Richard Cranium
Well-known member
I wish Dan would post up a picture of them in their new home.
The Wall of Craftsman.
- Thread starter taumac
- Start date
Zeeman
Well-known member
Well said Taumac. I do love the old Craftsman stuff, maybe as much as you, but I would not question a guy's reasoning for selling his stuff. Everyone has their own wants, needs, likes, desires, etc. I too would love to see them in their new home.
Zeeman
Well-known member
Right on. I'll keep that in mind. Seems like CL Atlanta has quite a few at pretty good prices sometimes. I really have not paid too much attention to them though because I like the older ones.
555
Well-known member
Great collection you assembled. I'm glad it's headed to someone who will appreciate and use those boxes. I'll be at Webster and Eustis in March for the motorcycle swaps/shows.
Regards,
John
Regards,
John
LOL, I was at Webster today and saw this.
Can't remember didn't look to close at year. The center drawer has pull in center verse top gives the date away. Guy wrote 1960's. I forgot which one is older/newer but both mine where 67 70 so thinking older one had top pull and newer center pull.
Can't remember didn't look to close at year. The center drawer has pull in center verse top gives the date away. Guy wrote 1960's. I forgot which one is older/newer but both mine where 67 70 so thinking older one had top pull and newer center pull.
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dlcwent
Member Emeritus
Guys, I do want you all to know that I'm very much looking forward to getting the WOC and will definitely post pictures of them in their new home. I doubt that I will be able to duplicate Gerard's meticulous set up but who knows. What I can say is I will proudly display and use them. I'm extremely busy at my shop right now and it would be too costly for me to take the time away for a trip to Florida. I'm hoping ( in a way) that it'll slow down and let me take a break. But rest assured that when they arrive in Maine, there'll be pictures to share with you all.
jakemac
Well-known member
doc - Congratulations on taking over stewardship of the WOC. It's nice to know that all of the hard work to collect and care for these pieces will continue. 
Topdrag106
New member
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2016
- Messages
- 4
Is the middle section still for sale or is the whole set for sale?
Topdrag106
New member
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2016
- Messages
- 4
I'm looking for a vintage craftsman middle section for the red and gray set for sale. I would purchase the complete set if needed as well. Ive been looking for years for my dad and would really like to get this for him.
Any info would be helpful.
Any info would be helpful.
thehorse13
Well-known member
I've seen the center sections on Ebay every so often. Craigslist too.
dlcwent
Member Emeritus
Topdrag, I was just wondering if your name was Andy??????
cbacres
Well-known member
cbacres
Well-known member
shortykorte
Well-known member
So what was the roller I just brought?
PelicanPines
ALLIANCE MEMBER
I could use two rollers too... Dan can drop them off on his way back home...
dlcwent
Member Emeritus
Topdrag, If you are really interested, shoot me a PM or better yet, leave a post here telling me where you are and what you'd offer for the entire Wall Of Craftsman. I might be persuaded to make you a deal.
Wow, surprised to see this! Equally surprised to see someone bought them all together!
My shorter wall of Craftsman could eventually be replaced but I doubt I could ever find the same amount of storage for what I have into them or what I could get out of them. However, my single gray/red stack will always stay.
My shorter wall of Craftsman could eventually be replaced but I doubt I could ever find the same amount of storage for what I have into them or what I could get out of them. However, my single gray/red stack will always stay.
vinceg101
Active member
Well here I thought I was the only crazy one buying these things. (Okay, maybe not crazy but certainly eccentric).
Imagine my surprise when I saw this thread after I checked in many months ago and saw your wonderful expanding collection/homage to this generation of Craftsman equipment. I found a kindred spirit.
Okay, I know I am waayy late to this thread and honestly meant to post to it some time ago. Also I know most of the discussion has migrated over to this other thread: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=289206, so I will now jump over there with some of this as well as my continued adventures with my Craftsman Tool Chests.
So here is mine: Before recently it consisted of three lower base drawer cabinets, the fourth one on top of the end unit is a Husky 3 drawer Middle Intermediate from 1992 (Model #: 92-603). It’s staying in the lineup primarily because it’s too useful being a full 18” deep and serves a purpose.
There is some back-story on how I acquired my first CM box and set me down this path; I’m not going to clutter this thread with that particular story other than you can read about it here: http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?p=1205827. The relevant point was that just after I found those boxes and started putting them to use, me and 3 other friends found a hangar space to rent to use as our car storage and work space. I was soon experiencing having to split my tool collections between two work spaces; the solution was obvious: buy more tools. Of course that meant I had to now house those tools. That leads us to the first CM box.
Here are their stories:
Box #1: Model #:65039 09/1973 9 Drawer Lower (the one on the left in the first photo above)
Since I had gotten pretty adept at searching Craigslist for tool chests and boxes, I jumped back into that mode. I immediately came across this box being sold literally a mile from me by a guy probably out of college a few years. If I recall he said he used this in school and picked it up used in pretty much the same condition as he was selling it. He was only asking $125 for it and I jumped on it just because I needed something in the hangar and didn’t/couldn’t spend a lot of money. I was surprised at how heavy these things are and had a hard time getting in and out of the back of the Honda CR-V by myself. I whisked it away to the hangar and immediately put it to work without doing much more than wiping down the drawer interiors. It stayed the lone tool box in the hangar for a while. Honestly I didn’t think much of the box really, it was just a basic, old tool box to me.
Box #2: Model #:65033 10/1970 3 Drawer/Lower Compartment (the one on the right)
The first CM started growing on me and I started looking further on Craigslist on a regular basis trying to see if I could find more bargains like the first for these vintage boxes. Their build quality and tradition won me over; sure the drawer glides aren’t ball bearings with finger-tip smooth action nor full extension like the new boxes, but these things are tanks and hold a ton of weight. So I found someone selling #2 in the Vermont/ Fwy 101 area of Los Angeles (sort of northeast Hollywood but not really). I didn’t actually mean to buy this box as I mistakenly thought it was the same size as my #1 just with a bottom compartment (I wanted a pair the same height). I was a little disappointed when I got there and saw it as one of the shorter models. But it was really nice and in clean condition and only $85 and since I made the trek over there I bought it. Again, I dropped it off at the hangar and put it to work also right next to #1.
Box #3: Model #:65035 8/1972 5 Drawer/Lower Compartment (the one in the middle)
So now I was working myself into a dilemma and really wanted to find another box to match the size of #1 to be its’ mate (I have a thing about pairing two lower boxes together, see my final setup for my home shop in the MyE28 thread). This one took a lot more looking as I seemed to hit a dry spell on CL and there didn’t seem to be any of these older CM boxes for a few months. Then this one came up with a really murky, slightly blurry cell phone photo (don’t you just love Craigslist?) in which I couldn’t tell much about it other than it was the right configuration and size. This time the seller was all the way out in Covina which is about 38 miles to the east of me and, depending on time of day, as much as an hour driving time. I agreed to go look at it first thing one morning during the week (the seller was a mechanic and the box was in his shop), so I packed up the CR-V once again, threw some cash in my pocket and set off hoping to beat LA traffic (not). I finally find the place kind of off the beaten track and behind some other businesses; I can’t say much for this guy’s quality of work, but his shop was a disaster if that is any indication. He was aging out the business as he had some physical issues after being there since 1986 and was trying to get rid of everything. #3 was sitting in the middle of the shop with **** piled up around it and still full of 30 years of tools and more ****. It was also covered in grease and grime; you couldn’t touch it without your hand coming back black. The price was just okay ($160), a bit more than the condition would merit and more than the other two, but I already made the trip and wasn’t seeing a whole lot more of these coming up on CL recently so I agreed to buy it. He really wasn’t interested in bargaining either, so I chalked it up to experience and loaded it into the car, with his help of course. In the end, it was still a bargain considering how well it operated and the fact that it was 43 years old and still in relatively serviceable condition. So I brought it to the hangar and quarantined it until I could thoroughly clean it for use.
After hours of scrubbing and a gallon of de-greaser it was finally okay to handle and use. Two issues came up: 1) Although I kind of like the idea of maintaining the boxes’ patina and history, this box was in pretty rough shape finish-wise; the paint was pretty faded, surface rust was everywhere and it just didn’t look good next to #1 and #2. So I decided to paint it, nothing too **** but just 1 or 2 clean finish coats of the exteriors and at least one of the drawer interiors (only because they really needed it). Matching the Craftsman red and grey proved to be a bit of chore as I went through a bunch of different spray cans of each until I found the closest matches (more on that in the other thread)
This leads us up to the last two acquisitions:
Box #4: Model #:65212 Date unknown, 3 Drawer Middle Intermediate
Box #5: Model #: 65272 Date unknown, 2 Drawer Middle Intermediate
By now since I found this thread and started seeing all the variations that Craftsman made in this line-up, I set my sights on their Middle Intermediate drawer boxes. After seeing one and how it looks when you drop down the front panel cover with the CM badge, I knew I had to have at least two to park on top of #1 and #3. Turns out these are kind of Uber Rare these days; they rarely come up on CL if at all and if they do, they are part of a stack. After missing one on CL and chasing one on eBay and loosing after the price went stratospheric, I came across #4 and #5 in another CL add. I had previously dismissed this add since they were shown with a base box (matching my #3) with attached side locker cabinets all on one cart along with his entire tool collection being sold as one lot. He had a ton of old CM tools along with CP and Sioux Tools pneumatics. He was at an age where he obviously had stopped working with them and just wanted them gone. His list price for the package was $2K so buying the lot was a non-starter for me, but after seeing it rotate on CL for a few weeks, it looked like he didn’t have a lot of nibbles. I decided to call him to see if he might be interested in splitting the lot; couldn’t hurt. As luck would have it he said sure as long as there were some tools included; I said “you bet; I’m sure you’ve got a box of something I’ll decide I can’t live without”. I agreed to meet him on a Saturday morning down in Garden Grove, CA inside Orange County about another 40miles from my house, this time south. I spent way longer than I intended to looking through his tools having him tell me about them and how he came across some of them along with his work career. I was happy to listen.
He was a machinist by trade and worked for a local SoCal can manufacturer (never did get the company name) and worked there most his adult career. Back when the plant expanded (probably in the 1960’s), both Snap On and Sears were vying for the plants business to get the contract for outfitting all the machinists tool setups. Both offered good discounts but Sears won out because they were cheaper and because you could return a tool to any Sears which was way more convenient for the employees. So he began his tool purchasing, eventually buying his three tool chests and filling them. He said that had two to three times the amount of tools that he had when I saw them when he retired about 20 years ago. He has slowly been liquidating them over time. In the end I left with both the Middle Intermediate drawer boxes and two boxes full of screwdrivers, files, a ¾” CM ratchet wrench, some pneumatics and other odds-ends. That and some good conversation. $360 well spent in my mind.
I have started refinishing and re-painted these starting with Box #3, completing Box #4 and recently stated Box #5. I will also go so far as to repaint the Husky Middle Intermediate 3 drawer unit in the same Craftsman color scheme (currently it has a red case with black drawers) just so it blends in. If I had my druthers and was able to find one, I would consider replacing it with another CM Intermediate; however the Husky box is a full 18" deep and is just way too practical in this dimension especially with that deep lower drawer (all my pliers, channel locks, vise grips, etc. are stored vertically in there and my entire screwdriver collection is in 2nd drawer).
So that is where I am at currently. I’m not sure if I plan on expanding this collection as that was never really my goal; mine was to outfit my auto work area with good, quality tool storage so in that vein, goal achieved. Besides I don’t really have more room for others (unless I start buying more tools, but what are the odds of that happening, right?)
Imagine my surprise when I saw this thread after I checked in many months ago and saw your wonderful expanding collection/homage to this generation of Craftsman equipment. I found a kindred spirit.
Okay, I know I am waayy late to this thread and honestly meant to post to it some time ago. Also I know most of the discussion has migrated over to this other thread: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=289206, so I will now jump over there with some of this as well as my continued adventures with my Craftsman Tool Chests.
So here is mine: Before recently it consisted of three lower base drawer cabinets, the fourth one on top of the end unit is a Husky 3 drawer Middle Intermediate from 1992 (Model #: 92-603). It’s staying in the lineup primarily because it’s too useful being a full 18” deep and serves a purpose.
There is some back-story on how I acquired my first CM box and set me down this path; I’m not going to clutter this thread with that particular story other than you can read about it here: http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?p=1205827. The relevant point was that just after I found those boxes and started putting them to use, me and 3 other friends found a hangar space to rent to use as our car storage and work space. I was soon experiencing having to split my tool collections between two work spaces; the solution was obvious: buy more tools. Of course that meant I had to now house those tools. That leads us to the first CM box.
Here are their stories:
Box #1: Model #:65039 09/1973 9 Drawer Lower (the one on the left in the first photo above)
Since I had gotten pretty adept at searching Craigslist for tool chests and boxes, I jumped back into that mode. I immediately came across this box being sold literally a mile from me by a guy probably out of college a few years. If I recall he said he used this in school and picked it up used in pretty much the same condition as he was selling it. He was only asking $125 for it and I jumped on it just because I needed something in the hangar and didn’t/couldn’t spend a lot of money. I was surprised at how heavy these things are and had a hard time getting in and out of the back of the Honda CR-V by myself. I whisked it away to the hangar and immediately put it to work without doing much more than wiping down the drawer interiors. It stayed the lone tool box in the hangar for a while. Honestly I didn’t think much of the box really, it was just a basic, old tool box to me.
Box #2: Model #:65033 10/1970 3 Drawer/Lower Compartment (the one on the right)
The first CM started growing on me and I started looking further on Craigslist on a regular basis trying to see if I could find more bargains like the first for these vintage boxes. Their build quality and tradition won me over; sure the drawer glides aren’t ball bearings with finger-tip smooth action nor full extension like the new boxes, but these things are tanks and hold a ton of weight. So I found someone selling #2 in the Vermont/ Fwy 101 area of Los Angeles (sort of northeast Hollywood but not really). I didn’t actually mean to buy this box as I mistakenly thought it was the same size as my #1 just with a bottom compartment (I wanted a pair the same height). I was a little disappointed when I got there and saw it as one of the shorter models. But it was really nice and in clean condition and only $85 and since I made the trek over there I bought it. Again, I dropped it off at the hangar and put it to work also right next to #1.
Box #3: Model #:65035 8/1972 5 Drawer/Lower Compartment (the one in the middle)
So now I was working myself into a dilemma and really wanted to find another box to match the size of #1 to be its’ mate (I have a thing about pairing two lower boxes together, see my final setup for my home shop in the MyE28 thread). This one took a lot more looking as I seemed to hit a dry spell on CL and there didn’t seem to be any of these older CM boxes for a few months. Then this one came up with a really murky, slightly blurry cell phone photo (don’t you just love Craigslist?) in which I couldn’t tell much about it other than it was the right configuration and size. This time the seller was all the way out in Covina which is about 38 miles to the east of me and, depending on time of day, as much as an hour driving time. I agreed to go look at it first thing one morning during the week (the seller was a mechanic and the box was in his shop), so I packed up the CR-V once again, threw some cash in my pocket and set off hoping to beat LA traffic (not). I finally find the place kind of off the beaten track and behind some other businesses; I can’t say much for this guy’s quality of work, but his shop was a disaster if that is any indication. He was aging out the business as he had some physical issues after being there since 1986 and was trying to get rid of everything. #3 was sitting in the middle of the shop with **** piled up around it and still full of 30 years of tools and more ****. It was also covered in grease and grime; you couldn’t touch it without your hand coming back black. The price was just okay ($160), a bit more than the condition would merit and more than the other two, but I already made the trip and wasn’t seeing a whole lot more of these coming up on CL recently so I agreed to buy it. He really wasn’t interested in bargaining either, so I chalked it up to experience and loaded it into the car, with his help of course. In the end, it was still a bargain considering how well it operated and the fact that it was 43 years old and still in relatively serviceable condition. So I brought it to the hangar and quarantined it until I could thoroughly clean it for use.
After hours of scrubbing and a gallon of de-greaser it was finally okay to handle and use. Two issues came up: 1) Although I kind of like the idea of maintaining the boxes’ patina and history, this box was in pretty rough shape finish-wise; the paint was pretty faded, surface rust was everywhere and it just didn’t look good next to #1 and #2. So I decided to paint it, nothing too **** but just 1 or 2 clean finish coats of the exteriors and at least one of the drawer interiors (only because they really needed it). Matching the Craftsman red and grey proved to be a bit of chore as I went through a bunch of different spray cans of each until I found the closest matches (more on that in the other thread)
This leads us up to the last two acquisitions:
Box #4: Model #:65212 Date unknown, 3 Drawer Middle Intermediate
Box #5: Model #: 65272 Date unknown, 2 Drawer Middle Intermediate
By now since I found this thread and started seeing all the variations that Craftsman made in this line-up, I set my sights on their Middle Intermediate drawer boxes. After seeing one and how it looks when you drop down the front panel cover with the CM badge, I knew I had to have at least two to park on top of #1 and #3. Turns out these are kind of Uber Rare these days; they rarely come up on CL if at all and if they do, they are part of a stack. After missing one on CL and chasing one on eBay and loosing after the price went stratospheric, I came across #4 and #5 in another CL add. I had previously dismissed this add since they were shown with a base box (matching my #3) with attached side locker cabinets all on one cart along with his entire tool collection being sold as one lot. He had a ton of old CM tools along with CP and Sioux Tools pneumatics. He was at an age where he obviously had stopped working with them and just wanted them gone. His list price for the package was $2K so buying the lot was a non-starter for me, but after seeing it rotate on CL for a few weeks, it looked like he didn’t have a lot of nibbles. I decided to call him to see if he might be interested in splitting the lot; couldn’t hurt. As luck would have it he said sure as long as there were some tools included; I said “you bet; I’m sure you’ve got a box of something I’ll decide I can’t live without”. I agreed to meet him on a Saturday morning down in Garden Grove, CA inside Orange County about another 40miles from my house, this time south. I spent way longer than I intended to looking through his tools having him tell me about them and how he came across some of them along with his work career. I was happy to listen.
He was a machinist by trade and worked for a local SoCal can manufacturer (never did get the company name) and worked there most his adult career. Back when the plant expanded (probably in the 1960’s), both Snap On and Sears were vying for the plants business to get the contract for outfitting all the machinists tool setups. Both offered good discounts but Sears won out because they were cheaper and because you could return a tool to any Sears which was way more convenient for the employees. So he began his tool purchasing, eventually buying his three tool chests and filling them. He said that had two to three times the amount of tools that he had when I saw them when he retired about 20 years ago. He has slowly been liquidating them over time. In the end I left with both the Middle Intermediate drawer boxes and two boxes full of screwdrivers, files, a ¾” CM ratchet wrench, some pneumatics and other odds-ends. That and some good conversation. $360 well spent in my mind.
I have started refinishing and re-painted these starting with Box #3, completing Box #4 and recently stated Box #5. I will also go so far as to repaint the Husky Middle Intermediate 3 drawer unit in the same Craftsman color scheme (currently it has a red case with black drawers) just so it blends in. If I had my druthers and was able to find one, I would consider replacing it with another CM Intermediate; however the Husky box is a full 18" deep and is just way too practical in this dimension especially with that deep lower drawer (all my pliers, channel locks, vise grips, etc. are stored vertically in there and my entire screwdriver collection is in 2nd drawer).
So that is where I am at currently. I’m not sure if I plan on expanding this collection as that was never really my goal; mine was to outfit my auto work area with good, quality tool storage so in that vein, goal achieved. Besides I don’t really have more room for others (unless I start buying more tools, but what are the odds of that happening, right?)
Craptain
Well-known member
Great story Vinceg. I had forgotten about this thread until you posted.
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Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk
supadave888
Member
Would you happen to know the model number of the 5 drawer cabinet to the right of the vice with the bulk storage below? I have one similar and cant find any numbers on it. Also my craftsman placks are rectangle and riveted to the box which ways "Sears Craftsman" just as your crowntop does, any idea on dating what I have based on the placks?
Rileysan
Well-known member
Not all cabinets have a stamped model number. If it has a model number, it will be on the face of the cabinet, above the top drawer, to the right. 6Pony6 pointed you to the location of the stamped date of manufacture.
Brian
supadave888
Member
its identical to yours! I did find the date stamp on all of the boxes and they are all 1985 or so. where can I find replacement locks? Any luck with easykeys.com for replacement keys?
supadave888
Member
Thank you for the information rileysan on this thread as well as the thread I made. The only thing I need is replacement keys or replacement locks for each box.
Rileysan
Well-known member
The locks and keys are still available from the manufacturer, Waterloo. If you have the lock # they have keys!
Brian
ALLFAST
Well-known member
Stellar comment, and I concur wholeheartedly.
The memories are invaluable, and are kept alive at the mere sight ( and use) of whatever vintage tool ( which ever one was part of your formative experiences) is in your care.