r'm
>
> Remy Evard / evard@mcs.anl.gov
My sorting and associated deviant behaviors....
1
2 Fab figures, Fabuland sets, other
5 but obvious way to me was size
5a start putting instuctions/catalogues in plastic sleeves in 3 ring binders
start colapsing nonFab boxes to store
11
13
14 but the numerous piles are small
14a Start sneaking new sets into house
14b Other household members become much more vocal in their complaints
about "that stuff" being all over the house. Mutiny is a real possibility.
14c start cutting up boxes and saving panels only...Of course the
really "special" ones are exempt.
14d Buy a good step stool to make better use of high shelves.
14e Rumblings continue ....
23.5 Family thinks I am over the edge...
23.5a I have nightmares of them planning an intervention...
sheree
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In lugnet.storage, Remy Evard writes:
> Here's a description of an evolution of lego collection sorting. It might
> be yours, at least in parts. It's certainly been mine.
>
> I might turn this into an essay some day, but for now it will have to begin
> life as a series of unsupported claims. If you have any comments or
> additions, toss'em in.
Heh. Mine starts a little oddly, but is otherwise about normal. ;)
> The Evolution of Lego Sorting
> -----------------------------
> Let's assume you start your lego collection like most of us did: with one
> set.
>
> 1. You don't sort your Lego. You just keep them in the box they came in.
1. You don't sort your Lego. You pack it all in as tightly as you can get
so it fits in one suitcase on the way home. Smile nicely at the customs
officer. ;) I came out of my "dark ages" in the Netherlands visiting family.
> 10. You give up and decide to sort your parts by type rather than by color.
> You go get more bins or tackle boxes or whatever your container of choice
> is, you dedicate an evening or a weekend or a month to it, and you split by
> type.
I skipped the first few steps. I went straight from unsorted to sorting by
type.
> 18.5. You document your categories so you don't get lost.
I haven't had to do this yet, thankfully. One good thing is that my
catagorization is fairly intuitive, so I pretty much always know where a
part is. The downside is that intuitive for me isn't intuitive for my wife.
She doesn't have a clue where anything is anymore.
> 24. You start looking for a new house. One with a large basement.
Heh. Nope, just drywalled the garage, and moved other stuff out there to
make more room for Lego. ;)
James
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In article <G6o55x.I3J@lugnet.com>, Remy Evard <evard@mcs.anl.gov> wrote:
> I might turn this into an essay some day, but for now it will have to begin
> life as a series of unsupported claims. If you have any comments or
> additions, toss'em in.
I find this interesting. :)
> 2. You start sorting your Lego. You sort it by set.
I never did this one-- the concept of "set" is pretty alien to me;
it gets built once, _maybe_, as a set and then it's just parts.
> 4. You begin to sort your Lego by category: normal-looking bricks in one
> set box, other pieces in another box.
This happened fairly late for me-- actually _after_ more fine sorting. I
found I missed some of the hunting for a piece, so all my basic bricks
are in one place now. I have a relatively small for Lugnet AFOL standards
collection.
> 5. Ok, you realize you actually have to sort it. You decide to sort the
> obvious way: by color.
Color was never the obvious way to me; I have never sorted by color.
> 6. You keep sorting by color, but you get pickier about how you do it,
> and you start filtering out by type for the first time: probably the
> first things you sort out by type are minifigs and wheels. You realize
> you already had baseplates sorted out separately.
Minifigs (and minifig equipment), wheels, and landscaping material were
my first three categories. Well, and those baseplates that had been
separated for years, yeah.
Oh, and other fauna are considered "minifigs" in this scheme.
> 10. You give up and decide to sort your parts by type rather than by color.
> You go get more bins or tackle boxes or whatever your container of choice
> is, you dedicate an evening or a weekend or a month to it, and you split by
> type.
I got lucky; my best friend was job hunting and staying at my place, and in
her copious free time, she sorted legos. She enjoys sorting. *shudder*
Unfortunately, that was in 1996, and I now have about 25 gallons of unsorted
Lego at the moment. That I can't build anything with 'cause not only can I
not find pieces, I can't even remember what I've got!
> 15. You begin to develop strong opinions on Plano vs. Stak-On and
> Rubbermaid vs. Sterilite.
I did this pre-lego-sorting. I'm tough on equipment...
> 16. The original categories you made begin to follow this life cycle:
> - They grow too large to fit into their container.
> - You divide the category into two categories in order to get them
> to fit into the containers... one for each category. (Now you
> have windshields, doors, and windows, each as a different category
> of pieces, each in their own containers.)
> - You store those subcategories together, but as parts of them become
> too numerous or too hard to find, you split them out. So your tackle
> boxes now have a different compartment for each type of door.
> You realize that at this point the endgame is that you will have a
> different compartment for every type of piece you have.
I've yet to do this, actually, because I haven't actually resorted since
the Great Sort of 1996. I suspect instead of this, my next few months
will instead be Great Sort II, where I subdivide differently and switch
methods.
> 17. You rearrange your house so that you can fit your storage system into,
> hopefully, just one room.
Fortunately, it is already this way for me. Ideally, I have a 1.6M equipment
cabinet that I'd like to get it all into. I have a fairly small collection
(guesstimating only about 75,000 pieces), though.
> 24. You start looking for a new house. One with a large basement.
I'm really only at stage 15, but I'm also here at stage 24. :)
-JDF
--
J.D. Forinash ,-.
foxtrot@cc.gatech.edu ( <
The more you learn, the better your luck gets. `-'
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In article <3A57F383.CCB73472@mindspring.com>,
Frank Filz <ffilz@mindspring.com> wrote:
> I find the resealable bag a very effective container. They are
> reasonably efficiently packed into a tub, and it is relatively easy to
> fluff them around to get the specific part or color you want up to the
> top. I mostly use freezer strength quart and gallon sizes (and wish the
> Hefty One Zip brand came in a 1/2 quart or smaller bag).
I found this didn't work as well for me; even using "brand name" bags,
I found that I wasn't completely sealing bags-of-1x2-tiles and such. Also,
the bags aren't holding up well now five years later. I think they'll
be more useful as I add more sorts of containers to my storage.
-JDF
--
J.D. Forinash ,-.
foxtrot@cc.gatech.edu ( <
The more you learn, the better your luck gets. `-'
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"J.D. Forinash" wrote:
>
> In article <3A57F383.CCB73472@mindspring.com>,
> Frank Filz <ffilz@mindspring.com> wrote:
> > I find the resealable bag a very effective container. They are
> > reasonably efficiently packed into a tub, and it is relatively easy to
> > fluff them around to get the specific part or color you want up to the
> > top. I mostly use freezer strength quart and gallon sizes (and wish the
> > Hefty One Zip brand came in a 1/2 quart or smaller bag).
>
> I found this didn't work as well for me; even using "brand name" bags,
> I found that I wasn't completely sealing bags-of-1x2-tiles and such. Also,
> the bags aren't holding up well now five years later. I think they'll
> be more useful as I add more sorts of containers to my storage.
The Hefty One Zip bags seal very positively. The Ziploc Slideloc bags
don't always seal so well. I use freezer weight bags, which I hope will
last several years (though some have been damaged by getting jammed as a
drawer was opened, causing the corner of a brick to slice the bag open.
The bags without the slider are definitely harder to get a perfect seal.
Frank
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Well, I'm at about step 18 right now, though I was lucky enough to skip the
initial "sort-by-colour" phase, and step 17.
Looks like I've got some good times to look forward to...
ROSCO
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"Frank Filz" <ffilz@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:3A5D30E2.B1878C6D@mindspring.com...
> Quite available in the US, and I've seen them at least within the past
> 12 months. I wouldn't swear that Rolykits is the brand their sold under
> here, but they definitely are around (and the website confirmed my guess
> as to what you were talking about).
I've been looking for them here, and have been sending them emails, but no
reply...
> I looked at them, but they looked
> more like one of those "Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time"
> things which turn out not quite as practical as they initially appear
> (my thoughts run to: how well and efficiently do they stack, how much
> space is wasted by the "corners", do they actually hold your stuff or do
> they sometimes spill [especially what happens before you understand the
> way to open them up]).
Maybe it's 'cause I grew up with them; my Technic stuff and all the minifig
junk has been in them all through my dark ages.
To answer the other questions:
They stack pretty well, but yes, you do lose space in the corners.
They hold the stuff very well, as long as you're gentle when rolling them
up. I can't remember what it's like to try and understand them, as I've had
them for over 15 years, but it really is simple.
What I like about them is that they take up little space when rolled up, but
give a good overview when open. What I mean is, they seem easier to me then
opening trays all the time. I guess there's a limit to the size of your
collection for their usefulness (or is there one s and two ll's in there?).
I've never counted mine, but it must still be under 25k bricks. I don't know
what they'd be like for storing 100k+...... allthough I could imagine having
a Rolykit per color for tiles, small plates etc. so you can just grab the
ones you'd need for the current project.....
Anyway, I'll try and post a pic of my stuff one of these days...
Duq
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In lugnet.storage, Ross Crawford writes:
> Well, I'm at about step 18 right now, though I was lucky enough to skip the
> initial "sort-by-colour" phase, and step 17.
I also skipped most of the "sort-by-colour" etc. phases. I think that this
may be because I mostly have Technic parts, and you tend to go more for
types of parts than colour. I am now at the stage of needing to sort into
different coloured parts, just have to wait until we move into our new house
first.
What I would like is the type of storage that can be see in the background
of Eric Harshbarger's bart simpson model here:
http://www.ericharshbarger.org/lego/bart.html
Does anyone know what this storage is?
Martin
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On Sat, 13 Jan 2001 05:04:58 GMT, Martin Scragg <mnm@bigpond.net.au> wrote:
> [snip]
>
> What I would like is the type of storage that can be see in the background
> of Eric Harshbarger's bart simpson model here:
>
> http://www.ericharshbarger.org/lego/bart.html
>
> Does anyone know what this storage is?
>
> Martin
Yeah, those are nice, aren't they? I need a wall-full of those.
Eric posted in this group not too long ago about that. See this page:
http://www.ericharshbarger.org/lego/storage.html
and follow the "updated pictures" link, where among other things, he
says these are "tilt bins" from Arnon Caine, and are available from
Home Depot.
I've tried three Home Depots in my area and they don't have them, so
I'm going to attempt to order them directly fron Arnon Caine, as Eric
also suggests. ( http://www.arnoncaine.com )
-r'm
Remy Evard / evard@mcs.anl.gov
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>
> Let me know if you get past step 26 and solve the vision recognition
> problem. I could use some help on that one.
>
> -r'm
I have solved step 26(for awhile anyway), her name is Ryann Powell and she's
9yrs old. Hopefully I can keep her interested in retreiving parts for Daddy
until I can come up with another solution...
Robert Powell
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In lugnet.storage, James Simpson wrote:
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One of the parameters of my growing storage dillema is how to keep pieces
sufficiently separated such that scratching and scarring is kept to an
absolute minimum when I have to rummage around. My experience is that, in the
long run, if one has to scoop through the parts bin looking for that trans-red
plate one too many times, then visible and often unacceptable wear and tear to
the bricks can’t be avoided. This is a real issue for me when it comes to
storing pieces of which I have a lot, e.g., 1x2 bricks; if I’m working on a
big project that is depleting the reserves of, say, white 1x2’s, then it
becomes necessary to shuffle through hundreds of other colors until I find
that last white one that is inevitably at the bottom. Perhaps I’m just AR (my
wife thinks so), but I * hate* to scratch my bricks - my goal is pristine
pieces for life.
james
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I’m right with ya onboard the “I Hate Scratches” bandwagon.
Over the years, I’ve always thought scratches were caused only by bricks against
bricks. When I got the whole M:Tron™ collection for Xmas ‘90, I kept those
trans-neon-green pieces in a separate drawer, especially that quarter-dome piece
from the Multi-core Magetizer, and that payed off; it got only a few scratches
on it. Last fall, when I started buying brix like crazy, I started to find out
what causes scratches.
First, I tried scratching a new brick with a new brick.
Nothing happened.
Later, I got out the rest of my collection, which had been
gathering dust for a few years, and starting sorting out the old from the new. I
picked up a brick that had dust on one side, and dragged a new brick accross the
dusty side of that brick. Lots of scratches running in the direction that I
dragged that brick.
Question was answered. Dust is Enemy No.1.
Dust on bricks
is like sandpaper to other bricks.
Keeping your LEGO room dust free would help,
no doubt. So would regular baths for your bricks.
I keep a Swiffer® cloth
handy. When a bin is empty, I Swiff it.
scott “The Gaklander”
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It's become a classic! More than 20 years old but still true.
Here's to another 20 years of futile sorting!
dö
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