Collection Storage - Sixth Generation

Quick, what is the first place you think to shop when I ask, “Where is the best place to find storage for your genital adornments?” If you said “Tractor Supply”, then… I’m surprised - but you’d be right!

This sixth generation is the natural progression of my previous approach to storage. As the collection grew, and as I wandered into new territories and designs, I needed to find space for all of the stuff. After having wracked my brain for far too long figuring out how to store my collection with the last generation, it was an easy decision to continue down the lockable tool box path - but simply going bigger.

You may wonder how this takes us to Tractor Supply. Well, I have picky tastes and I knew what I was looking for in terms of being able to store my precious collection. You may be surprised to learn that tool storage is a great analogy for storing cock rings and toys, but there are subtle gaps or issues that rendered several tool chests useless for my purposes!

It took some searching and discernment to distill down to my “official” requirements

A LOT more storage space

I mean… as any follower of this blog, or even a casual observer of the blog, you’ll see that the collection has outgrown its storage solutions more than a few times. The previous generation, being a tool cart I picked up very cheap on Facebook marketplace, was a significant leap forward. So the task became finding something similar, but bigger.

As an engineer, I naturally took a mathematical side quest to determining the storage requirements. The previous tool chest had drawers that measure 22 1/8" wide x 16 1/8" deep. This gives a little more than 356 square inches per drawer. With five total drawers, that’s a total of 1,780 square inches. But I also need storage for my storage (to hold rings I haven’t tried on or reviewed as well as a bunch of pre-made holders) so the fifth drawer is taken out of the equation. This means I need about 1,427 square inches of storage space to break even.

Side note: you may be wondering if 22 1/8" wide is optimal given that the holders have a width that may or may not fit perfectly within. I’ve decided that I could rearrange or adjust spacing if that becomes a problem, so didn’t worry about that.

Knowing my target size, I fell down the rabbit hole of searching and waiting to find the right size and storage solution. The research was… surprisingly difficult! What I learned during my quest:

• Shallow Drawers - Sticking with a standard 27" width tool chest would mean I fit the same floor space, but would need more drawers to increase the storage space. Doing this would often mean that some of the drawers will only be an inch or two tall. Examples: this one has top drawers that are only 2" tall - which is fine for glans rings and sounds, but only added about two drawers worth of space to my current solution. Meanwhile, this guy is taller and packs a lot more storage space, but four of the drawers are only 2 3/8" tall - while several of my cock rings require 3" vertical height.
• Expensive - OK, look, I know I have spent way more money on adornments than I probably should… but that doesn’t mean my storage solution should be over the top expensive. I came across several options that had the storage space and the drawer height in a way that worked well, but cost a fortune. I’m talking more than $1000 USD. I didn’t set a budget for this endeavor but practically decided that spending more than $250 wasn’t in the cards.
• Sensible layout - Well then. We have a candidate that has enough raw storage space, tall enough drawers, and doesn’t cost a fortune - but does the layout make sense? Arguably, the US General box I mentioned earlier falls into this category. I could easily make one or two 2 3/8" tall drawers work… but four of them? And why would I need an overly deep 4 7/8" top drawer for storing my toys? This is where a surprising number of options just plain fell off the list - and reasonably, of course. Tool carts are made to store lots of items - from wrenches to angle grinders. It is reasonable to expect a variety of shallow and deep drawers to fit the bill.

Eventually I realized that the perfect option simply doesn’t exist in a 27" wide floor space factor and that I would need to bump up to 42". This opened many options, but still left me with some that didn’t work well. This one for example has crazy deep bottom drawers and too shallow middle drawers.

Beyond Size

There are also some important requirements to consider above and beyond the raw storage size of the cabinet. I’ve mentioned it in previous blog posts, but a locking solution is a non-negotiable. I’m very proud of my collection, but I don’t need prying eyes or someone just going down near the workbench area looking for a tool to accidentally discover it! It was seldom, but I did come across tool storage solutions that didn’t lock at all or only locked one or two of the drawers such that they had to be disqualified.

I touch on this above, but a sensible layout for adornment storage is critical. Square inches being the “king” requirement puts most of the attention on the dimensions of the drawers, but the height of the drawers and how they are laid out also comes into focus. When flipping over to a 42" wide format, I didn’t even think about the value of having a full-width drawer… but I can’t imagine a storage solution without it now that I have placed all of my cock rings there front-and-center! In fact, I have so many that the drawer is surprisingly full.

Taking it a step further, there are some creature comforts that also come into play that maybe aren’t deal breaker options, but are worth consideration. For example, having full extension drawers is almost a non-negotiable (that isn’t a practical issue since nearly all tool chests have this style). How drawers latch and unlatch also came up. Some manufacturers have the drawers latch closed so using the drawer pull itself serves as a type of latch that releases the drawer to be opened. I didn’t think about this, but I kinda want it. But that’s just kinda. A major requirement that came up was a result of crappiness in my previous tool chest - the lock for the drawers requires the drawers to be fully pushed in… and sometimes they didn’t sit in place properly such that I would have to hold the drawer in a bit in order to engage the lock. That is annoying, which created a desire for soft-close drawers which naturally pull the drawer all the way back in.

Another nice-to-have is a good color or design for the cabinet itself. I’m not above storing my adornment collection in a lime green tool chest… but I’d very much prefer classic black options. The drawer bottoms also come into question, where having rubberized drawer liners also help keep things in place as the drawers open/close.

The solution

OK, so with all those words - what the hell does this have to do with Tractor Supply? Well, they unleashed a unicorn during a holiday sale!

As can be seen up to this point, the requirements list is unexpectedly extensive. I spent a ridiculous amount of time browsing the web and searching for options - from Amazon, to google shopping, to physical store visits, to the secondhand market on Facebook Marketplace. I settled in a state of disappointment such that what I was looking for just didn’t exist (yet)… but I know that new products pop in/out of the market and sometimes things that are out of reach due to price go on sale. So I settled in to play the long game and watch/browse over time.

This is where Tractor Supply surprised. The solution offered is a 42" rolling tool cart featuring 8 total drawers. It is finished in sleek piano black and features the soft-close drawers I was hoping to score. For a real tool box, it’s quite nice - it features a wood top (which appears to be replaceable) as well as power outlets on the side of the box itself. The eight drawers are sensibly laid out, too!

• A single full-width 37 1/2" x 15 1/2" top drawer holds the most impressive part of my collection - all of the cock rings
• Four 22 1/8" x 15 1/2" left side drawers with three at 4 1/4" deep and one at 6 1/4" deep. This gives my cages a lovely home - with TWO drawers of space to spare!
• Three smaller 12 7/8" right side drawers, two of which are 5 1/4" with the third being 8 1/2" deep. The top drawer is home to my glans and shaft rings with the second drawer holding weights to tug on my business. Even better, the deep bottom drawer corrals a selection of pre-made holders as well as a few boxes (for unreviewed items) and the pillow case I always use as the backdrop for photos on this blog.

As is common for relatively cheap tool chests, this one turned out to be generic. I am not sure who actually makes it, but it is rebranded and resold under other names. The most consistently available branding I have seen is this offering by Home Depot under the Husky brand. I think it is exceedingly expensive considering that the limited-time Tractor Supply branded version was only $220 during the manager special (here is the link I used, but it is unavailable right now - I guess until it is back on sale again) and was even delivered to my door for only $20 or so! Plus, the Tractor Supply offering is clothed in a handsome black color, which is a nice to have. The only tweak I’ve done is to remove the Tractor Supply badge in the upper right corner since… I don’t know… maybe I’ll 3D print a ManAdorned logo in its place.

All told, I’m VERY happy with how things turned out. A brand new tool chest that fits my storage needs for a reasonable price is certainly a win. Persistence paid off!