Hello all. Just picked this up from Ebay the other day for $40 shipped. Great old box. Love it and will be used to house all my mountain bike/cycling tools and assorted parts/spares. It's perfect. Would love to know the roundabout year of manufacture? Gonna clean it up, but leave the patina. All the drawers are solid, felt lined, and not a ding or dent on it. I looked all over and cannot find any markings other than the Craftsman branding. Thanks all. RG
Old Craftsman Machinist Toolbox
- Thread starter Pontimax
- Start date
firemanast
Well-known member
Sweet tool box .
rlitman
Well-known member
Very nice. That's based on a Kennedy 526 pattern, but rebranded for Craftsman (with the hammertone finish and black pulls).
joel63
Well-known member
You have a very nice box there.
That old stuff looks great today especially it's impossible to buy stuff like today.
I have the Kennedy 526, but I wouldn't turn my back on that box.
Thanks guys. Whenever I need a specialty toolbox for one of my interests/hobbies, I always look to Ebay for great old box. This thing is solid and its weight is pushing 40lbs empty. I think I got it for a steal and agree with Joel63 that finding stuff like this today and far and few between.
Do you fellas have any idea when this thing was made? Just curious as it adds to my love of it knowing it's been around for x number of years.
Do you fellas have any idea when this thing was made? Just curious as it adds to my love of it knowing it's been around for x number of years.
Zeke
Well-known member
That was my first toolbox but w/o the center drawer. Good to know about the dates for the crown. Mine is just about from '58. Still have it.
pendragon1998
Well-known member
I'll hand out a 'you ****' for that. You couldn't get a rusted up piece of **** around here for that much.
rlitman
Well-known member
So you had a 520. The 520 was lighter, so the carry handle was on the lid. The 526 like above has a hinged handle on each side (like the 52611 which is even bigger).
I wonder if anyone here can narrow the date range by the finish.
My Craftsman 526 has the same brown wrinkle finish as my Kennedy 526. These hammer finish boxes seem to be less common.
Agreed. $40 for a not rusty 526 is a great price. The fact that you got it shipped for that is amazing.
Admittedly, my last 526 (a Kennedy branded one) ran me $40 on CL, and that came with the 2 drawer riser under it, and was in fantastic shape (good enough to keep in the house, where it sits now; it even had the paper label under the lid). My Craftsman 526 was $20, but it isn't in as nice shape, and it stores torch tips, welding rods, scribes, etc. in the shop.
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Waterlooboy2hp
Well-known member
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I echo your comment. It was also my first toolbox, but the model without the center drawer. I got mine around Christmas of 1962. If I recall right, it cost $26.00, but don`t hold me to that. It has been too many years since then. I still have the box. ---- I have owned 10 machinist`s tool boxes, over the years. Still have 6 of them. My favorite, is my Square Corner Kennedy. --- John
That looks to be in very good condition and $40 shipped is hard to beat, considering it's probably about the price of the shipping alone. I have the same model which I paid about 2.5 times as much for with shipping.
I don't remember the exact years, but a while back I managed to find some 1960s Craftsman catalogs and it seemed like they offered this particular toolbox from the early to mid 1960s. In the later 1960s catalogs the otherwise identical boxes are listed as having a wrinkled brown finish, like the modern Kennedy boxes, rather than the hammered gray finish. So, the gray ones are about a half century old, give or take a few years.
I can understand why a lot of people don't find much use for the machinist's chests, but they can be nice for storing small, clean hand tools. I just use mine for a basic assortment of household tools like screwdrivers, pliers, basic electrical tools, basic socket sets, etc. It works rather well for that, but sometimes I wish it were either an inch or two deeper OR smaller and more portable. As it is, it's a pain to lug around, but a little small for a stationary box. I definitely wouldn't use one in a garage for mechanic's tools, but of course that wasn't what they were built for. If you're not a machinist they can still make a good household project/hobby box.
I don't remember the exact years, but a while back I managed to find some 1960s Craftsman catalogs and it seemed like they offered this particular toolbox from the early to mid 1960s. In the later 1960s catalogs the otherwise identical boxes are listed as having a wrinkled brown finish, like the modern Kennedy boxes, rather than the hammered gray finish. So, the gray ones are about a half century old, give or take a few years.
I can understand why a lot of people don't find much use for the machinist's chests, but they can be nice for storing small, clean hand tools. I just use mine for a basic assortment of household tools like screwdrivers, pliers, basic electrical tools, basic socket sets, etc. It works rather well for that, but sometimes I wish it were either an inch or two deeper OR smaller and more portable. As it is, it's a pain to lug around, but a little small for a stationary box. I definitely wouldn't use one in a garage for mechanic's tools, but of course that wasn't what they were built for. If you're not a machinist they can still make a good household project/hobby box.
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That, along with the tiny drawer pulls has always been my issue with them. Now the 20" wide, 520 is one thing as it can fit where other boxes can't. But these 26" wide boxes that are only ~9" deep really give up quite a bit of storage capacity compared to a standard 26" wide top tool box. To each their own though.
safariknut
Well-known member
I have a couple of the old Craftsman machinists' tool boxes as well as several of the comparable Kennedy boxes of various ages. A couple of things I've noticed is that although they look identical there is one small difference I have found:You cannot interchange the front doors as the lock pin location is slightly farther apart on the Kennedy boxes.
As for the Kennedy boxes,I have found three distinct versions of them.
The latest has rounded top corners as the Craftsman does.
An earlier version has square topped corners and the drawers are removeable by depressing the spring clips on the sides of them.
The earliest version is the same but the drawers are not removeable.
As for the Kennedy boxes,I have found three distinct versions of them.
The latest has rounded top corners as the Craftsman does.
An earlier version has square topped corners and the drawers are removeable by depressing the spring clips on the sides of them.
The earliest version is the same but the drawers are not removeable.