outofbounds
Well-known member
Mintgrun hit the nail square on the head. Union "Super Steel" His links show much better detail on better versions of the same box.
The VINTAGE toolboxes of Garage Journal!
- Thread starter mjozefow
- Start date
Mintgrun hit the nail square on the head. Union "Super Steel" His links show much better detail on better versions of the same box.
Old Radar
Well-known member
I found this Huot box at an estate sale the other day. It cleaned up nicely and the metal handle is very comfortable. The tote is in very good shape, too. Is there a good way to determine the age? I don't see any markings on the box or tote.
senlow
Well-known member
To the best of my knowledge, Huot never stamped dates on their boxes. The Huot stickers have changed, but I don't know when that occurred.
It seems weird to me, but Huot traditionally put red tote trays in the blue boxes.
It seems weird to me, but Huot traditionally put red tote trays in the blue boxes.
Rileysan
Well-known member
I added this Craftsman 8d roller to my collection this weekend. The drawers are now all out for cleaning. The grease that was used on the slides was so dry, they barely moved!!
Also pictured is a 2d top chest I put there as a placeholder until I can find another 10d top chest, and a late 40s Craftsman roller & top chest.
Brian
Also pictured is a 2d top chest I put there as a placeholder until I can find another 10d top chest, and a late 40s Craftsman roller & top chest.
Brian
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Oldtuleguy
Well-known member
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Sweet roller! That old grease can be nasty to clean out of the slides.
d42jeep
Well-known member
I found this Huot box at an estate sale the other day. It cleaned up nicely and the metal handle is very comfortable. The tote is in very good shape, too. Is there a good way to determine the age? I don't see any markings on the box or tote.
I don’t know of any way to date the boxes but Huot was a major supplier of toolboxes. My Thorsen
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=7919817&postcount=10925
and Wizard boxes were made by them and they supplied this box to Wards.
-Don
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chstrumpetdude
Well-known member
I have been eyeballing the same top chest at my local flea market. It has been there for months and he has it marked down to $20, but the friction slides seem wayyyy too loose and sloppy.
Would you say yours are sloppy? This one might have just seen a very hard life.
Rileysan
Well-known member
It's quite normal. The drawer slides on every chest and roller I've ever encountered - and I've had a lot - have been sloppy.
Brian
A couple of months ago I picked up this KR562B locally at a pretty decent price.
I am currently restoring it for use at work. I plan to make a post on the entire process when I am finished, but for now I am looking for a handle (KR-402 I believe) assembly and an original tow bar plate.
I am currently restoring it for use at work. I plan to make a post on the entire process when I am finished, but for now I am looking for a handle (KR-402 I believe) assembly and an original tow bar plate.
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JHuston
Well-known member
I'm still experimenting with reproducing the wrinkle blue/gray finish of the late '30's- early '40's Craftsman chests ( they are the same model, but a PO hacked up the top of the lower one) : if I ever find a bottom box, I'd love to make them a matched set like the one my grandfather had in his shop when I was a boy. I think the Craftsman bottom box had a top drawer with about ten divided spaces, but I was maybe ten or so the last time I saw it, so I'm foggy on the details. I believe this had the same badges as the later '40's Heritage boxes.
-James Huston
-James Huston
Old Radar
Well-known member
Thanks Senlow and Don for the Huot info.
PghJKB
Well-known member
I'm still experimenting with reproducing the wrinkle blue/gray finish of the late '30's- early '40's Craftsman chests ( they are the same model, but a PO hacked up the top of the lower one) : if I ever find a bottom box, I'd love to make them a matched set like the one my grandfather had in his shop when I was a boy. I think the Craftsman bottom box had a top drawer with about ten divided spaces, but I was maybe ten or so the last time I saw it, so I'm foggy on the details. I believe this had the same badges as the later '40's Heritage boxes.
-James Huston
If you are looking for (expensive) wrinkle finish paint. try these folks:
http://www.gasup.it/gb/design/8-wri...-0555_racing_blue/unit_of_measure-kilogram_kg
Their blues come close. Enough for a cigar, up to you.
JKB
Tynee
Well-known member
Mattduke, I bet that was a sharp looking box back in the day with that pinstriping.
Are the last 2 digits of the number in your second picture the year of manufacture? looks like "76" to me?
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
Snap-on made the Par-X economy line from the mid 1960's to the mid 1980's. I'm not sure the boxes were date coded, but if they were, they would look like the annual single digit Snap-on date codes in that timespan. Besides their limited run (20 years), the offerings were limited as well (something on the order of 60+ tools, max), and many trucks would not carry them. Consequently, the tools are uncommonly found in the wild, and the top boxes (2-, 3-, and 4-drawer models) are even rarer than the tools. I have to say, I have never seen a pin-striped box and I suspect that is a PO's aftermarket handiwork.
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RTM
Well-known member
just scored a vintage Park 18F carry box, in rough shape. Will need a sand and repaint. Was thinking a hammered finish. Any clues as to a close shade of green for Park? Guess on age? Could not find it in the archive.org version (1959), all the model numbers are much higher.
Most images found online show the ID tag on the front face, mine is on the top.
Thanks
Most images found online show the ID tag on the front face, mine is on the top.
Thanks
outofbounds
Well-known member
d42jeep
Well-known member
Very cool. I’d like to see the process!
-Don
-Don
Outlawmws
Well-known member
I like that box OOB! It would be great as a road box!
JHuston
Well-known member
This box came right after the blue wrinkle finish boxes, but before the rounded Heritage boxes.It was gray originally, just a bit bluer than the paint on it now. I was Thrilled to find the top one, because it's a dead ringer for the one my grandfather had;finding the mangled one the very next week at the same flea market was surreal, to say the least. I remember the bottom box wasn't as square, but I've never seen the exact match ( My grandmother, who always got him Craftsman tools for Christmas, would have bought it in '41 or '42, I believe, right around when my mother was born).
Does anyone have a Craftsman tool catalog from that era? I don't think it was offered for long this way.
-James Huston
outofbounds
Well-known member
For sale on FB Marketplace in my area. $15
Thought the WW2 guys here might get a rise out of this one. Looks like a Union box (no oil hole that I can tell), but the socket guides in the lift-out tray appear to be removed (or never installed?) to facilitate an alternative usage, the clues of which might be in the stenciled paint?
Thought the WW2 guys here might get a rise out of this one. Looks like a Union box (no oil hole that I can tell), but the socket guides in the lift-out tray appear to be removed (or never installed?) to facilitate an alternative usage, the clues of which might be in the stenciled paint?
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d42jeep
Well-known member
It looks postwar with the riveted on handle brackets. The shelf supports indicate a different manufacturer than Union.
-Don
-Don
outofbounds
Well-known member
Are you thinking a non-military use as well, Don? Perhaps a factory or some such? Hard to express the color, but looks more or less olive drab to me in the original listing.
d42jeep
Well-known member
It seems likely that the box would be non-military. There were plenty of them made and sold by many different manufacturers. There are also quite a few WW2 ones that I run across at sales so I’ve kind of learned which features to watch for.
-Don
-Don
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
Concur on postwar. Looks military to me, though. Or let me put it this way - I have never seen inventory or contents expressed in a "1 EACH", "3 EACH" etc issue format outside of the military. I am willing to be shown I'm wrong on that. Looks like it contained 1 chair, 3 rolls ("RL") of safetywire, a check list, and whatever that set nomenclature indicates. The stenciling (see the "WEAR EAR PROTECTION" warning on the other lid) is postwar, too.
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So i picked this up at an estate sale last week and not really being into Snap On tool chests i had no idea how heavy these things are. It was absolutely full of random tools ( couldn't even close the top lid 1/2 way) and not wanting to leave any in the basement with the vultures circling I decided to not try and download anything and take everything in one trip. The adrenaline from making such a good score wore off about the time I got to the top of the stairs, barely made it to the street where I set it down, covered it with my coat and went for the car.
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outofbounds
Well-known member
harley jim
Well-known member
Feeling a you **** coming.
Sent from my SM-A102U using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-A102U using Tapatalk
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
Nice snag, X.
Rileysan
Well-known member
I bought one of those nearly 30 years ago at a garage sale and used it in my pickup for most of that time. The handle finally broke and I put it on a shelf to be restored some time in the future. Great find!
Brian
bmwrd0
Well-known member
Heh, I did the exact same thing the first time I found a Plomb top box in the wild. Also tore a hole in my leg lifting into my truck.
Outlawmws
Well-known member
Battle damage! (Owww)
jeffmoss26
Well-known member
ooooh
outofbounds
Well-known member
Mr X,
I just tripped over this one that I believe is the same box, or very close. Do you know if this gray is a stock color, or a re-spray? Also, what is a good price for these?
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Bro, I just went to the Snap On collecting site clicked the catalog tab and then the 40-49 choice and looked at the boxes in one of the early 40's cat's, Seems there was a K-55 red glossy and a grey wrinkled. I'm sure there are S/O guys on here that know that stuff inside out and could weigh in on value though there's got to be some record of completed sales online of course.
outofbounds
Well-known member
LOL - Thanks, Mon! I'm sensing I'm set to pay 5x what you did (or more!!) Share pics of the tools inside, I'm curious to se what made it so heavy!
I used to help my buddy who owned a landscape company around the Lake Worth Fl area and every now and then the guys would load up one of the 55 gal. trash cans with wet dirt or rocks or whatever and then put some regular yard refuse on top to set up some new guy for failure who was snatching it up to their shoulder to throw the stuff in the truck....that's what the box was like, 5 hammers 2 hatchets 2 **** wood planes a 16 gauge 50 ft. new outdoor extension cord, a 5 lb roll of brass weatherstripping, all kinds of files, common craftsman wrenches, ( though there was a nice plomb electrical and a large owatonna combo wrench, tin snips, a lug wrench, 3 pipe wrenches, a roll of copper wire, an old bronze chamberlin door sill hanging out the top, etc. and then the drawers were filled with nuts, screwdrivers, more **** wrenches, 4 vise grip variations, pliers, can openers, scissors, brass garden nozzles, locks, keys, and every other thing you could jam in and still close the drawers..except sockets or a ratchet, not a single one. There was even a 1909 lincoln penny and a 1890's indian head for some reason. Anyway, in retrospect I could have dumped 80% out on the floor and left it but i didn't know that at the time, and it was kinda fun going thru it all later at my own pace anyway.....OK, enough of the thread hijack. I'm out.