How to Sort Bulk LEGO! 

Hey everyone! Here is the link for the small storage bins I use in the drawers! It is also linked in the description! There are many variations of the same product from different sellers of this bin and so I just would find ones that were on sale when I could! --> tinyurl.com/ph6mn53u

How do you have only 700 sub? The production quality of these videos is top notch!

Saw a video on sorting that said to sort by type instead of by colour. Example: if you want a red 1x2, it's a lot easier to spot the colour in a bin of other 1x2s, rather then trying to find it in a bin of all-red 1x1 & 1x2 & 1x3 etc bricks....... Obvious I know, but makes a lot of sense.

We constantly have this discussion in our LUG. My opinion is that you need to know what you are sorting for (and how much Lego you own). Sorting by type is great if your goal is being able to find a single brick quickly. And it's also great for small collections (

This is great. I’ve started a lot of bulk sorting and this really gives me a lot of direction. :)

Thanks for sharing. We’ve got multiple bulk lots to sort and this is super helpful.

When you said pre-sort I got confused lol, you were on sort two at the very least ;) . First sort for me of a bulk load is normally to remove rubbish ,nails, obvious non Lego and mini figs / parts. Then maybe a wash and then a second sort which is kinda like your sort to remove basic bricks - except I’ll remove basic plates , larger slopes and a couple of other categories. Third sort removes modified plates and modified bricks - a tyre and windscreen dump too depending how I feel I might take a couple more types out too at this point , each stage / sort is put into its own gripseal bag or storage box ready for a final sort. I probably find it more therapeutic than most so I don’t mind an extra level of sorting , although there are days I don’t want to either ;)

Good video - nice, clear explanation. Iterative sorting is the way to go when you have a lot. Even just disassembling a larger set you’ll probably want to do this. Two suggestions/additions: 1: choose those temporary groupings based not just on part similarity, but also on distinguishability and where they will eventually end up. Frex, if you have 1x2 slopes, 2x2 slopes, technic friction pins, and technic 2-long axles, but only 2 bins to sort them into, it might make more sense to put the 1x2 slopes and friction pins in one, and the 2x2 slopes and axles in the other, so that when you do the next step of actually putting them away, it will be easier to quickly separate them. The real world examples tend to be more complex, but the principle is the same. I’ll usually be using around half a dozen bins at this stage, and that’s not enough categories. If I put tiles and plates into the same bin, they’re hard to sort through later. But if I put tiles and minifig parts in one bin, and plates and transparent parts in another, the two larger categories of parts in each bin are fairly easy to identify and separate. As for where they end up, that depends on your sorting system, and might be at odds with the previous advice. In which case you’ll have to decide which is more helpful. Frex, my various small technic bits (pins, axles, connectors) are on one side of the storage bins/drawers, but the technic beams and panels are on the other side. So I might not put them in the same pre-sort bin. But the other thing that is in the same sets of drawers as the technic connectors/pins/axles are most of the bar pieces, all the printed/stickered tiles, and the old-school finger hinges. So I often put them all in the same pre-sort bin. Similarly, I have a bunch of parts stored in tubs under the table. There’s no particular commonality to which parts are in those tubs. Some are there because they’re rarely-used parts (pirate cannons, non-Elves minidolls). Some because they’re too large or awkwardly shaped to fit well in any of the drawers I have (large animal wings, large wheel and tires). Some because I have so many of a part that that just makes the most sense (my 1x2 bricks are sorted by color into half-a-dozen* containers). So when I pre-sort, anything that goes into _any_ of those tubs might go into one bin. There’s nothing particularly similar about those parts, but it means that when I want to final-sort that pre-sort bin, all the places I want to sort into are in physical proximity (and, in this case, I can open and spread out a whole bunch of those tubs just once, sort out the bin in hand, and then put them away again). * don’t have the space or appropriate storage to completely sort out my 1x2 bricks by color, but also have way too many to just be in one giant bin. So they’re grouped to make it easy to find them and to keep difficult-to-distinguish parts apart and partly on what colors I have more of: black, white, and bluish grays; browns and tans; non-brown warm colors: reds, oranges, yellows, and the reddish purples; greens, including yellowish green, and blue-greens (i.e., dark turquoise); azures, blues and bluish purples; old grays and rare colors (anything I have too few of to easily find in the other bins: finding my 4 blue-violet 1x2 bricks amongst 15 cups of blue-ish 1x2 bricks would be a nightmare). I use similar breakdowns for other parts I have in large quantities. Often greens don’t merit being broken out from the rest of the cool colors, sometimes I have enough purples to make them their own group; sometimes browns get lumped in with the other warm colors; sometimes all the colors go together. My 1x4 bricks are split into cools + bluish-grays + white, and warms + old grays + black. The old grays are warm tones and the bluish grays are cool, but the black/white split is arbitrary, based mostly on quantities. But also on keeping dark green away from black, so I don’t have to distinguish between them. My 2x6 plates, however, are split into black/white/light bluish gray/dark bluish gray, and everything else - because it turns out I have more of those four colors than everything else out together. And I don’t even buy much Star Wars! 😉

This was really interesting: you seem very honest with your filming, you seem to be portraying a version of you that isn’t the “camera” version of you but simply your Lego loving self; it’s really lovely to see - I look forward to sorting my Lego in the coming weeks and using your approach and ideas as a great springboard into enjoying the fun of sorting. As much fun as building is, I find sorting incredibly therapeutic (almost as much, if not more so, than the building itself: no mental gymnastics of whether a part looks good there or not - just pure sorting using instinct to relate objects to one another in various mental ways. There is no right or wrong way - there is only yOur way, which is whatever way simply feels best to you - and it’s so much fun to simply enjoy your own choices. I’m so pleasantly surprised to have this video pop up to me on RU-vid and I just wanted to say thank you for sharing your joy in the world. Whilst we may likely never meet, I’m glad to have met you sir. Good day 🙏☺️🙌☀️

Hanging out and sorting Lego sounds so zen to me.

Some great thoughts, appreciate it!

I like to have one container that I use to scoop Lego off the top of the bulk lot and then sort into multiple smaller containers. They can then be emptied into their correct place. I use those very cheap clear disposable plastic containers. I bought a pack of 50 when I started a couple of years back and I still use the same ones over and over. I enjoyed your video.

Just when I thought there couldn’t possibly be any more types of sorting, Jim introduces me to “pre-sorting” 😅😂

Hello!! Just came across your channel and have been watching your progress of sorting. Very cool to see that your sorting processes is very very similar to how I sort. I find sorting very therapeutic when times are “rough”. I’ve been collecting for 10 years now and the organizing keeps revolving and tweaking the bigger certain stashes get 😊. I just hate those “odd-parts” I call Misc and go into the “mix” bin and then that overflows😆

6:40 every time I see that Mr. Freeze hose it makes me think of those wax juice bottle candies 😂

wait those are connectors to you, never knew any one called them that. Great video as always and loving the content

Just found your channel and subscribed. I am in the process of remodelling my own LEGO room, so that my daughter and I can both work on things together easier, and your sorting is very similar to mine (although I think I have ended up with more categories because I got too much bulk, heh). Still trying to figure out what to do with the "extra" lego that we will never use, beyond sticking them in a box and forgetting about them at the bottom of a closet.

I'm a little proud of myself - that's exactly what I did when I was gifted bulk LEGO. :)

This is how ive always done it too, i like to use solo cups to sort, super cheap

Thank you for the advice my full time job is in food service. I started collecting empty spice containers for my sorting needs.

I only have technic. I sort generally by application/use, unless size or quantity or colour justifies a more specific category. EG: black&grey straight liftarms are together, all other colours are in a different box. If I'm sorting a SET to keep it together. I'll bags it roughly similar to the way lego bags them (by size and not combining visually similar parts that can be lost in a sea of colour. Ignoring numbered stages unless its a very big set)

Great content keep it up! when is the next upload?

I finally got my Lego room sort on the right path. Only took YEARS😂 Sub number 670

you are a cool guy

I started doing all the main colors into there own bins. Found out that's not the greatest way. My problem is all the different colored sized pieces. Where you get all these little bins?

I have about 8 very big bins (bout 3 4 feet long), Im yet to go through and clean it, some of the pieces are very old and have stickers, I was wondering if it could damage them at all?

How do you sort / reassemble minifigs?

i would've just dump the bulk lego on the ground, and sort each different size and type of pieces, if i have enough room

computer scientist approved

I'm the 66th comment. Fitting 😂