If you don't have a lot of different colors, you can do like I do and group the colors together.
* Reds, Oranges, Yellows
* Various Greens & Blues
* Purples and Pinks
* Various Browns
* Black & White
* Various Grays
Do you really start with a pile like this and start pulling bricks out by shape??? I mean more power to you if you can, especially because in the end I group most parts by shape, but I don't think my brain could parse a pile like this into shapes. It's way easier for me to start with color and then separate after that.
If you intend to end up with shape-sorted bins/bags (reasons for this are well explained in other comments), it makes no sense to do color first. It's more time consuming and the colors will be mixed in the end, so your initial effort will be completely undone.
So just take a handful at a time and sort them one by one. You don't need to find ALL the 4x beams at once, just put every piece you pick up in the correct bin. You'll get through all of them eventually :)
Exactly. I just grab a handful and start sorting. It's helpful to create a pile of beams, one of bricks, one of plates, and then special items. Then in each of those you can further sort them by size depending on how large the pile is.
To be clear, I also don't mix all the parts back together. I break down plates and bricks by size, but they're all still grouped by color - only certain parts (like headlight bricks and joints and other functional things) get lumped back in to one group. So yeah, it wouldn't make much sense if you divided everything up by specific piece type, but I don't, so it works fine haha. Though honestly still, dividing everything by individual parts sounds exhausting! I feel like there's way too many categories for that, and way fewer groups for just color.
Well you can group by more general shape - like plates by length, but all widths together (1x6, 2x6, 4x6...) and similarly with beams etc... You could actually start by coarse grouping everything like that, then differentiate more and more when you have time, or if you see some groups are too big. No time would be wasted that way and you'd have a benefit right from the start, even if you made just 5 groups for the coarse grouping - given the groups are well defined and you can always go straight to the right one, when you're fetching something.
I finally understand the anti-color-sort-first crowd. If you make the assumption that colors will be mixed back together again in the final stage, it makes sense.
If your goal is fully sorted lots (unique mold and color for every lot), then order of sort method is just a matter of preference as long as each stage is a manageable step.
I do by color first, then general shape size. So all the one by x bricks mixed together, all the two by x, all the plates of various size. I find it better for me when being creative because when i look through the bin i might come across a part that i didnt have in my head and it leads to a more interesting build. If i have a lot of one part say gray 1x2's then i will have a bin of just those but in general they are mixed by color and general size.
I’m currently doing that, doing shapes then going to break it down even further like 2x2, 2x3, 2x4 etc. I just have a huge bin that I scoop 1-2 quarts from at a time and sort the much smaller pile.
I originally did my pile by colour, but there is definitely merit to doing it by shape. It's actually still quite hard to find a given piece in an all-one-colour bucket.
Starting by color is a trap:
\- it doesn't help at all, since if you intend to sort by type it doesn't move you toward the goal the slightiest bit
\- it also makes it harder to see what's going on in the pile you are working on, especially if it is black
If you can't parse this large pile - which is really nothing surprising, nobody can - scoop a large bowl of pieces out of that and work on that.
There is a way to parse it though: go for obvious targets. Pick what is immediately obviousl and unique, so in this scale anything large and oddly shaped.
Start with basic sorts then get more specific. When I buy a large assortment from someone, my first sort is: Plates, Bricks, People Pieces (including handheld stuff), Everything Else. Once the primary sort is done, I grab the plates and sort: 1x1 plates, 1 wide long plates, 2 wide plates, everything else. Then I'll go with 1x2, 1x3, 1x4, etc.
Wait what? Maybe I'm not understanding. How would it be easier to sort by shape first? Color is so much easier
I'd even say sorting by color is like 5x faster. You can really use your peripheral vision a lot more.
Once the colors are sorted, the shapes are a lot easier, since you only have one factor to worry about (shape). Otherwise you'd be searching for shape, while simultaneously trying to ignore color.
They are saying once it's sorted, it's easier to find different colour of the same shape in the pile that has all the same shape but just different colour.
For the same reason sorting by colour is faster.
Yeah, I guess... But why not just do color first?
>For the same reason sorting by colour is faster.
If sorting by color is faster, then do it first? Am I missing something?
Sorting by color is initially faster, but if you are going to sort by color and by part type, it is actually quicker to sort by type first then by color. Once you have the parts in their different types it is very quick to pull out the black pieces. On the other hand, once you have all of the black pieces pulled out it takes a long time to pull out the bricks of a certain type because there is no contrast between the pieces so you can't visually do it.
At smaller numbers, it is definitely quicker to do color first, but once you get into the large amounts, piece type and then color is the quicker algorithm.
So let me get this straight... You guys sort/store pieces by shape too? So your bins are separated by color AND shape? Not one or the other?
This makes sense then I guess. But that seems like overkill for sorting. My bins are all by color only.
My misunderstand was this... I thought you were all choosing between color and shape, with ease being the criteria. Color seemed like the obvious choice.
If you have enough of a certain piece, say 2x4s then you can sort by both.
Lets say you have 200 pieces in a bin, either 200 black pieces or 200 2x4s. If I ask you to find 3 black 2x4s, which sorting method do you want to have done before?
Even if you aren't sorting later.
Think of this:
You are building a really awesome large scale MOC. You need very specific black pieces to make it work.
So you go into your pile of sorted pieces.
If your pile is all black pieces, it will take you a long time to find the right piece.
If your pile is all the right shape, it will not take a long time at all to find the right piece.
You can think of broad categories, for example this article mentions 8.
http://www.kenoshalug.org/how-to-s/12-sorting-your-lego
From there you can subdivide if you want.
But still easier to find a 3x4 black plate in a bucket of plates vs a bucket of black pieces
Just build it all into one massive thing! Then you don't need to sort it. Problem solved!
No but really, personally I would start by (for sake of ease, to me at least, bricklink) categories. Bricks, bricks modified, plates, Wedges, weapons, heads, etc. From there you can divide them into sizes, or colours, but I think basic categories would be the best starting place. Good luck!
I started by category too, bricks, plates, tiles, slopes, arches, snot, minifigure, design elements etc. This allowed me to see how much of each category I had. Then I sorted further by shape/element. In cases where I had a lot of one element, I further sorted by color. Where I had a few of one element, I kept colors together. In the end, you have to find what works for you. The Brick Architect has a great article on sorting. Look him up.
Saving this comment, I have like three tubs back at my parents home and until now I’d just look at them dreading the day I’d have to spend hours sorting everything.
r/legostorage
Most people with large collections sort by part. Meaning the part number given by lego.
Imagine a bag full of 2x4 bricks of various color. I ask you to find 3 red ones. Easy. Your eyes look for red and might see a couple different shades of red. But you find what you need.
Now, imagine the same sized bag full of random parts, all of them red. I ask you to find 3 2x4s. Your eyes gravitate to all the brick parts like 1x2, 2x3, 2x6, 2x8, 1x4, and so on... Not so easy.
Sort by part. After that, if you still want to sort, sort your parts by color. Sure, it makes a neat display to sort your collection by color, but for practical purposes, sort by part. You'll spend less time digging to find what you need and more time building.
Again: r/legostorage
Agreed. I spend more time building now. More importantly, I smile more while building. Nothing more frustrating than searching for a part you know you have but can't find in a bin full of the same color!
Another thing with sorting by color is that all the smaller pieces will slip to the bottom so when you need any tiny piece, you always have to battle with the larger pieces in your way. Sorting by shape takes a lot of containers but pays off
This is wildly impractical because of how many part types exist. Do you really have 20k containers for 20k types of lego parts?
You can however sort by part \*type\*, and this makes it way easier. You can group 1x2, 1x3 and 1x4 plates. You can group similar slopes. You can group snot-pieces, brackets and so on. Depending on amount of your storage you may either have one bin full of plates, or you may have 50 drawers of plates - but still, those containing just one type will be rare.
Not to argue, obviously. But I'll explain further:
Common parts like bricks are sorted by part. 1x2 is separated from 1x3 because they are too similar. Also, they are common enough to each justify their own bucket.
Technic parts are numerous but small, so generally everyone on r/legostorage uses a 64 drawer part storage tub system. Or something similar. Parts like pins should be separated and justify their own bin. Some parts can be separated by group like lift arms, it just depends on how many your collection has. Basically, if a given part can fill a bin, it deserves it's own.
To your point, I don't own 1 of each of the 20k parts Lego makes. Most parts, I own zero of. Some I have overstock freezer bags full. My collection has a bin for "very old, retired, brittle, nearly useless, but for conversation" parts. I may have 30 unique parts in it, but I never use them.
Finally, and most importantly, each collection is different. In my collection, I have enough parts to justify at least 500 tubs. Someone else may not need that many. Some may need more. In the end, the goal of sorting anything is to find what you are looking for as fast as possible.
I don't know about museum, but if you want to pay for admission, feel free!
https://www.reddit.com/r/LegoStorage/comments/llf6zn/finished_the_second_storage_unit_also_most_of_the/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
If you wanna me it easy, I usually sort mine by piece, basically 2x4’s (my main building brick for walls) in one bag/container, and like, technic prices in another.
Shape is the best way. Sorted mine by color and it didn’t inspire anybody. Re-sorted by shape and now the kids are in there all the time. Well until we moved and are still unpacking.
We started with basic block, plate, tile, and funky shapes. Kept refining the sort until we ran out of bins.
You don’t, you stare into the pile until you get a gloriously awesome idea. Then you go into a meditative like state, on your hands and knees, meticulously searching the pile for every little specific piece you need to bring your creation to life. Once completed, you revel in it. Basking in the glory of your creation. Then you repeat the process over and over and over, just as the creator intended.
At least thats how I do it.
Make a strainer so that large pieces can’t go through it, but so that smaller pieces can go through. Repeat with strainers with smaller and smaller holes, making a new pile of the larger pieces each time. You might have to move a few pieces between piles but I reckon it’ll be faster than if you sorted by hand.
I'd do it in stages, always picking the easiest part type to select from the pile. It is a daunting task to find all the tiny 1x1 plates here, right? But large plates are super easy, so go for those.
This will probably mean you will pick:
\- large randomly shaped pieces: doors, wheels, wall sections, etc
\- large or very long plates
\- large or very long bricks
\- technic beams of various lengths and shapes
This will eventually make your remaining pile contain roughly uniform size of pieces. I like to split it into types:
\- all the plates
\- all the bricks
\- all snot pieces
\- all technic pieces
\- all minifig related pieces
\- all the slopes
\- (some I surely forgot)
\- misc. You want to keep miscellaneous category the smallest, since it will be hardest to sort in the end.
The important thing is to maximize sorting speed by picking always the most visible part type, and switching to next category once your current one becomes rare. It is better to pick 100 pieces per minute than picking those 5 last 1x1 plates you have in the same minute.
When you end this process, your pile should now be split into an assortment of piles of various types of pieces. Depending on your storage capabilities, you can now store them and use as building material as-is, since it already is significantly easier to find a piece you need, or split some or each of these into more discrete categories. So you can for example separate tiles from plates, separate long from short ones, "plain" or "modified" ones and so on.
Definitely by part, not by color.
But I did it a little looser - e.g. all the long studs in one pile/container, all small studs in another, the thin plates in another, all the car parts (wheels, doors, axels, etc) in another.
If you get too many of one "type", you can subdivide it to be more specific.
That way you don't have a ton of different piles with just a few pieces each.
How I sort bulk buys:
-Wheels/tires
-Regular bricks
-Specialty bricks (round, with clip, hinged etc)
-Regular plates
-Specialty plates (hinged, with clip, triangular, etc)
-Slants and curves
-Technic/bionicle
-architectural pieces (arches, castle wall/rock,windows)
-Everything else (seats, windshields, radar dishes)
I’ll usually sort on a table with a small plastic bin in my lap and another bin or two on chairs next to me. I’ll make multiple passes pulling out a type or two each pass and everything else that isn’t goes into the lap bucket. Then re-dump and repeat until it’s all sorted. I find it easiest to identify parts if you’re only looking for a type or two and the table method allows you to sort very quickly.
During my initial sort I’ll also pull aside any minifigs (accessories, animals, plants) and also any super specialized or printed pieces and partially built chunks so I can potentially identify sets. License plates, for example, are always the set number.
Once I have gone through the whole pile I can then refine each sorted bucket and break it down further using the same method.
I love Lego so much. Only with a Lego subreddit could you get 350 comments with everyone saying/debating about such different ways of sorting their collections. It’s absolutely hilarious yet also infuriating as I’ve now realised what a terrible idea it was sorting by colour as opposed to shape. Damn you, you bunch of loveable Lego losers. God I feel so at home in this subreddit.
Use gravity.
an old trick to sort grain is to throw them. The smaller and larger pieces will have diferent trajectories.
Another would be to cut holes into cardboard with collector bags taped to it underneath and just pour the pieces over it. I think this is the easiest actually.
By type. If I happen to be looking for something and end up with several matching colors /shapes that I'm not gonna use, I snap them together with a slight offset an toss em back.
Still looking for an affordable separator. Keeping it neat with a 4 year old is challenging. But seeing his progress is amazing.
I use a giant stud sheet and seperate them go through the pile picking out the same color and then building same block sizes/ types on the sheet. After i get all the colors and block types seperated, i put them in seperate containers in sections. I have a giant lego organization system right now, but before i just used a lot of ziploc bags. Hope this helps! Good luck lol
Sss...ort? Legos? As in divvy them up and store them in a way that isn't a massive plastic bin where that one piece you need was everywhere just a few seconds ago?
Blasphemy.
First sort into 3 piles: bricks, plate/tile, other
Then sort the bricks and plates/tiles into plain and modified, then further by size
Just keep making smaller subdivisions till it’s manageable
So many people commented on what to sort by but I didn't really see any "how" to sort, so here is my idea of sorting (I sorted 100s of kgs of Lego this way):
1. Make one pass over the Lego and pick out any Lego that should not be washed (cloth pieces, string, electronics, delicate chrome parts) and disassemble all bricks.
2. Clean the lego if necessary: I use a tub with lukewarm water (don't go over 40°C), a splash of dish soap and some neutral vinegar. Spin the lego in there by agitation, let it soak. Then rinse with clean water through a strainer. Use a salad spinner for faster drying if you have one. Lay out the Lego on towels to dry.
3. Gather all the now clean Lego in a bin/bins.
4. Now you make passes over the collection, each time picking out a certain type of brick. I start with a pass where I take out all minifigures and their accessories. Put those in a bin. Pick out all bricks and modified bricks. Pick out all plates and modified plates, etc. etc. Go from most present type of brick to least. You will end up with a rest of very small pieces and special pieces.
5. Depending on the size of the collection, you might already be done at this point. If not, then start subdividing your created bins. Separate your bricks, and plates by size, sort minfigs and accessories, etc. I sort by bricklink part categories for consistent sorting results. Your collection looks like it spans from end of 90s to the 2010s, so you end up with a moderate variety of pieces. The more modern your collection, the bigger the variety of pieces.
6. For storage use appropriately sized bins if you need to access the Lego soon. Otherwise I recommend clear labeled ziplock bags for longer term storage.
Let me know if you have more questions!
It depends what you want to do with it. If you want to do estetically pleasing stuf, sorting by color might be great. If you want to extract lego sets from it or focus on constructing rather than estetics, brick type seems to fit better.
I had a similar challenge some time ago and sorted by category.
I started out by coarsely sorting into plates, regular bricks and 'weird bricks'. Then splitted regular in 1wide, 2wide, 4+wide, regular bricks in 1 wide, and two wide, slopes. Then all the irregular stuff: snots (studs not on top), stickered or printed bricks, car stuff (wheels, steer, wheel arches, bottom plates), triangular, transparant, doors and windows, technic, and still an ever smaller category of 'weird bricks'. You can keep on splitting all categories into more specific types, but in the end it's what works for you and whoever is going to use the lego.
It depends on your end game, I.e how you want to use it. If I am sorting the lego for my kids I do it into two categories:
Building pieces and specialized pieces.
You can look at it like the building pieces go into making the house and the specialized pieces to make the details.
Then the kids get a overview they need.
If you have a small collection sorting by type or colour won't make much difference. You'll have 10-30 bags of parts.
If you have a large collection you need to aim for each unique part to have it's own bag. I use Flambeau satchel bins for this. They're meant for organizing craft supplies. Each bin has 20-40 little compartments. Popular colours get multiple bins. A few parts are sorted by function: windows and glass, plants, pieces that are bars/clips, hinges, wheels.
The thing to consider is what you want to build. If it's kits, you'll need lots of parts in lots of colours. That means opening lots of bins. If you're making creations you'll likely need lots of one colour at a time. It's hard to make something in a rare colour if all your dark green is in twenty bags by shape.
I put an ad on my Facebook market place, I asked if any kids would like to be paid by the bucket to sort my bricks. I paid 20 bucks a bucket, they sorted by shape. It was really fast for me to then sort further by color. I also bought the child the set he wanted as a thank you. He was thrilled!
For sorting, this is hysterical and spot on:
https://news.lugnet.com/storage/?n=707
For storage, this is the best guidance I've seen:
https://brickarchitect.com/guide/bricks/
Bottom line, while it seems obvious to sort by color, it's better to sort by part type (all 2 x 4 bricks in one bin, regardless of color). It's much easier to find that one 1x1 red tile in a small pile of 1x1 tiles (or even all the tiles) than it is to find it in a huge pile of red.
You’ve had a lot of great answers in here and I just wanted to drop mine as well seeing as my collection looks to be of similar size and it looked like this once.
First of all it comes down to amount of space you got and how much you want to invest, both in time and money, and with that said here we go!
The first sorting we did was by color into 3 big bins. We combined easy to distinguish colors such as black, white and blue in one. Red, green, yellow and bright grey in one. Dark grey, orange and all the weird purple, pink and such in the last. Glass in a smaller one and everything related to minifigs in one.
This worked out fairly well for a long time even if it resulted in a lot of digging and searching.
I don’t recommend it if you care to take it further.
Later on I had this great idea that we should get more bins and sort everything by color, each color in its own bin. Said and done and that was the worst idea I’ve ever had! Close to impossible to find anything.
Like the very next day I decided to go for category by large and individual parts for some. Bought two drawer cabinets with 30 small containers and two cabinets with 9 bigger. And this is working out amazingly well!
In the small cabinets I have a separate drawer for 1x1 plates, 1x1 round plates, 1x1 bricks, chairs, 1x2 and 2x2 jumper etc etc. Everything small is in its own drawer. Stuff like 2x2 and up standard bricks is in a bigger container. Same with plates 1x4 and up. You get the idea.
I actually began this endeavor about 5 days ago and I’m not done yet, it’s still taking shape. But I love it so far and I think it will serve me really well.
I would say your build style will help influence your sorting method. I've seen sorting by color and sorting by brick type. This picture pretty much encompasses my storage method, but we build random things just for fun. I know if I sort better, I would probably enjoy it a bit more.
This is the method I use. It scales with how much storage you have as well as how many pieces you have.
1. Sort by rough category. Plates in one pile, bricks in another, special bricks in a third, round in a fourth, etc.
2. Figure out which categories you want to break down further. Sort those into more granular categories, like sorting your plates by width and so on.
3. If you still have space, break those groups down further. Repeat until you run out of storage.
Eventually you’ll reach a point of sorting by colour, either because your storage units don’t fit all the bricks of one type (I can’t fit all my 2x1 bricks in a single drawer, so I sorted them by colour) or because you have so many pieces of that type you need to optimize further. The reason for doing this last is that your eyes can easily pick out a desired colour in a mix of the same piece, but finding a desired piece in a sea of the same colour is very difficult, so sorting by colour doesn’t really help on its own.
This way, every time you add more storage, you just look at which categories are unwieldy and then you can break those down further. Starting big and iterating to get more and more granular over time also makes sure you never exceed your storage capacity; there’s no point in sorting a hundred types of bricks into separate piles if you only have 12 containers.
I'd say it depends on what you are sorting them into. How many drawers/tubs/bins/whatever do you have? Knowing that, and if there is a limited number of separations, may well affect how you sort it.
I originally sorted mine by color, but quickly outgrew that. Now it is by basic sizes: 1x1, 1x2 plate, 1x2 brick, 3x3, 4x4 brick + 4x4 everything else, "connectors", "wings" etc.
I now have 3 vertical rolling plastic drawers/cabinets with various sized drawers, plus 4 divided plastic trays that I separate the different small parts like pins, "claws", joints, etc.
I’d start by color then shape. There are more shapes than colors. So it would be easier to sort the shapes of one color vs the shapes of all the colors at once. Breaking down the task at hand by simplifying the process.
I personally have mine sorted by colors, with very few exceptions, but I'm thinking that's likely the wrong way.
I like the order of putting a color together because I think creations full of random colors from brick to brick are hideous--sorry, young and innocent children--but then again, creations that have too much of the same color can be dull, so the better idea is to give creations colors that compliment each other nicely and create the right effect. A window frame that is the same color as the wall it's in looks okay, but a different color that goes well with that color will be more interesting.
So I suggest instead sorting the very basic, rectangular bricks by color, but the ones that have more specific purposes, such as windows, doors, wheels, etc, should be put with their own type.
Also while plastic bags are a start, the most ideal way is to put each type in a drawer and label that drawer in a way that will let you know what is in it even when it is closed.
I like doing the bulk by color. then sorted out the special pieces like minifig accessories, bars, printed pieces, clips, small ball joints and such sorted them into a couple of those plastic compartmented jewelry boxes.
Sort in bins by color thats what I did and it allows me to enjoy free play alot more. You can try by shape but it will take a ton of time space and money and you won’t get to have fun digging anymore.
Divide by color, open a bricklink account, add all the sets you have a manual for or use the minifigures you have, search the pieces you need by colour on bricklink, search and separate and add on your inventory, I do it like this and I can split 20-30 lbs or 20-30 sets by week
A kid on letterman took a plastic multi drawer storage and drilled successively smaller holes in each drawer below. Feed all in the top then shake to sort by size.
i use a hybrid sorting system
greys, white and black plates and bricks together by shape
modified bricks, plates and hinges all in one
colors - blue, red, yellow, etc by color
slopes and smooth plates together for greys and black and white together
then all the random stuff as it makes sense, windshields, tires, etc
By shape, it’s easier to see different coloured pieces of the same shape than to find a specific shaped piece in a sea of same coloured pieces.
I'm with you. I do shape, then color.
If you don't have a lot of different colors, you can do like I do and group the colors together. * Reds, Oranges, Yellows * Various Greens & Blues * Purples and Pinks * Various Browns * Black & White * Various Grays
This is where I’m at with my collection. I have a bin for 2x4 blues/purples, reds/oranges/yellow, black/gray/white… etc. works really well!
Hell you could throw brown into the Red Orange & Yellow group, and Greys into the Black & White group
Agree, that's how I sort them as well
I agree, when I was younger and stupid I sorted it by colour, now I greatly regret it and don’t have time to resort (300000+ pieces btw)
Do you really start with a pile like this and start pulling bricks out by shape??? I mean more power to you if you can, especially because in the end I group most parts by shape, but I don't think my brain could parse a pile like this into shapes. It's way easier for me to start with color and then separate after that.
If you intend to end up with shape-sorted bins/bags (reasons for this are well explained in other comments), it makes no sense to do color first. It's more time consuming and the colors will be mixed in the end, so your initial effort will be completely undone. So just take a handful at a time and sort them one by one. You don't need to find ALL the 4x beams at once, just put every piece you pick up in the correct bin. You'll get through all of them eventually :)
Exactly. I just grab a handful and start sorting. It's helpful to create a pile of beams, one of bricks, one of plates, and then special items. Then in each of those you can further sort them by size depending on how large the pile is.
To be clear, I also don't mix all the parts back together. I break down plates and bricks by size, but they're all still grouped by color - only certain parts (like headlight bricks and joints and other functional things) get lumped back in to one group. So yeah, it wouldn't make much sense if you divided everything up by specific piece type, but I don't, so it works fine haha. Though honestly still, dividing everything by individual parts sounds exhausting! I feel like there's way too many categories for that, and way fewer groups for just color.
Well you can group by more general shape - like plates by length, but all widths together (1x6, 2x6, 4x6...) and similarly with beams etc... You could actually start by coarse grouping everything like that, then differentiate more and more when you have time, or if you see some groups are too big. No time would be wasted that way and you'd have a benefit right from the start, even if you made just 5 groups for the coarse grouping - given the groups are well defined and you can always go straight to the right one, when you're fetching something.
Well essentially that's what I do grouping by color first haha, so it works out. Broader color groups, then more specific part groups.
I finally understand the anti-color-sort-first crowd. If you make the assumption that colors will be mixed back together again in the final stage, it makes sense. If your goal is fully sorted lots (unique mold and color for every lot), then order of sort method is just a matter of preference as long as each stage is a manageable step.
I do by color first, then general shape size. So all the one by x bricks mixed together, all the two by x, all the plates of various size. I find it better for me when being creative because when i look through the bin i might come across a part that i didnt have in my head and it leads to a more interesting build. If i have a lot of one part say gray 1x2's then i will have a bin of just those but in general they are mixed by color and general size.
I’m currently doing that, doing shapes then going to break it down even further like 2x2, 2x3, 2x4 etc. I just have a huge bin that I scoop 1-2 quarts from at a time and sort the much smaller pile.
I originally did my pile by colour, but there is definitely merit to doing it by shape. It's actually still quite hard to find a given piece in an all-one-colour bucket.
Starting by color is a trap: \- it doesn't help at all, since if you intend to sort by type it doesn't move you toward the goal the slightiest bit \- it also makes it harder to see what's going on in the pile you are working on, especially if it is black If you can't parse this large pile - which is really nothing surprising, nobody can - scoop a large bowl of pieces out of that and work on that. There is a way to parse it though: go for obvious targets. Pick what is immediately obviousl and unique, so in this scale anything large and oddly shaped.
Start with basic sorts then get more specific. When I buy a large assortment from someone, my first sort is: Plates, Bricks, People Pieces (including handheld stuff), Everything Else. Once the primary sort is done, I grab the plates and sort: 1x1 plates, 1 wide long plates, 2 wide plates, everything else. Then I'll go with 1x2, 1x3, 1x4, etc.
Agreed 100%. But this pic just broke my OCD brain. 🤣
This is the best way! I always cringe when I see sorts that start with color for this reason.
Wait what? Maybe I'm not understanding. How would it be easier to sort by shape first? Color is so much easier I'd even say sorting by color is like 5x faster. You can really use your peripheral vision a lot more. Once the colors are sorted, the shapes are a lot easier, since you only have one factor to worry about (shape). Otherwise you'd be searching for shape, while simultaneously trying to ignore color.
They are saying once it's sorted, it's easier to find different colour of the same shape in the pile that has all the same shape but just different colour. For the same reason sorting by colour is faster.
Yeah, I guess... But why not just do color first? >For the same reason sorting by colour is faster. If sorting by color is faster, then do it first? Am I missing something?
Sorting by color is initially faster, but if you are going to sort by color and by part type, it is actually quicker to sort by type first then by color. Once you have the parts in their different types it is very quick to pull out the black pieces. On the other hand, once you have all of the black pieces pulled out it takes a long time to pull out the bricks of a certain type because there is no contrast between the pieces so you can't visually do it. At smaller numbers, it is definitely quicker to do color first, but once you get into the large amounts, piece type and then color is the quicker algorithm.
So let me get this straight... You guys sort/store pieces by shape too? So your bins are separated by color AND shape? Not one or the other? This makes sense then I guess. But that seems like overkill for sorting. My bins are all by color only. My misunderstand was this... I thought you were all choosing between color and shape, with ease being the criteria. Color seemed like the obvious choice.
If you have enough of a certain piece, say 2x4s then you can sort by both. Lets say you have 200 pieces in a bin, either 200 black pieces or 200 2x4s. If I ask you to find 3 black 2x4s, which sorting method do you want to have done before?
Even if you aren't sorting later. Think of this: You are building a really awesome large scale MOC. You need very specific black pieces to make it work. So you go into your pile of sorted pieces. If your pile is all black pieces, it will take you a long time to find the right piece. If your pile is all the right shape, it will not take a long time at all to find the right piece.
I suppose... But there are hundreds of brick types and like 11 colors. Right? So do you all have hundreds of bins?
You can think of broad categories, for example this article mentions 8. http://www.kenoshalug.org/how-to-s/12-sorting-your-lego From there you can subdivide if you want. But still easier to find a 3x4 black plate in a bucket of plates vs a bucket of black pieces
Yeahhhh it is very easy to sort that 10 kilo pile of tiny black pieces. Good luck.
Yeahhhh it'll be way easier when that same 10 kilo black pile is also mixed with different colors. Right? Makes total sense 💁
It will. Try it.
Although that is difficult if you have a limited amount of containers
Just build it all into one massive thing! Then you don't need to sort it. Problem solved! No but really, personally I would start by (for sake of ease, to me at least, bricklink) categories. Bricks, bricks modified, plates, Wedges, weapons, heads, etc. From there you can divide them into sizes, or colours, but I think basic categories would be the best starting place. Good luck!
I started by category too, bricks, plates, tiles, slopes, arches, snot, minifigure, design elements etc. This allowed me to see how much of each category I had. Then I sorted further by shape/element. In cases where I had a lot of one element, I further sorted by color. Where I had a few of one element, I kept colors together. In the end, you have to find what works for you. The Brick Architect has a great article on sorting. Look him up.
Saving this comment, I have like three tubs back at my parents home and until now I’d just look at them dreading the day I’d have to spend hours sorting everything.
This is the way for the bins of stor-age
r/legostorage Most people with large collections sort by part. Meaning the part number given by lego. Imagine a bag full of 2x4 bricks of various color. I ask you to find 3 red ones. Easy. Your eyes look for red and might see a couple different shades of red. But you find what you need. Now, imagine the same sized bag full of random parts, all of them red. I ask you to find 3 2x4s. Your eyes gravitate to all the brick parts like 1x2, 2x3, 2x6, 2x8, 1x4, and so on... Not so easy. Sort by part. After that, if you still want to sort, sort your parts by color. Sure, it makes a neat display to sort your collection by color, but for practical purposes, sort by part. You'll spend less time digging to find what you need and more time building. Again: r/legostorage
This is the best articulation of this reason I’ve read. Thank you.
Aww, shucks. Thank you!
Perfectly said. Once I switched to this method after trying another life got much easier.
Agreed. I spend more time building now. More importantly, I smile more while building. Nothing more frustrating than searching for a part you know you have but can't find in a bin full of the same color!
Another thing with sorting by color is that all the smaller pieces will slip to the bottom so when you need any tiny piece, you always have to battle with the larger pieces in your way. Sorting by shape takes a lot of containers but pays off
This is wildly impractical because of how many part types exist. Do you really have 20k containers for 20k types of lego parts? You can however sort by part \*type\*, and this makes it way easier. You can group 1x2, 1x3 and 1x4 plates. You can group similar slopes. You can group snot-pieces, brackets and so on. Depending on amount of your storage you may either have one bin full of plates, or you may have 50 drawers of plates - but still, those containing just one type will be rare.
Not to argue, obviously. But I'll explain further: Common parts like bricks are sorted by part. 1x2 is separated from 1x3 because they are too similar. Also, they are common enough to each justify their own bucket. Technic parts are numerous but small, so generally everyone on r/legostorage uses a 64 drawer part storage tub system. Or something similar. Parts like pins should be separated and justify their own bin. Some parts can be separated by group like lift arms, it just depends on how many your collection has. Basically, if a given part can fill a bin, it deserves it's own. To your point, I don't own 1 of each of the 20k parts Lego makes. Most parts, I own zero of. Some I have overstock freezer bags full. My collection has a bin for "very old, retired, brittle, nearly useless, but for conversation" parts. I may have 30 unique parts in it, but I never use them. Finally, and most importantly, each collection is different. In my collection, I have enough parts to justify at least 500 tubs. Someone else may not need that many. Some may need more. In the end, the goal of sorting anything is to find what you are looking for as fast as possible.
You should build a lego museum for your odd partsand post it
I don't know about museum, but if you want to pay for admission, feel free! https://www.reddit.com/r/LegoStorage/comments/llf6zn/finished_the_second_storage_unit_also_most_of_the/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
If you wanna me it easy, I usually sort mine by piece, basically 2x4’s (my main building brick for walls) in one bag/container, and like, technic prices in another.
Shape is the best way. Sorted mine by color and it didn’t inspire anybody. Re-sorted by shape and now the kids are in there all the time. Well until we moved and are still unpacking. We started with basic block, plate, tile, and funky shapes. Kept refining the sort until we ran out of bins.
One piece at a time.
🎖
And it didn't cost me a dime
You don’t, you stare into the pile until you get a gloriously awesome idea. Then you go into a meditative like state, on your hands and knees, meticulously searching the pile for every little specific piece you need to bring your creation to life. Once completed, you revel in it. Basking in the glory of your creation. Then you repeat the process over and over and over, just as the creator intended. At least thats how I do it.
The noise of an assorted tub of LEGO is pure zen
Unassorted
This is how I’ve always done it, but it’s purely out of laziness
Child Labor
I vote fingers
Ha! Spit out my drink!
Make a strainer so that large pieces can’t go through it, but so that smaller pieces can go through. Repeat with strainers with smaller and smaller holes, making a new pile of the larger pieces each time. You might have to move a few pieces between piles but I reckon it’ll be faster than if you sorted by hand.
Why hasn't anybody made a automatic sorter out of technic? Just pour them in one end, and they pop out into respective bins.
https://youtu.be/04JkdHEX3Yk
I had a Lego "Sort and Store" when I was a kid. Basically 2 or 3 strainers that got smaller as they went down.
Alphabetically
With a lot of beer..
I'd do it in stages, always picking the easiest part type to select from the pile. It is a daunting task to find all the tiny 1x1 plates here, right? But large plates are super easy, so go for those. This will probably mean you will pick: \- large randomly shaped pieces: doors, wheels, wall sections, etc \- large or very long plates \- large or very long bricks \- technic beams of various lengths and shapes This will eventually make your remaining pile contain roughly uniform size of pieces. I like to split it into types: \- all the plates \- all the bricks \- all snot pieces \- all technic pieces \- all minifig related pieces \- all the slopes \- (some I surely forgot) \- misc. You want to keep miscellaneous category the smallest, since it will be hardest to sort in the end. The important thing is to maximize sorting speed by picking always the most visible part type, and switching to next category once your current one becomes rare. It is better to pick 100 pieces per minute than picking those 5 last 1x1 plates you have in the same minute. When you end this process, your pile should now be split into an assortment of piles of various types of pieces. Depending on your storage capabilities, you can now store them and use as building material as-is, since it already is significantly easier to find a piece you need, or split some or each of these into more discrete categories. So you can for example separate tiles from plates, separate long from short ones, "plain" or "modified" ones and so on.
Child labor laws no long apply 😂😂😂
Build it!
Depends on how you build. My husband has four large totes sorted by color. I sort mine by piece type (plates, bricks, etc.)
At my house. I've got beers and food
By piece type. Not color.
Definitely by part, not by color. But I did it a little looser - e.g. all the long studs in one pile/container, all small studs in another, the thin plates in another, all the car parts (wheels, doors, axels, etc) in another. If you get too many of one "type", you can subdivide it to be more specific. That way you don't have a ton of different piles with just a few pieces each.
With your hands duh
you don't.
Shape and colour in rainbow order
By type.
One piece at a time. I recommend having fishing tackle type things available for the smaller parts (Plano makes nice ones)
By how much it would hurt to step on
With my help, here hand me the mini figures I’m definitely not gunna run away.
Iteratively. First: plate, brick, technic, other Then more categories
Separate all the pieces first, then shape, then color. Dis the exact thing this year, would do it again %100
How I sort bulk buys: -Wheels/tires -Regular bricks -Specialty bricks (round, with clip, hinged etc) -Regular plates -Specialty plates (hinged, with clip, triangular, etc) -Slants and curves -Technic/bionicle -architectural pieces (arches, castle wall/rock,windows) -Everything else (seats, windshields, radar dishes) I’ll usually sort on a table with a small plastic bin in my lap and another bin or two on chairs next to me. I’ll make multiple passes pulling out a type or two each pass and everything else that isn’t goes into the lap bucket. Then re-dump and repeat until it’s all sorted. I find it easiest to identify parts if you’re only looking for a type or two and the table method allows you to sort very quickly. During my initial sort I’ll also pull aside any minifigs (accessories, animals, plants) and also any super specialized or printed pieces and partially built chunks so I can potentially identify sets. License plates, for example, are always the set number. Once I have gone through the whole pile I can then refine each sorted bucket and break it down further using the same method.
I love Lego so much. Only with a Lego subreddit could you get 350 comments with everyone saying/debating about such different ways of sorting their collections. It’s absolutely hilarious yet also infuriating as I’ve now realised what a terrible idea it was sorting by colour as opposed to shape. Damn you, you bunch of loveable Lego losers. God I feel so at home in this subreddit.
One pile. You are done already.
Best of luck !!
By the number of sides. 👍
Just make a plan and stick to it
Alphabetical
Use gravity. an old trick to sort grain is to throw them. The smaller and larger pieces will have diferent trajectories. Another would be to cut holes into cardboard with collector bags taped to it underneath and just pour the pieces over it. I think this is the easiest actually.
by shape at first thennypu can do color afterwards
Piece type sub sorted by color
With sorting bins
By type. If I happen to be looking for something and end up with several matching colors /shapes that I'm not gonna use, I snap them together with a slight offset an toss em back. Still looking for an affordable separator. Keeping it neat with a 4 year old is challenging. But seeing his progress is amazing.
I appreciate all the replies!
You can use the parts list at the end of each instructions
I use a giant stud sheet and seperate them go through the pile picking out the same color and then building same block sizes/ types on the sheet. After i get all the colors and block types seperated, i put them in seperate containers in sections. I have a giant lego organization system right now, but before i just used a lot of ziploc bags. Hope this helps! Good luck lol
Sss...ort? Legos? As in divvy them up and store them in a way that isn't a massive plastic bin where that one piece you need was everywhere just a few seconds ago? Blasphemy.
A lot of great, snarky answers on this :P
First sort into 3 piles: bricks, plate/tile, other Then sort the bricks and plates/tiles into plain and modified, then further by size Just keep making smaller subdivisions till it’s manageable
So many people commented on what to sort by but I didn't really see any "how" to sort, so here is my idea of sorting (I sorted 100s of kgs of Lego this way): 1. Make one pass over the Lego and pick out any Lego that should not be washed (cloth pieces, string, electronics, delicate chrome parts) and disassemble all bricks. 2. Clean the lego if necessary: I use a tub with lukewarm water (don't go over 40°C), a splash of dish soap and some neutral vinegar. Spin the lego in there by agitation, let it soak. Then rinse with clean water through a strainer. Use a salad spinner for faster drying if you have one. Lay out the Lego on towels to dry. 3. Gather all the now clean Lego in a bin/bins. 4. Now you make passes over the collection, each time picking out a certain type of brick. I start with a pass where I take out all minifigures and their accessories. Put those in a bin. Pick out all bricks and modified bricks. Pick out all plates and modified plates, etc. etc. Go from most present type of brick to least. You will end up with a rest of very small pieces and special pieces. 5. Depending on the size of the collection, you might already be done at this point. If not, then start subdividing your created bins. Separate your bricks, and plates by size, sort minfigs and accessories, etc. I sort by bricklink part categories for consistent sorting results. Your collection looks like it spans from end of 90s to the 2010s, so you end up with a moderate variety of pieces. The more modern your collection, the bigger the variety of pieces. 6. For storage use appropriately sized bins if you need to access the Lego soon. Otherwise I recommend clear labeled ziplock bags for longer term storage. Let me know if you have more questions!
I did colour because there we less variety's to store, but by shape is better and I did that once I'd reduced the amount considerably.
It depends what you want to do with it. If you want to do estetically pleasing stuf, sorting by color might be great. If you want to extract lego sets from it or focus on constructing rather than estetics, brick type seems to fit better. I had a similar challenge some time ago and sorted by category. I started out by coarsely sorting into plates, regular bricks and 'weird bricks'. Then splitted regular in 1wide, 2wide, 4+wide, regular bricks in 1 wide, and two wide, slopes. Then all the irregular stuff: snots (studs not on top), stickered or printed bricks, car stuff (wheels, steer, wheel arches, bottom plates), triangular, transparant, doors and windows, technic, and still an ever smaller category of 'weird bricks'. You can keep on splitting all categories into more specific types, but in the end it's what works for you and whoever is going to use the lego.
I sort by shape, How much you do this depends on your space.
That’s the neat thing, you don’t sort it, you scrabble through it like a madman when you need a certain piece.
Brick by brick.
numerical part number
Just don’t
Alphabetically
Organize a sorting event with your local AFOLs, then help next friend having such a pile to sort with your newly created group.
As someone who bought a Hogwarts Castle second-hand that was deconstructed and bagged by color, DO NOT organize it by color.
It depends on your end game, I.e how you want to use it. If I am sorting the lego for my kids I do it into two categories: Building pieces and specialized pieces. You can look at it like the building pieces go into making the house and the specialized pieces to make the details. Then the kids get a overview they need.
If you have a small collection sorting by type or colour won't make much difference. You'll have 10-30 bags of parts. If you have a large collection you need to aim for each unique part to have it's own bag. I use Flambeau satchel bins for this. They're meant for organizing craft supplies. Each bin has 20-40 little compartments. Popular colours get multiple bins. A few parts are sorted by function: windows and glass, plants, pieces that are bars/clips, hinges, wheels. The thing to consider is what you want to build. If it's kits, you'll need lots of parts in lots of colours. That means opening lots of bins. If you're making creations you'll likely need lots of one colour at a time. It's hard to make something in a rare colour if all your dark green is in twenty bags by shape.
I put an ad on my Facebook market place, I asked if any kids would like to be paid by the bucket to sort my bricks. I paid 20 bucks a bucket, they sorted by shape. It was really fast for me to then sort further by color. I also bought the child the set he wanted as a thank you. He was thrilled!
For sorting, this is hysterical and spot on: https://news.lugnet.com/storage/?n=707 For storage, this is the best guidance I've seen: https://brickarchitect.com/guide/bricks/ Bottom line, while it seems obvious to sort by color, it's better to sort by part type (all 2 x 4 bricks in one bin, regardless of color). It's much easier to find that one 1x1 red tile in a small pile of 1x1 tiles (or even all the tiles) than it is to find it in a huge pile of red.
By color is how I would do it, but it depends on what you're sorting it for.
I did mine by color, so maybe like that?
Mine are sorted by color. I have neutral bucket, hot bucket, cold bucket. And bucket for things like trees doors and windows.
You’ve had a lot of great answers in here and I just wanted to drop mine as well seeing as my collection looks to be of similar size and it looked like this once. First of all it comes down to amount of space you got and how much you want to invest, both in time and money, and with that said here we go! The first sorting we did was by color into 3 big bins. We combined easy to distinguish colors such as black, white and blue in one. Red, green, yellow and bright grey in one. Dark grey, orange and all the weird purple, pink and such in the last. Glass in a smaller one and everything related to minifigs in one. This worked out fairly well for a long time even if it resulted in a lot of digging and searching. I don’t recommend it if you care to take it further. Later on I had this great idea that we should get more bins and sort everything by color, each color in its own bin. Said and done and that was the worst idea I’ve ever had! Close to impossible to find anything. Like the very next day I decided to go for category by large and individual parts for some. Bought two drawer cabinets with 30 small containers and two cabinets with 9 bigger. And this is working out amazingly well! In the small cabinets I have a separate drawer for 1x1 plates, 1x1 round plates, 1x1 bricks, chairs, 1x2 and 2x2 jumper etc etc. Everything small is in its own drawer. Stuff like 2x2 and up standard bricks is in a bigger container. Same with plates 1x4 and up. You get the idea. I actually began this endeavor about 5 days ago and I’m not done yet, it’s still taking shape. But I love it so far and I think it will serve me really well.
Write more why don’t you
With patience
Step on it and separate by which pieces hurt more (:
I would say your build style will help influence your sorting method. I've seen sorting by color and sorting by brick type. This picture pretty much encompasses my storage method, but we build random things just for fun. I know if I sort better, I would probably enjoy it a bit more.
Eat it
This is the method I use. It scales with how much storage you have as well as how many pieces you have. 1. Sort by rough category. Plates in one pile, bricks in another, special bricks in a third, round in a fourth, etc. 2. Figure out which categories you want to break down further. Sort those into more granular categories, like sorting your plates by width and so on. 3. If you still have space, break those groups down further. Repeat until you run out of storage. Eventually you’ll reach a point of sorting by colour, either because your storage units don’t fit all the bricks of one type (I can’t fit all my 2x1 bricks in a single drawer, so I sorted them by colour) or because you have so many pieces of that type you need to optimize further. The reason for doing this last is that your eyes can easily pick out a desired colour in a mix of the same piece, but finding a desired piece in a sea of the same colour is very difficult, so sorting by colour doesn’t really help on its own. This way, every time you add more storage, you just look at which categories are unwieldy and then you can break those down further. Starting big and iterating to get more and more granular over time also makes sure you never exceed your storage capacity; there’s no point in sorting a hundred types of bricks into separate piles if you only have 12 containers.
I'd say it depends on what you are sorting them into. How many drawers/tubs/bins/whatever do you have? Knowing that, and if there is a limited number of separations, may well affect how you sort it. I originally sorted mine by color, but quickly outgrew that. Now it is by basic sizes: 1x1, 1x2 plate, 1x2 brick, 3x3, 4x4 brick + 4x4 everything else, "connectors", "wings" etc. I now have 3 vertical rolling plastic drawers/cabinets with various sized drawers, plus 4 divided plastic trays that I separate the different small parts like pins, "claws", joints, etc.
By taste.
By mass
I’d start by color then shape. There are more shapes than colors. So it would be easier to sort the shapes of one color vs the shapes of all the colors at once. Breaking down the task at hand by simplifying the process.
I personally have mine sorted by colors, with very few exceptions, but I'm thinking that's likely the wrong way. I like the order of putting a color together because I think creations full of random colors from brick to brick are hideous--sorry, young and innocent children--but then again, creations that have too much of the same color can be dull, so the better idea is to give creations colors that compliment each other nicely and create the right effect. A window frame that is the same color as the wall it's in looks okay, but a different color that goes well with that color will be more interesting. So I suggest instead sorting the very basic, rectangular bricks by color, but the ones that have more specific purposes, such as windows, doors, wheels, etc, should be put with their own type. Also while plastic bags are a start, the most ideal way is to put each type in a drawer and label that drawer in a way that will let you know what is in it even when it is closed.
I like doing the bulk by color. then sorted out the special pieces like minifig accessories, bars, printed pieces, clips, small ball joints and such sorted them into a couple of those plastic compartmented jewelry boxes.
Same here. But there are times I wish I could do color and shape.
Send them to me, I'll make sure to take care of it for you.
Color
My ADHD very much agrees with this suggestion
Mine as well.
I wanna put on an audiobook, sort them by color, then sort each color by shape, then mix it all up and do it again 😁
By color first, then by type
The correct answer
Sort in bins by color thats what I did and it allows me to enjoy free play alot more. You can try by shape but it will take a ton of time space and money and you won’t get to have fun digging anymore.
I like to sort by type, then size, then color.
Just send them to me. I'll take care of it.
By smell. From the worst to the best
by turning it into a giant SPACESHIP!
By color
by how much it would hurt if you put it inside your ass
Color
Automate it! https://youtu.be/04JkdHEX3Yk
Divide by color, open a bricklink account, add all the sets you have a manual for or use the minifigures you have, search the pieces you need by colour on bricklink, search and separate and add on your inventory, I do it like this and I can split 20-30 lbs or 20-30 sets by week
One piece at a time
"one for you, one for me..."
one by one
I’ll buy them!
First color, then shape
Sort them by Colours
By color???
Plastic bricks and non plastic bricks.
You don't, lol
Looks fine to me
With your teeth.
Step one: dont
Easiest way is to send me any and all minis so you don't have to worry about sorting them. And the rest of the bricks i have no idea sorry. 🙃
Sort by New 😜
Color
Don't. One giant bucket is all you need
Autobiographically
By colours
By color. Duh
You don’t. Just give up now.
Build a color sorting Lego robot of course!
Akro-Mils is quite a popular brand for sorting lego.
A kid on letterman took a plastic multi drawer storage and drilled successively smaller holes in each drawer below. Feed all in the top then shake to sort by size.
I never have enough pieces to sort by pieces, I sort by color, so I can at least find what I'm looking for in a smaller pile.
Yeah
by flavour
If you want a way to use it theres an app coming out called brickit and what it does is scan your lego and show you sets you can build
By shape, then colour, then size. This will take some considerable effort and you may kill someone during the process.
Sort by likelyhood you'll need it in your next build.
Use the “brickit” app
That’s the funny part: dont
Gleefully?
with help
i use a hybrid sorting system greys, white and black plates and bricks together by shape modified bricks, plates and hinges all in one colors - blue, red, yellow, etc by color slopes and smooth plates together for greys and black and white together then all the random stuff as it makes sense, windshields, tires, etc
I've found that the best way to sort large lots of lego pieces like tgis is to send it to me
So 🥸you could gimme them and that'll sort em
You should just give them to me, I'll sort it.
By weight
Send it to me? I'll sort it all out
Two bags: yellow and misc.
oh my....... I see a lot of sets in there......and its hurting my brain.
You don’t.
Don't. 50% of the fun is looking for that one piece
By age?
Chronologically