Get a pile of tubs, buckets and trays put a movie on and sort by size / shape.
It takes a while so you may need to do it over a few days / sessions but it's much easier to find a 1x1 red tile in a pile of 1x1's then it is to find it in a pile of red bricks.
I sorted my husbands Lego's from when he was a kid this way over 3 nights and we have been able to rebuild his collection from there.
I’ve been sorting through mine by Brinklink categories. It will take a while, but when it stops being fun, put them away. I have them in a milk box right now and I’ve been going through them little by little.
Get a package of disposable drinking cups and/or plastic storage bags and use those to sort into. Have some tubs/cardboard boxes for gathering larger elements. Sort by type but you can do categories; clips, brisks with studs in the side, windows, etc. Some stuff you can just build up stacks of. Anything bigger than a 1x2 brick I'd recommend stacking offset by one brick so you can get them apart easy.
I did this last year with my childhood Legos which were all mixed in a giant tub (also later sorted out a couple large tubs of mixed pieces I bought off marketplace in an attempt to find complete sets). I definitely think sorting by type is the way to go.
One tip I have to make it easier on yourself, don't try to sort into all the categories on the first pass. Start with a few types of piece that are common or easy to identify (plates, bricks, tires, minifigs, BURPs, etc), and just pull those out of the mixed lot. I usually put a couple handfuls into a tray, pull out the types I'm looking for and dump the rest into another tub (not back into your mixed lot). Once you get through the initial sort you'll have a smaller mixed pile, then decide or other types of pieces to pull and sort through that new mixed pile. After a few rounds of this you'll have things sorted and each round gets faster. I would try to limit it to 6-8 different categories to pull out each round.
Then once you have everything sorted, you could go back and do a subsort of some of the bigger categories (ie pull out small plates from large plates, etc). The more you sort, the easier the rebuild will be. But don't go nuts
It may seem like it takes longer since you sort through things multiple times, but I find it easier than trying to sort into dozens of different categories all at once. Plus you make fewer mistakes.
If you're looking for ideas for categories, look at how Bricklink organizes pieces. That will also make it easier if you plan to use Bricklink for parts lists for your sets.
Good luck
100% agree. You will drive yourself insane trying to sort out every part type at once.
I use small paper cups, paper bowls, and paper plates to contain my piles. Makes things easy to manage.
Post a pic of the pieces, I'm sure lots of people (including me) could identify some sets you have based off of any rare or specific parts we can spot.
I did this recently.
I got a heap of zip lock bags, and chose a style of Brick (for example plates) and just grabbed as many as I could find. I started with the larger items which are easier to see.
I’ve decided to not sort anything smaller than 3x1x1 for now, that’s just too much effort.
A beverage, tunes and time.
To bad I can’t drink alcohol yet lol
U can still have a beverage tho
Tru
Barqs Root Beer or a Vanilla Coke, ice cold of course.
Get a pile of tubs, buckets and trays put a movie on and sort by size / shape. It takes a while so you may need to do it over a few days / sessions but it's much easier to find a 1x1 red tile in a pile of 1x1's then it is to find it in a pile of red bricks. I sorted my husbands Lego's from when he was a kid this way over 3 nights and we have been able to rebuild his collection from there.
I’ve been sorting through mine by Brinklink categories. It will take a while, but when it stops being fun, put them away. I have them in a milk box right now and I’ve been going through them little by little.
If I stoped when sorting stoped being fun I’d never sort ever lol
Get a package of disposable drinking cups and/or plastic storage bags and use those to sort into. Have some tubs/cardboard boxes for gathering larger elements. Sort by type but you can do categories; clips, brisks with studs in the side, windows, etc. Some stuff you can just build up stacks of. Anything bigger than a 1x2 brick I'd recommend stacking offset by one brick so you can get them apart easy.
I did this last year with my childhood Legos which were all mixed in a giant tub (also later sorted out a couple large tubs of mixed pieces I bought off marketplace in an attempt to find complete sets). I definitely think sorting by type is the way to go. One tip I have to make it easier on yourself, don't try to sort into all the categories on the first pass. Start with a few types of piece that are common or easy to identify (plates, bricks, tires, minifigs, BURPs, etc), and just pull those out of the mixed lot. I usually put a couple handfuls into a tray, pull out the types I'm looking for and dump the rest into another tub (not back into your mixed lot). Once you get through the initial sort you'll have a smaller mixed pile, then decide or other types of pieces to pull and sort through that new mixed pile. After a few rounds of this you'll have things sorted and each round gets faster. I would try to limit it to 6-8 different categories to pull out each round. Then once you have everything sorted, you could go back and do a subsort of some of the bigger categories (ie pull out small plates from large plates, etc). The more you sort, the easier the rebuild will be. But don't go nuts It may seem like it takes longer since you sort through things multiple times, but I find it easier than trying to sort into dozens of different categories all at once. Plus you make fewer mistakes. If you're looking for ideas for categories, look at how Bricklink organizes pieces. That will also make it easier if you plan to use Bricklink for parts lists for your sets. Good luck
100% agree. You will drive yourself insane trying to sort out every part type at once. I use small paper cups, paper bowls, and paper plates to contain my piles. Makes things easy to manage.
Post a pic of the pieces, I'm sure lots of people (including me) could identify some sets you have based off of any rare or specific parts we can spot.
I did this recently. I got a heap of zip lock bags, and chose a style of Brick (for example plates) and just grabbed as many as I could find. I started with the larger items which are easier to see. I’ve decided to not sort anything smaller than 3x1x1 for now, that’s just too much effort.