Setting up a rig: what goes in which pouch, and why

A well set-up rig is one you can work out of without looking. That is not a slogan — the time cost of looking down for a tool, thirty or forty times an hour, adds up to a measurable fraction of the day.

The principle: dominant hand, most used, front

Everything follows from three questions. Which hand picks it up? How often? Does it need to come out fast?

• Dominant side, front: the two or three tools you reach for constantly. For most trades that is a utility knife and a driver or nail set.
• Dominant side, rear: hammer loop. A hammer hanging at the front catches on ladders and door frames.
• Non-dominant side, front: fasteners. You feed the fixing with your off hand while the dominant hand holds the tool.
• Non-dominant side, rear: tape measure and anything else you grab and put straight back.
• Small front pockets: pencil, marker, small square. Vertical, so they do not fall out on a ladder.

Depth matters more than count

A twenty-seven pocket belt sounds better than a fourteen pocket one and is often worse. Deep pouches swallow small tools; shallow ones let long tools fall out. What you want is a mix:

• One deep well per side for bulky items
• Several medium sleeves sized for driver handles and a knife
• A couple of shallow slots for a pencil and a marker

If every pouch is the same depth, half of them will be useless whatever the number stamped on the label.

Magnets, honestly

A magnetic zone on a pouch is genuinely useful for holding screws and small bits while your hands are busy. It is also useless in wind and rain and it will pick up swarf all day.

Worth having if the belt spends its life indoors. Do not choose a rig for it.

Weight, again

Every tool on the belt is a tool you carry all day. Take the rig off at the end of the week and empty it onto the bench. If something has not been used in a fortnight, it lives in the bag, not on your hip. Most people can lose three or four pounds this way without noticing anything missing.

Trade-specific starting points

Framing: heavy nail pouch on the non-dominant side, hammer rear dominant, speed square in a rear slot, pencil front.

Finish carpentry: lighter overall, nail set and block plane in medium sleeves, more small pockets, magnetic zone for brads.

Electrical: linesman pliers and strippers front dominant, screwdrivers in a vertical row, tester in a chest pocket rather than the belt.

General maintenance: the flexible one — a detachable pouch system earns its money here, because the day’s tools change.

Detachable pouches

If your work changes from day to day, a belt with pouches that slide off is worth more than any fixed layout. You keep two or three pouch sets configured for the jobs you do most and swap them in a minute, rather than repacking a fixed rig every morning.

The cost is a small amount of play where the pouch meets the belt, and slightly more money.

Break it in deliberately

A new leather rig is stiff and the pouches will not stand open. Load it fully and leave it loaded for a week, including overnight. Work the mouths of the pouches open with your hand. After a fortnight it will hold the shape you have given it — which is why it is worth deciding the layout before the break-in rather than after.

Bring your tools in

The genuinely useful version of this conversation happens with your actual tools on our counter. Bring the belt you have, or the tools you carry, and we will lay them out against what is on the wall. It takes ten minutes and it beats guessing from a photograph.

Left-handed layouts

Almost every rig on a shelf is photographed set up for a right-handed wearer, and almost every rig can be reversed. If you are left-handed, mirror everything in this article: hammer loop rear left, fast-access pouch front left, fasteners on the right.

Two things to check before buying. Pouches with an angled mouth are handed — a pouch designed to be reached across the body from the right sits awkwardly on the left. And a rig where the pouches are riveted rather than threaded cannot be reversed at all.

Small parts, and stopping them migrating

Everybody’s rig accumulates a layer of screws, washers and offcuts in the bottom of the deep pouch. It adds weight, it hides the tool you are reaching for, and it is why people end up with a pound of assorted hardware they will never identify.

Two habits fix it. Empty the deep pouch onto the bench at the end of the week, and keep fixings in a small tin or a dedicated pouch rather than loose. The tin also stops a handful of screws sounding like a maraca every step you take.

Labelling, for a shared rig

On a site where several people use similar gear, a stamped initial or a strip of coloured tape on the belt saves a great deal of low-level argument. Leather takes a stamp permanently; nylon takes a marker or a stitched tag.

It also makes it obvious when a rig has been borrowed and not returned, which is the more common problem.