Tool Chest?

[FunElan]

As most of you may know, Father's day is coming up, and Dad wants a tool chest like no other. I've done some research but it's hard to discern the differences between most of them. Recommendations? It shouldn't take up too much space (there isn't much space available) and it would be nice if all the wrenches and etc were organized by size (like a built in system?).

Thanks in Advance,

Matt

[RoadDad]

Matt,

Kudos to you for thinking of Father's day .

There are several options for inserts to organize the tools sold by various companies. I, personally, have found no insert that I like. Non-slip draw liners have seemed to be the best option for me.

I don't know what your budget is for the chest but Snap-on makes very nice stuff.
Snap-on Tool Storage and Tool Boxes
Snap-on Tools

I have 3 stacked chests that are just run of the mill Task Force from Lowe's and they serve their purpose just fine. It was very cheap when I bought it. They aren't flashy or very smooth, but they haven't crumbled or fallen over -- yet.

[esoteric]

All hail Snap-On!!! You can pick a variety of colors too which is cool for a customized look.

[Mr. Know]

While Snap-On is nice...you also pay big money for that nice...

[mopho]

Craftsman tools are more than good enough for his needs and they have a lifetime warranty.

Craftsman | America's Most Trusted Tool Brand | Top-Selling Lawn & Garden Brand | Garage & Storage

Snap On is a bit overkill and overpriced for most home mechanics IMO


You can buy me a set too, I am almost a father

[chazzer]

I got a really nice one for around $700 at Costco. It is stainless steel and will never rust or fall apart. It has the thin sticky rubber liners in the drawers that hold the tools from sliding around.. I think that Sam's Club has about the same box but I liked the Coscto one much better. It is quite heavy and has wheels to move it around in your garage tho.. Just a suggestion Happy Wrenching...

[charliex]

I got this one, (and they just dropped the price too )

Kobalt at Lowe's: 41" 11-Drawer Stainless Steel Tool Cabinet

its great, and next year you could buy the upper half, comes with the rubber mats, locking wheels etc.

of course you can go nuts and get the one with the fridge and stereo with ipod hookup

Kobalt at Lowe's: 16-Drawer Ball-Bearing Rolling Tool Cabinet and Chest

[twaszak1]

i got this one. It is a bit pricey, but its got a lot of room...it is almost full. Matco boxes are the best in my opinion.


It's 86" wide, 30" deep, 47 1/2" tall


T.J.

[TimMullen]

Craftsman tool chests are more than good for the home mechanic. I have two roll-around chests.

Ball bearing draw slides are nice, but not an absolute necessity. More draws is better than a couple of deep draws (you can lay / spread out stuff in the extra draws, instead of digging through a deep drawer with everything piled in there.

Craftsman too boxes have two versions of "depth" for the top chests. One fits from the back to the front of the bottom chest. The other is several inches shorter than the bottom. You can put a lot more tools into the full depth ones.

The stainless steel chests that they sell at some of the big box stores are more than good enough.

If you have a Harbor Freight Tools store near you, they also have a tool chest of two that are decent, and at a good price.

The drawer liners are almost a necessity. But don't buy the liners that they sell specifically for tool boxes - they are expensive (I've seem them sell for around $5 a drawer). Instead, but "shelf liners" from WalMart or some such store. For a few bucks you can buy a large roll (something like $4 a roll) that will do several drawers. I seem to remember that I only needed two rolls to do my second roll-around too chest. They come in several colors (I couldn't find black at the time, so I used dark green - I later bought a black roll at Lowes and used it to cover the shelf/tray on the Elise). The shelf liners are almost exactly the same as the tool box drawer liners.

[Goose]

Another vote for Craftsman. If you want to pay for Snap-on and Matco, go for it, but I think you'd be spending too much.

EDIT: If you really want to impress him, get the thick foam drawer liner that you can custom-cut. It takes forever, but I think it's really cool to have a fitted spot in each drawer for every tool. No rattling, either.

I'm such a geek...

[MikeG911]

Check out internation tool boxes, they are made in Canada and along the lines of craftsmen professional series from what I have been told. You can get them online with free shipping!

[TimMullen]

Originally Posted by Goose

EDIT: If you really want to impress him, get the thick foam drawer liner that you can custom-cut. It takes forever, but I think it's really cool to have a fitted spot in each drawer for every tool. No rattling, either.

That's great until you re-arrange things to add some more tools. I did the "paint the tool outline on the peg board" thing once. It didn't last long.

[NMRJock]

I went through the same process and ended up buying this one:

ATLAS 21 Drawer Tool Cabinet - Greg Smith Equipment Sales, Inc.

It's fairly heavy-duty for a very reasonable price. The big selling features for me were the full-width drawer across the top of the bottom cabinet and the wide variety of drawer sizes. The price helped too. They will deal a bit.