[AT] Tool boxes

Rick Weaver weaver at midsouth.rr.com
Thu Dec 2 20:21:17 PST 2004


Farmer,

I do the same thing - I like to have my tools portable where I can use them,
and they're grouped like yours are.  Wrenches in one, 1/4 sockets in one,
3/8 in one, 1/2 in one, and the big incher in yet another.  Trouble is, I
keep digging for just the right wrench, or trying to find the right socket.
And those D*** metric ones keep jumping into my hand when I'm looking for an
SAE one.

Problem is, in my garage, there's not enough shelf space for them all.

Still waiting to build that 30x40 shop.  *sigh*

Rick

-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of Francis Robinson
Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2004 9:46 AM
To: A.T.I.S.
Subject: [AT] Tool boxes

	Willard's post got me thinking about this... As a tool nut I also
look at tool boxes a lot and have a bunch 
of them. I have one set of shelves that has maybe 14 or so of various sizes
sitting on them. Each box has a 
certain class of special tools in it. Just as an example one large one has
all of my soldering stuff in it (well, 
except for one soldering gun, a small spool of solder and a little can of
flux that I keep out near the main 
bench). The box has a bunch of heavy coppers, cans of flux, spools of solder
and several electric irons and 
guns. Another smallish box has several hammer staplers and their staples in
it. Yet another has several 
regular staple guns and their supplies. Another is all special copper tube
tools and so on.
	I am sorting out some tool sets for the trucks now. I have to re-do
this every few years. I have two 
boxes I like well that have gable roof shaped lids that open from the top
center. They have a handle on each 
lid that when the lids are closed you use the two handles as one handle to
carry them by which also keeps the 
box closed. If desired a small padlock attached to both handles keeps people
out of the box. They have a lift 
out tray too. I like the simplicity of the concept. The weak point and first
place many tool boxes fail is the silly 
little latches many use. Many times the latch gets bent from banging around
handling them and far too often 
a slipping latch will let the box open and dump half of your stuff out on
the floor (or worse yet, dump out into 
tall grass and weeds). I have several machinist tool boxes with all of the
tiny drawers. They can be nice but 
somehow the drawers are always 1/8" too short in height to hold the
particular items you want to keep in 
them...   :-) 
	When I bought the pickup I am driving now I was going to transfer
the single lid rear opening tool box 
over from the old truck. I have several of the two lid boxes but found them
a little prone to leak driving in heavy 
rain. I have never had the single lid one leak. Instead of transferring the
old box over (I still have it) I bought a 
larger single lid shiny all aluminum box with the step plate pattern. It is
huge and deep inside but I am missing 
being able to slip a trailer spare or the ends of long boards under it. I
can put a few boards under it but it is 
only about 4 or 5 inches from the truck floor. I also sit a step shaped fuel
tank in the truck when doing field 
work and the lower part of the tank will not fit under it. I am considering
raising it up by placing some wood 
blocks between it and the bed rails. That might make it a little harder to
reach stuff but with the step bumper it 
is easy to climb up in the truck bed. If I can not find a happy medium I
will pull it out and put my old single lid 
steel box in this truck and put this one on the one ton Chevy project truck.
	Tractor tool boxes have been silly for an awfully long time. Just
waaaay too small and sometimes in 
locations that are almost impossible to see into. One of the better ones I
recall at the moment was the box on 
the IHC 300-U. It sat across behind the seat above the fast hitch. We have
added additional tool boxes to 
about every tractor we have owned. I have always saved any tool boxes off of
old equipment I have gotten rid 
of. Combines used to have good sized tool boxes. I have several of those. 



"farmer"


Francis Robinson
Central Indiana USA
robinson at svs.net



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