The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest Craftsman Tool Club

Unfortunatly, in my case, Craftsman doesn't have a box big enough to handle all of my tools! My "office". I also have 2 more Mac boxes at home. Funny part is that I actually work for Sears in the Auto Center!

I have been a Crasftsman Club member for years.Never got a 1/2 off deal though.Its usually 10 percent.As for Longbox55 there are Craftsman boxes many times bigger than that Snap On box.And I am no fan of Sears,however their hand tools and tool chests are AOK with me.

Each to his own and whatever works for him. I have a little of everybodys tools!!
I have a craftsman club brochure on my table now that they send out when the sale goes on. Sale goes off Oct. 18 which is tomorrow. On the FRONT cover page is an ad that says save over $700...special member price. Which is 50% off. Its a 22 Drawer, ball bearing combo. Sometimes I see something I want and sometimes I don't.

Here at the local sears store they run a bang up christmas sale. Its the only time in my life I got up at 5 am for a 6 o'clock opening but when they run the regular $25 "sets" for $10 bucks its hard to beat and I can do my christmas shopping for my pals in one stop! In fact, its the ONLY time of the year I go to "westgate mall"!!!!

I had to upgrade to a bigger box. http://www.bunchobikes.com/toolbox.jpg That's about 12' of stainless on top. Didn't realize how many tools I had until I ended up filling all the drawers! My old green Mac is to the left. Went from a triple bank to a five bank. The biggest Snapon makes. And I can still add top boxes, lockers and hutches if I want. But I probably won't. Maybe just one hutch on one side. They are nice for locking stuff in when you don't have time to put it all away!

As for Craftsman, we got a couple of their big industrial boxes for the shop's heavy tools. Within a week, one of the drawers had ripped away from the mounting. We'll have to get in there one of these days to fix it. I have one of the professional series box risers on my work truck. I'm not real impressed with the lock mechanism. One tug on the drawer and it can be easily opened, bending the lock tab. Other than that, the ball bearing sliders are real nice. Drawers could be deeper. Less fluff, more storage would help, too!

My box is the step up from the smallest Masters Series that Snap-On makes, and while the largest Craftsman Pro-Line box is slightly larger, the actual storage space is smaller. The Drawers are not as large. I did alot of checking before I made my decision. The Snap-On box is also rated at more weight capacity, and I do actually have tools that require the full width drawers, which Craftsman does not offer.
BTW, Craftsman boxes are manufactured by Waterloo.

I'm putting my pennies aside for the huge Craftsman box with the built in frige and iPod amplifier.

I like the one with the built in radio and shower. Also has the cot, too!

With the new tool boxes they are a lot of fluff that is really not needed today for example if you have a radio in one that just takes up space for tools. You hear that Mac or Snap On or Matco are the better of the tool boxes If you did a little research I bet the boxes are all made in the same place by the same company. I will give you a example of the hand tools that I have in the 60 degree off set wrenchs the Snap-On cost at the time $574.00 and the Mac cost $425.00 and you can lay both over one another and they are the exact same wrench right down to the way they are made. I believe these tools are put out for bid and who ever gives the the best price gets the job to make 500,000 to 1,000,000 run of that particular wrench. Now I just might be wrong on this but why spend the extra money on tooling when you can farm it out.
62Blue.
Don

Not true. I've owned / own Snapon, Mac, Cornwell, Proto and Craftsman. There is a world of difference between a Snapon / Mac box and a Craftsman / Proto box. They are definitely not made by the same company. I believe it is the Snapon web site that has video comparing construction and testing of the various manufacturers tool boxes.


Again, I own Snapon, Mac, Cornwell, Matco, Proto and Craftsman wrenches. There are big differences in all of these wrenches. With the sharp ridges on Craftsman wrenches, they will hurt the hands much more than a smooth Snapon wrench! http://www.bunchobikes.com/wrenches.jpg Plus, the fit on the fastener is not as snug on a Craftsman wrench as it is on a Snapon wrench. I can round a head easily with a Craftsman wrench as opposed to one of the higher end wrenches.

I delivered steel to a small company in Colorado Springs in the 70's that had a Craftsman contract for box end wrenches...a lot of the tools are farmed out, but are made to whatever specs they want..so a company could make Craftsman, S-K or whatever, but to each company's specs...

As for boxes, I've still got the Craftsman 10 drawer top chest I bought new in 1966, under it is a SnapOn 2 drawer intermediate and a SnapOn roller cabinet with side cabinet that I got for $85 from a retiring mechanic..Also have a 9 drawer Craftsman Roller cabinet bought new in 1983 with a MAC top chest I got at a yard sale..

My best find was a MAC Road Box for $15 at a moving sale..the empty chest weighs 105# and has mounts for bolting it down..I put this on my 49 4400..

I plan on treating myself to a new box as soon as I finish the truck. The one I have now is a neat little model with a large area between the top draws and the bottom draws and storage that holds the socket set I have neatly.

When the truck is finished I plan on putting grey and white tile on the floor to give the garage a cleaner look and dress it up a little.

Why wait? you won't need it when the truck is done ....oooh, tile floors. I've seen them black and white but then who wants to be like everyone else

Be sure to post us a picture.

My most recent new tool box is 2800 sq ft, has a 6" concrete floor, 200 amp service, tons of outlets, several welder outlets, a 10'x 10' and 12'x 12' OHD, full bath, 15'x22' office w/ ceramic tile floor, fully insulated and steel lined ceiling. Now that's a tool box!

and yes, I even have a couple of roller cabinets. No....I didn't get it at Sears.

C'mon now. That's a work space, not a tool box. And, actually, this is a work space!

http://www.bunchobikes.com/firetruck6.jpg
http://www.bunchobikes.com/pomona1.jpg
http://www.bunchobikes.com/pomona2.jpg
http://www.bunchobikes.com/1952suburban14.jpg

Now you don't want me to go in to floor square footage, door heights, crane capacity, multitude of phases / voltages available, numbers of welders / machines, types of machines, number of and square footages of offices, restroom facilities, size of wash bay, size of yard, size of paint booth, size of second garage space faciltiy, etc. Do you??

This is where a great percentage of my life is spent these days. This facilty used to build boom trucks back in the eighties. These days, the trucks are at the end of their life cycle, so they are being scrapped there.

Go ahead..fire away. I like to see what folks have. But I'm talking about personal garages, not where you work.

I have a STANDARD 2 bay garage with all the normal kid bikes, christmas trees, and STUFF that has not found a new home yet.....
Brad

My tool box is a 5 gallon plastic pail. Works good but the wrench I need is always on the bottom.

Weeds

My shop is a 36X 39 pole bldg. that I use for everything. In one side of it and area of 15X36 I have a woodworking shop. The rest of the area 36x24 is where I work on my vehicles at.It has an upstairs for storage.My toolbox is an older Craftsnman three piece roller box with top chest,and intermediate storage.I am probably like everyone else,in that I wish the shop was bigger,and my tool chest was bigger and loaded with more tools.