toolbox recommendation

[dilbert firestorm]

does anyone have a good recommendation on a tool box? I'd like to get a bigger one. my small tool box apparently can not take in some of the tools I've accumulated. :(

[Tegger]

dilbert firestorm wrote in news:grudnTnqc8KOgI_TnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

How many tools? Enough that you need wheels on the box?

Go to Lowe's. Lots of choices there, from little to huge.

[DerbyDad03]

This is a really great place to find tool boxes of various shapes and sizes.

I've used this source lots of times, as have many of my friends.

[Joe]

1) SnapOn 2) Matco 3) Mac 4) Everything else.

Look in Craigslist, eBay, for quality used boxes. if new is more than your budget. If you find a good one, such as the list above, take a friend with you to help move it...they are well built, and heavy as a result. For most serious DIY people a toolbox will have very long term utility. Buy it right and buy it once and you won't curse the shortcomings of the box store junk.

Joe

[N8N]

Waterloo makes a halfway decent toolbox, but they don't have the name recognition of the brands you mention.

nate

[Vic Smith]

On Tue, 5 Jul 2011 10:34:50 -0700 (PDT), Joe wrote:

Dilbert didn't say what tools he has and uses. Unless you're wheeling it around to your work, like a garage mechanic, big, wheeled shop toolboxes don't make much sense. Smaller boxes don't need a friend to help you move them, and can be organized so they don't take up floor space. My DIY usually means toting tools between the garage and house, and car if I'm working for a friend or relative. My favorite box was a little metal Craftsman about 20" long 8" wide and 4" high. You couldn't make it too heavy, but it carried 3 socket sets, full combo wrench set (1" max), screwdrivers, channel locks, visegrips and any other small tool I needed for a job. It had a short tapered metal rail along one bottom edge which held most the sockets. Extras were loose in the box along with the combos and everything else. But the box was shallow enough that you could see everything you needed to grab. No rummaging around to find something. Ran over it with my car and broke the hinge, but I used that box for many years. Still looking for one similar. Now I'm using the plastic socket set boxes and totable but still too heavy box for the rest. Lost my efficiency. Keep my sharp bladed tools, small sets like punches, measuring tools, and "specialty" tools in a 5 drawer box. I can still tote that box, but hardly ever do. Only bring what I need to a job. I use a carpenter's box to tote saws, pipe wrenches, and long stuff. Heavy and long stuff is hung on pegboard and not kept in a box. Bulky stuff like power saws and drills sit on shelves. I keep that stuff in the original case if they came with one. I've got a strapped canvas bag to carry those if I'm taking more than one. 'Course everybody has their own methods. But you should think about tool portability before you buy a wheeled box. My son is a professional auto mechanic and has the big chests at work, but never brings those tools out of the garage. He has other tool sets and boxes for outside work, no big boxes.

--Vic

[Steve B]

The answer is yes, no, absolutely, maybe, and I don't have a clue.

They make so many tool boxes because of different craftsmen.

The Kennedy barn shaped boxes are great for the guy who carries lots of little tools, or needs small compartments for fasteners. It also has a large open area in the bottom for large tools.

The long one, like Craftsman, have the tray with the separators for the sockets, and that's handy. Some have additional separators. They also have the area under the tray for long tools.

Some toolboxes have slider trays for guys like machinists that have specialty tools, or slider trays for electrical connectors or shrinks.

I have seen toolboxes that look exactly like brief cases, some of them metal. They were for computer geeks, and craftsman who worked with lots of small very expensive tools, and took them with them on airplane travel.

There is no tool box that fits all needs. Assess your needs. Lay out the tools you want to carry, and look for a box to fit those needs. I recently sold three Kennedy's at a yard sale for $5 each, every one of them to an excited young man who looked like he needed a quality tool box. You don't have to spend an arm and a leg, just look around.

The old stuff is better than the new stuff, too.

Steve

Heart surgery pending?

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[deadgoose]

I tend to have multiple tool boxes.... automotive tools, woodworks, general household repairs, small tools for electronics, gun smithing tools, etc. Also a "tote" for just those you need for a given job is useful. Most of the time, my major tools are on a peg board above my workbench. You don't want anything larger than, when full, that you can comfortably carry. I have not tried the "soft sided" or bucket tool carriers.