Tool Chest opinions please

[Frankingun]

In my ever-longing saga to organize my life, I need to get a bigger tool chest for the garage. I like several of the 41 inch rolling chests I've seen, though Craftsman seems to have stopped making one with a full-width drawer. What do you guys think of this one from Lowe's\Kobalt? The price at $514 is good, and yes, I realize it's Chicom. I don't turn wrenches for a living. Though I'm waiting for my hopechange to come in, and who knows wtf will happen.

I could probably get away with something in the 36 inch range. I would like at least one drawer for now that is wider than the standard one in a 26 inch wide chest - I have a torque wrench and a pry bar that are a little too long. On the Kobalt, I do like the wide drawer and the different depth drawers. Or if you know of something similar, but better or cheaper, please chime in!

[Catbird]

You have Craftsman at one end of the spectrum and Snap-On at the other. Craftsman is ok if you are looking to save money and you won't be using it very hard. Snap-On is for when quality is of utmost importance and cost is not.

I'm a big fan of Kennedy tool chests. They are almost as good and about 1/3 the price of an equivalent Snap-On box. They're American made and have been around a long time. I have this roll cabinet and this top box.

The giant stainless steel boxes from Lowe's, Costco, etc. seem too good to be true, but I've never seriously looked in to buying one.

[Old Grafton]

Haunt FleaBay and CraigsList EVERY day. There are some real deals once in a while on Cornwell, Matco and Snap-On tool storage if you're able to drive to 'em and have a truck to haul 'em. I own seven really large Snap-On units and didn't buy ONE from a Snap-On dealer. The most I spent was $1300 for a minty huge 7100 unit (I have two) and I found a 54-inch rollcab in New York for $500 which needed a repaint (paintcode is on the back of all modern Snap-On cabinets) which I did myself. The Snap-Ons have a lifetime warranty so a bad caster or worn-out drawer slides are covered and they are solid. Double-walled construction, nothing tinny about them.

An example:

http://cleveland.craigslist.org/tls/1743367546.html

Another:

http://cleveland.craigslist.org/tls/1743066510.html

[Netpackrat]

I've always been happy with the plain Craftsman tool chests with the non roller slides. The clue which a lot of people seem to miss, is put a little grease on the slides when you buy it. Most of the guys I work with have snap on tool chests and I have never understood how they can spend that kind of money on what is just a box to keep your tools in. I'm as big a fan of nice equipment as the next guy, but I've seen craftsman chests that were used and overloaded for at least 20 years, and I haven't seen one fail in any major way.

[rightisright]

+1 on the Craftsman boxes.

I had a friend (who sadly passed away) who was a top-flight mechanic. He built and raced cars/boats on a national level.

He had all top of the line tools (Snap-On, Matco, etc.). All kept in Craftsman boxes. Like NPR, he though it was a complete waste of money to buy the $10K Snap-On boxes.

[Highspeed]

+1 on the Craftsman boxes.

I had a friend (who sadly passed away) who was a top-flight mechanic. He built and raced cars/boats on a national level.

He had all top of the line tools (Snap-On, Matco, etc.). All kept in Craftsman boxes. Like NPR, he though it was a complete waste of money to buy the $10K Snap-On boxes.

I'm not familiar with Craftsman boxes, but I have worked much of my life using hand tools and I think I have the same attitude as your friend ( lord bless him ).

I've got professional quality tools in ( good quality ) DIY store boxes.

I do have a Snap On top box as well, but it just came along for the right price

[Frankingun]

I took another look at the Kobalt, and decided to pass. I'm probably going to sell the table in the garage that I've been using for a workbench and the top of the Kobalt cabinet looks a little wonky. I already have some tools that won't fit crosswise in the standard drawer on a 26" cabinet, which is only 22 38" wide, so if I'm going to spend money on something new, I want that wide top drawer. I'm currently looking at some Waterloo cabinets that have a lip on the top with an MDF worksurface. IIRC, Waterloo makes most of the Craftsman chests and cabinets.

Just saw Chris' post as I tried to submit and wanted to add that many of my garage tools are Craftsman, but I have a mishmash of others, mainly Harbor Freight and a few bits from the tool aisle at the auto parts store. So, the brand of box I buy doesn't really matter, I just need the space.

I will not worry too much about having ball bearing slides all over the cabinet. I do appreciate the opinions you guys have given me, and out of all the gun boards I've wasted time on, the Guncounter is the best.

[mekender]

I have a no-name box that is very similar to the first combo that Chris listed. The lower Part of mine has a swing up door instead of the bottom 3 drawers. This thing has got to be 15 years old and it's primary color is rust. I have seen similar at walmart for around $75

[gandalf23]

I've got an older (70s) Diston(? maybe Deston) roll around box that I got cheap on Craigslist. Has ball bearing rollers. It replaced a much newer Diston/Deston that did not have ball bearing rollers. Then I bought an older Craftsman roll around box (with ball bearings), and a Kennedy roll around machinist's set, also all via Craigslist. I think I have less than $400 total in all three, and they serve pretty well, although if I see another similar quality one for cheap I'll get it as I recently bought 100+ chisels and am out of room to store them.

My dad got a big Snap-on roll around for cheap. He found a guy at a flea market selling broken/busted snap-ons for 5-10% of retail price, and bought them all. Then he traded them to a snap-on dealer for the equivalent in new retail value of the tools, and was able to get the roll-around that way. Also it was a return as it had a scratch in the side, so it was even cheaper. He also has two Kennedy roll around machinist's chests and is looking for a third.

The first Diston that I bought, the one without ball bearing rollers, I thought it wouldn't matter if it had them or not. My dad warned me, and damnit he turned out to be right. Sure it was easy to open the drawers when they were empty, but load them up with hand tools and it was a real bitch to open and close the drawers. I learned my lesson. And now my cousin has that Diston toolbox

[HTRN]

How did I miss this thread?

Okay, like others have mentioned, I'm a big fan of Craftsman boxes(Yes, Matco/Snapon/etc are made better, but not for the money they charge). Personally, I like the ball bearing equipped 40 inch models, ideally with a riser with a full width drawer(for all those extra long tools like big pipe wrenches).

For work, I use Kennedy boxes(two sets of them in fact) - right now I'm only using the toolbox and risers, so they can sit on top of a work bench in easy reach.

Gerstner makes really nice wooden toolboxs, but I don't think I'd use one in a machine shop - every wooden box I've seen gets grungy after a coupla years in a shop, so spending big money on something that looks like crap in short order doesn't make sense. They also now make some of their boxes in China, for somewhat less money, so be careful if you do decide to buy one.


HTRN