I will be sorting very shortly. I have an 18 gallon Rubbermaid storage container filled with recent LEGO acquisitions that need to 1st be cleaned and then sorted. I’ll clean the bricks with dish detergent and water, shifting them around to loosen the dirt and then washing them off in a 2nd container of clean water. Then I’ll either air dry them outside or place the LEGO in my basement in front of the dehumidifier to dry.

Once cleaned, sorting begins. Like others I sort in several stages. First I sort by color. This is usually when I discover knock off brands and toss them in the trash.

Next I sort by group (brick, slope, plate).

Then I sort by subgroup (1xn, 2xn bricks, reg slope, inverted slopes, 1xn plates, 2xn plates, etc)

Then the individual parts go in Ziploc bags and then are placed in my Sterilite towers for storage.

Then I’ll build!

There will be elements for which you’ll have to do individual scrubbing, but this will get most of the schmutz off.

Anyone know of any device, contraption that can be used to clean your LEGO Bricks other then by hand? I persue Yardi Sales for used Legos and often they are less then clean and so while I have been washig them by hand with a soft brush I’d really like to find some faster, more effienct way to do this. Something like a Lego sized Washing machine. I had considered getting a sallad spinner and using it as a hand powered washing device but what I need is something that can do the brusging/scrubbing when its needed.

Any suggestions?

1. Sort into large general categories (plates, bricks, tiny parts, Technics, and slopes), one Sterilite bin per category.
2. Sub-sort each bin into their appropriate bin/drawer.
2a. For the small stuff, I will actually search the items by color, then type. For example, I’ll pick a color like red, then find all red tiles, then all red cylinders, then all red cones, etc. By picking a color, it essentially makes a smaller pile of bricks to select from. It’s easier on the eyes to find items by color first, and because they are spread amongst the other colors they are easy to spot.

As far as where the blocks go, I have many different sizes of clear drawers. I try to break them up by size/type, but some items like plates are more general (2 x 6 in one bin, 2 x 4 and 2 x 3 in one, 2 x 2 in another). I shift the bricks around when the bin/drawer gets full or too empty).

Then again, I now have two kids who love to help me sort Lego. :p

The only other time you’ll have to sort is when you’re disassembling a MOC or tablescraps, and this shouldn’t be a big problem unless you’re extremely prolific.

Of course, I haven’t been doing this. I’ve been buying so many new sets that I always have a big pile of stuff to sort.

I’m also one who sorts by color first. When I build, it doesn’t make sense to me to have all the colors on hand, just the few that I’m working with. But I’m too obsessive compulsive about sorting. Everything gets completely sorted by shape after they are sorted by color. This probably means that sorting takes far too long.

Sorting stage 1 – disassembly, gives me a huge pile of stuff to sort.
Stage 2 – sort into ziploc bags by color
Stage 3 – sort by shape. Bricks and plates and large items get set to the side because they don’t fit nicely with the other stuff.
Stage 4 – Bricks, plates, and large items(bigger than 6×6).

I have a few rules for my sorting:

1. If at all possible, sort the pieces from a decommissioned set or MOC while disassembling. This increases the sort speed, since a MOC generally contains a lot of similar parts and or colors.

2. Sorting Hierarchy – with a large bin of parts and semi-MOCs, I perform a hierarchical sort:
A) Really big pieces – baseplates, large plates, long beams, etc
B) big chunks of MOCs- if there are any partially assembled chunks like walls, those get sorted and disassembled next, since they are mostly like-colored basic bricks.
C) Then the sub-sorting begins

3. Sub-sorting.
A) Each ‘batch’ (a lap tray) gets sorted into basic categories first. Bricks, plates, technic, slopes, minifig accessories, hinges, etc.
B) Each of those categories then gets sub-sorted into more specific categories 1x vs 2x bricks, 1x vs 2x plates, minifig body parts vs tools, technic I use a lot vs rare usage
C) Finally, each of those sub-categories get sorted down to exact matches for my storage bins. That way I can dump each final sort category into the appropriate Stack-On drawer.

This system does a few things that I really like.
1. It gets the huge stuff out of the way quickly, making getting to the rest easier
2. It reduces the overwhelming feeling of tackling an entire unsorted bin.
3. It allows me to recoup some of the high priority parts that I may need for a current build before sorting is completely finished. (Cheese, hinges, SNOT bricks)

Lego has a much higher kinetic coefficient of friction than Megabloks and therefore a lower aerial viscosity. If one neglects angular torque, which is negligible except at Planck lengths and speeds approaching the speed of light, a quick calculation using Tensor calculus yields the following fact: By simply tossing your collection out a window (minimum height: 512 feet) all of the Megabloks will clearly hit the ground first. Collect them quickly before the genuine bricks hit.

I do have some special bricks in their own bag regardless of color, i.e. headlight bricks are together or Plate 1X2 W. 1 Knob or Minifig accessories…

Because of the variety of tubs I use and their tendency to segragate or expand as I bring in more bricks my system evolves nicely and sorts out pretty simply. The system isn’t very space efficient with all the different tub sizes stacked up in the lab and it’s not the best system for building. I still have very large sorts that I have to mill through in order to get specific pieces.

My system just like everyone elses suits my style as a builder. I like the sensation of part-hunting and the sound of bricks rolling over each other as I till for parts. I like finding parts I hadn’t considderred using and thinking of ways to incorporate them into the build.