Hey; Looking for a larger toolbox. Browsed sears, lowes, and home depot the other day. Sears had the best illustration in range.... their homeowners line was real junk, BUT, I do appreciate the market. If you just do occasional repairs, a couple times a year, of course it makes sense. Anyway. Then their next line up was rated for 50lbs/drawer. The slides were a little smaller, the sheet metal a little thinner. Then you pay a premium for the next line up, which has deeper slides and holds more weight. You can feel that it's firmer. Those drawers were rated for 70lbs. Unfortunately there was no craftsman professional box in stock, but ostensibly those were rated for 220lbs, so I can imagine the slides and sheet metal would be much beefier still. I was just getting a feel for what's out there. Now, on craigslist you see very old snapon and craftsman boxes for sale. None of these are ball bearing. And being as much as 50 years old, there are legitimate questions of rust, paint quality, dents? More specifically however there's a company that repairs tractor trailers that's downsizing. I'll be driving 20 miles to see their vintage craftsman boxes, which they're selling cheap. Today a craftsman 3-tier box could be $100, $400, or $3000 depending on quality of construction, and you can drive 20 miles and find a guy who assumed he had the $3000 model that he was offering a great price of $500 for, when you can buy it new for $400. As far as these vintage boxes, were they all heavy gauge steel? Or did they have several levels of quality just like today?
Usually older stuff is better made, but it's all in the individual box. You have seen and felt what cheap is like . Chances are if it was in a hd shop it's good quality. If it fits your needs it doesn't matter how old it is does it?
For my wood workshop, I use a cheapie 3-tier, from our Canadian Tire chain. For the car, without a garage, I use small plastic colour toolboxes, with wrenches in one, electrical in another, pliers and cutters in another. That way, I don't haul what I don't need. Less effort.
Ask your self what your personal needs are AND MIGHT BE IN THE FUTURE and go from there. Their will always be a positive correlation between cost and quality. good stuff ain't cheap but the good tool boxes can always be re-built too with new rollers and rails. Craigslist, pawn shops are both good sources for the good stuff. Even the old standby weekend news can help. I've picket up a lot of Snapon and Mack tools 'n stuff over the years at garage sale prices just by paying attention, Jer
