Paging #Lego experts. How do you organise and sort bricks? This *feels* like there should be an optimal, systematic method for finding what you need.
We've got about 45 years worth of Lego and are trying to sort, especially for ones where we have the instruction booklets. Some sets are partially intact from kiddo's shelf, but we will need to ensure all parts are there before we can move these on.
E.g. purely by colour? Types e.g. plates and standard blocks, and then colour / size for all the random tiny pieces?
@davoloid Brick Architect has a great guide that I use for my own collection which I highly recommend. Type first, then color as needed. Your eyes can pick out a tan piece from a bin of 1x1 tiles easier than it can pick out a 1x1 tile from a bin of tan pieces. https://brickarchitect.com/guide/bricks/
Personally, I moved interstate last summer and, due to time constraints, had to toss about 10-12k Lego in a single large bin. I've been going back through it by pulling out individual classes (bricks, plates, SNOT, etc.). From there, pick one pile and start breaking it down. 1x1 bricks, then 1x2 bricks, etc. My collection is of a size such that I have to break a lot of pieces down by color to fit in individual buckets, but your mileage may vary. When any single bin starts to overfill, take it out and break it down into colors. You don't have to separate all colors at once. I have lots of parts where the white/light grey/dark grey/black pieces or various browns share a bin.
I'm happy to provide any other insight as needed! Happy sorting!
@NotYourSysadmin Cheers, I guess the problem we have is there are so many *types*, so hard to work out less than a dozen categories even at first go.
@davoloid You can use that guide I linked to narrow down things to about a dozen categories. The more you sort through, the faster you'll get at identifying a piece's category.