Let's Hear it for the Old Gray/Red Sears Craftsman Tool Chests and Cabinets (60s/70s)

[Oregon rock crusher]

I spent about an hour this afternoon on the 12 drawer roller wiping it down with lacquer thinner and steel wool. I'm probably a little less than half way through getting the crappy paint off but ran out of rubber gloves and gumption. I'll finish it up in the morning. It appears the PO may have noticed a few blisters of rust coming through the paint at some point and decided to hose the roller down with some kind of rust reformer to protect it. No prep or masking was involved...I may repaint the fronts of the drawers but will wait to see what the lower drawers look like first. Mostly the original paint damage is not all that bad. Ed.

 

[Rileysan]

I spent about an hour this afternoon on the 12 drawer roller wiping it down with lacquer thinner and steel wool. I'm probably a little less than half way through getting the crappy paint off but ran out of rubber gloves and gumption. I'll finish it up in the morning. It appears the PO may have noticed a few blisters of rust coming through the paint at some point and decided to hose the roller down with some kind of rust reformer to protect it. No prep or masking was involved...I may repaint the fronts of the drawers but will wait to see what the lower drawers look like first. Mostly the original paint damage is not all that bad. Ed.

Nice work, Ed! I'm working on cleaning up paint splatters on a rare Craftsman Deluxe 5d roller from 51-54, and it's hell! But you've inspired me. Keep it up!

Brian

 

[Rileysan]

This is not my rolling cabinet.

I read a post on the FB Craftsman Collector's group, tonight, where a member found this: A red/gray 3 drawer rolling cabinet. Big deal, right?

This: Patent Pending, dated 10/67.

Taumac - what was the earliest I-frame cabinet you have seen? This one certainly pre-dates the first catalog listings, which doesn't surprise me too much. But I could swear I've seen flat sided, roller slide cabinets dated later than this one. If anyone is taking notes, add this date to your knowledge base!

Brian

 

[taumac]

Rilaysan, the earliest I beam I had was a 10/67 while the only flat slided one I had was a 10/65. I can’t remember off hand seeing one after 1965. Now that I’m thinking about it I really haven’t seen many 1966 cabinets. I remember seeing 3D bottom rollers with the extra piece between the bottom drawer and the garage door. Those were older than the one you just posted but can’t remember if they were I-beam or flat side. I want to believe they were the I-beam.

 

[JoCoSawdust]

Duly noted Brian. Between that and the 7 drawer Crown roller that was posted on the other site there seems to be no end to the new discoveries.

Picked this stack up today. Top chest is Nov 75, roller is Feb 76. This stack obviously worked for a living and it shows. It's **** ugly but it's solid and everything works as it should. Hope to be able to correct the drawer sag on the roller this spring when both will get the full spa treatment and be mated with a 3d intermediate chest that's been hanging around the shop without a home. The mid chest has been getting insolent with the other boxes lately so hopefully a good home will calm it down.

 

[Rileysan]

Duly noted Brian. Between that and the 7 drawer Crown roller that was posted on the other site there seems to be no end to the new discoveries.

Picked this stack up today. Top chest is Nov 75, roller is Feb 76. This stack obviously worked for a living and it shows. It's **** ugly but it's solid and everything works as it should. Hope to be able to correct the drawer sag on the roller this spring when both will get the full spa treatment and be mated with a 3d intermediate chest that's been hanging around the shop without a home. The mid chest has been getting insolent with the other boxes lately so hopefully a good home will calm it down.

Nice find! I still don't have a 12d top chest. All in good time ...

 

[JoCoSawdust]

I spent about an hour this afternoon on the 12 drawer roller wiping it down with lacquer thinner and steel wool. I'm probably a little less than half way through getting the crappy paint off but ran out of rubber gloves and gumption. I'll finish it up in the morning. It appears the PO may have noticed a few blisters of rust coming through the paint at some point and decided to hose the roller down with some kind of rust reformer to protect it. No prep or masking was involved...I may repaint the fronts of the drawers but will wait to see what the lower drawers look like first. Mostly the original paint damage is not all that bad. Ed.

Looking good!

 

[DFB]

Boy I laid down some of that Hammered Gray (qt can/ brush) though I have to say the color match is quite to the original truly I wasn't all that pleased with the look I was getting though and I wiped it off the next day.

So now and this maybe sacrilegious here , but I'm going to experiment a bit with the Gloss Smoke Gray Rustoleum offers. I have painted a lot of items with that in the past for my garage like metal storage racks, car ramps and the wall mounted panel rack for my poly storage bins and really have had great results

I gleaned this photo from somewhere else and I definitely like the dark gloss look

 

[taumac]

Boy I laid down some of that Hammered Gray (qt can/ brush) though I have to say the color match is quite to the original truly I wasn't all that pleased with the look I was getting though and I wiped it off the next day.

So now and this maybe sacrilegious here , but I'm going to experiment a bit with the Gloss Smoke Gray Rustoleum offers. I have painted a lot of items with that in the past for my garage like metal storage racks, car ramps and the wall mounted panel rack for my poly storage bins and really have had great results

I gleaned this photo from somewhere else and I definitely like the dark gloss look

I thought about you Saturday when at Lowe’s but forgot to post. I saw hammer gray and hammer antique pewter in spray cans. It’s been awhile since been paint shopping and looks like there more offerings in the hammered paints these days. When I first started looking there was a silver and something slightly darker. I was at a Walmart and came across the forge antique pewter which was a close match. At time best I could find from big box stores but now I’m curious if the one there isn’t something better.

 

[taumac]

Duly noted Brian. Between that and the 7 drawer Crown roller that was posted on the other site there seems to be no end to the new discoveries.



Picked this stack up today. Top chest is Nov 75, roller is Feb 76. This stack obviously worked for a living and it shows. It's **** ugly but it's solid and everything works as it should. Hope to be able to correct the drawer sag on the roller this spring when both will get the full spa treatment and be mated with a 3d intermediate chest that's been hanging around the shop without a home. The mid chest has been getting insolent with the other boxes lately so hopefully a good home will calm it down.

I like that stack. The “full spa treatment” bhahahahahaha

 

[JoCoSawdust]

Boy I laid down some of that Hammered Gray (qt can/ brush) though I have to say the color match is quite to the original truly I wasn't all that pleased with the look I was getting though and I wiped it off the next day.

So now and this maybe sacrilegious here , but I'm going to experiment a bit with the Gloss Smoke Gray Rustoleum offers. I have painted a lot of items with that in the past for my garage like metal storage racks, car ramps and the wall mounted panel rack for my poly storage bins and really have had great results

I gleaned this photo from somewhere else and I definitely like the dark gloss look

I like that gloss dark gray too DFB. I think it boils down to personal preference on the colors. I used Rustoleum Hammered Gray (rattle can) on these and like it. Took me a bit of time to get the hang of getting it to flow evenly. I'll stick with this for my future projects of this era.

 

[Oregon rock crusher]

Nice work, Ed! I'm working on cleaning up paint splatters on a rare Craftsman Deluxe 5d roller from 51-54, and it's hell! But you've inspired me. Keep it up!

Brian

Thanks Brian, Nearly finished it this afternoon. A lot more scrubbing and touching up than I started out to do but worth it I hope. Ed.

Picked this stack up today. Top chest is Nov 75, roller is Feb 76. This stack obviously worked for a living and it shows. It's **** ugly but it's solid and everything works as it should. Hope to be able to correct the drawer sag on the roller this spring when both will get the full spa treatment and be mated with a 3d intermediate chest that's been hanging around the shop without a home. The mid chest has been getting insolent with the other boxes lately so hopefully a good home will calm it down.

Nice 12 on 12 stack JoCo, A bit of work to fix it up for sure but when a box pops up local and you don't have one yet not much a guy can do but add to the herd. Ed.

I thought about you Saturday when at Lowe’s but forgot to post. I saw hammer gray and hammer antique pewter in spray cans. It’s been awhile since been paint shopping and looks like there more offerings in the hammered paints these days. When I first started looking there was a silver and something slightly darker. I was at a Walmart and came across the forge antique pewter which was a close match. At time best I could find from big box stores but now I’m curious if the one there isn’t something better.

I've always had very good luck with the hammered gray in spray for matching the cabinets. Seems to blend in nearly seamlessly. Today I was in Lowes to pick up some of the gray and a little of the red. They had a new color called Tool box and it's supposed to match Craftsman so I grabbed a couple cans of it. On my 74' stack I'd used a VT Chevy orange red. It matched the older stack very well but was way to orange for my newer set....sun fading?

Anyway, the new tool box red color I picked up matched my newest boxes red very well. I only painted the faces and a few spots on the drawers and I have a hard time spotting any difference even in good light. Ed.

 

[taumac]

Thanks Brian, Nearly finished it this afternoon. A lot more scrubbing and touching up than I started out to do but worth it I hope. Ed.







Nice 12 on 12 stack JoCo, A bit of work to fix it up for sure but when a box pops up local and you don't have one yet not much a guy can do but add to the herd. Ed.











I've always had very good luck with the hammered gray in spray for matching the cabinets. Seems to blend in nearly seamlessly. Today I was in Lowes to pick up some of the gray and a little of the red. They had a new color called Tool box and it's supposed to match Craftsman so I grabbed a couple cans of it. On my 74' stack I'd used a VT Chevy orange red. It matched the older stack very well but was way to orange for my newer set....sun fading?



Anyway, the new tool box red color I picked up matched my newest boxes red very well. I only painted the faces and a few spots on the drawers and I have a hard time spotting any difference even in good light. Ed.

That’s good to know. I’ll probably go the the antique pewter just because I painted some machinist boxes with them already. I wondered about those type of paints. The red I wanna match is HF red they use. I’ll try it out. I really liked the way you have the drawers stacked like that. I never thought about doing that. Simple but great idea. I would paint the cab first the use it as the drying rack but gonna try your method next.

 

[consti2tion]

Thanks Brian, Nearly finished it this afternoon. A lot more scrubbing and touching up than I started out to do but worth it I hope. Ed.







Nice 12 on 12 stack JoCo, A bit of work to fix it up for sure but when a box pops up local and you don't have one yet not much a guy can do but add to the herd. Ed.











I've always had very good luck with the hammered gray in spray for matching the cabinets. Seems to blend in nearly seamlessly. Today I was in Lowes to pick up some of the gray and a little of the red. They had a new color called Tool box and it's supposed to match Craftsman so I grabbed a couple cans of it. On my 74' stack I'd used a VT Chevy orange red. It matched the older stack very well but was way to orange for my newer set....sun fading?



Anyway, the new tool box red color I picked up matched my newest boxes red very well. I only painted the faces and a few spots on the drawers and I have a hard time spotting any difference even in good light. Ed.

If you go back a few pages you’ll see my box with toolbox red drawers, I like the way the color turned out.

Looking great man!

 

[DFB]

Well I got down 2 coats of the Rustoleum Gloss Smoke Gray on the primed box today...it is actually a bit darker than the photo seems to show though still not quite as dark as the actual Hammered Gray.

In the 2nd photo, the block of wood the Hammered Gray is on the top and the Smoke Gray on the lower,. You can also see the hammered on the block against the painted face frame on box in the 3rd photo. The 2 different grays are fairly close. The drawer Sunrise Red.

So down the road I could (if I wanted too) "rattle can" spray over it with one of the Hammered's. Either the Gray or Pewter. The Hammer paint say using a comparable color base coat first can also give better results

 

[Oregon rock crusher]

That’s good to know. I’ll probably go the the antique pewter just because I painted some machinist boxes with them already. I wondered about those type of paints. The red I wanna match is HF red they use. I’ll try it out. I really liked the way you have the drawers stacked like that. I never thought about doing that. Simple but great idea. I would paint the cab first the use it as the drying rack but gonna try your method next.

Thanks taumac, I know what you mean about using the cabinet for the drying rack and sometimes I do it that way too. This time I needed to be cleaning it up while the drawers dried. The close heater really speeds up the drying. Ed.

If you go back a few pages you’ll see my box with toolbox red drawers, I like the way the color turned out.

Looking great man!

Thanks consti2tion, I missed the discussion you were having about the new Rustoleum tool box red color before. It is a very good match for some boxes....others not so much. It was just about a perfect match for this stack though. I pretty much finished it late this afternoon and grabbed a quick pick in what was left of the fading light. Looks like you are making good progress on your box DFB. Ed.

 

[JoCoSawdust]

Nice save ORC. Looks great!

 

[consti2tion]

Thanks taumac, I know what you mean about using the cabinet for the drying rack and sometimes I do it that way too. This time I needed to be cleaning it up while the drawers dried. The close heater really speeds up the drying. Ed.



Thanks consti2tion, I missed the discussion you were having about the new Rustoleum tool box red color before. It is a very good match for some boxes....others not so much. It was just about a perfect match for this stack though. I pretty much finished it late this afternoon and grabbed a quick pick in what was left of the fading light. Looks like you are making good progress on your box DFB. Ed.

Man that turned out great! I can’t wait to find another stack!

 

[jeffmoss26]

wow!

 

[Oregon rock crusher]

Thanks guys, just to show the different paint tones I rolled my two 12x12's together. The 74' set on the left only has a couple drawer fronts on the roller painted with the VT chevy orange red which matched it perfectly. The 76/77 set on the right got the "tool box red" on all the drawer fronts but it matched the interior color and sides near perfect. I had the bottom drawer off for a little emblem touch up.

It really shows the color difference over a few years and I doubt it's just fading. I think the newer color looks pretty close to what was used on the late 70's Red frame Gray drawer boxes as well but even those vary a little. Anyway, there seem to be a lot of rattle can reds available these days which is very handy for matching different boxes. Ed.

 

[Rileysan]

Thanks guys, just to show the different paint tones I rolled my two 12x12's together. The 74' set on the left only has a couple drawer fronts on the roller painted with the VT chevy orange red which matched it perfectly. The 76/77 set on the right got the "tool box red" on all the drawer fronts but it matched the interior color and sides near perfect. I had the bottom drawer off for a little emblem touch up.

It really shows the color difference over a few years and I doubt it's just fading. I think the newer color looks pretty close to what was used on the late 70's Red frame Gray drawer boxes as well but even those vary a little. Anyway, there seem to be a lot of rattle can reds available these days which is very handy for matching different boxes. Ed.

Being color blind, oftentimes the nuances of color escape me. However, one thing that rarely escapes me is the effects of fading, due to light exposure. Even being color blind, I can see clear differences between the reds of the gray & red boxes and the red & charcoal. If there was ever any doubt, it's easy enough to see the preserved colors of those red drawers by looking at the underside of them.

Just my two cents!

 

[Oregon rock crusher]

Yes I would agree that the sides and bottoms of the drawers probably show the true color somewhat more reliable than the faces. Looking at them overall is why I used different colors on each box. Just trying to match each box as closely as possible and they are definitely different shades of red. I really like that there are readily available rattle can options to test color with though. Last time I took a box to Sherwin Williams for a color match it was expensive paint and less than a perfect match. Ed.

 

[Smokeshow69]

Here is a 12x12 rectangular badged red & gray I plucked off the local C/L this afternoon. The roller is dated 12/76 and the Chest 01/77, the year I graduated HS. The chest does have the black slides but the rollers slides are silver. The chest is really straight and the paint not all that bad....the roller on the other hand is straight but has the worst spray bomb paint job ever. I hope it will wipe off with some lacquer thinner. Not sure what happened there. A few pics of the new stack and the last one of my few years older chevron badged red & gray 12x12 stack. Ed.

Boy Ed, that really cleaned up nice!


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[Oregon rock crusher]

Thanks Smoke. That roller was super straight as found and the slides showed very little wear as well. If not for the attempt to cure a few rust spots with that crazy spray job by the PO I probably wouldn't have done anything to it. The chest didn't need or get much work at all. Ed.

 

[madison069]

I see this thread has been building more since I've been here!

I finally found an all drawer set up and picked it up today. This is a picture of all of my grey/red boxes together the far right stack is the new set!

 

[vfrcapn]

Lots of good looking boxes here. I've been using a Kennedy for the last 15 years but wanted to expand and really liked the vintage Craftsman, good to see I'm not alone. I picked up the grey/red a couple months ago. Thinking I am going to let the Kennedy go I ended up buying the red/grey from the same seller this weekend. But I'd l really like to find another of the grey with the 3 drawer rows like the red, just so they're matching.

I'm just finishing construction on a 20x22 garage shop and planing to move in a few weeks from now.

 

[consti2tion]

Lots of good looking boxes here. I've been using a Kennedy for the last 15 years but wanted to expand and really liked the vintage Craftsman, good to see I'm not alone. I picked up the grey/red a couple months ago. Thinking I am going to let the Kennedy go I ended up buying the red/grey from the same seller this weekend. But I'd l really like to find another of the grey with the 3 drawer rows like the red, just so they're matching.



I'm just finishing construction on a 20x22 garage shop and planing to move in a few weeks from now.

Very nice find there!

Can’t wait to move and get my larger shop built so I acquire more of these beauties. I’m sure my wife isn’t as excited as I am haha.

 

[Lookin4'67Galaxieconv]

Here's mine...there's a couple more I don't have pics of at the moment.

 

[Brad54]

Picked up a 3-drawer middle box this weekend, to augment my dad's top and roller-slide bottom that I have in my hot rod shop.
I've been hunting one of these for five years now, and.... well... it might be a little too tall now!
But, the amount of wear, paint fade and "age" matches my dad's just about perfectly, so until I can find a 2-drawer that's in the same condition, I'll accept it.
I paid $175 for it, and it came with a matching 3-drawer bottom box. I didn't need the bottom box, but it'll fit under a butcher block work bench I've got, so once my shop is set up, it'll work well.
I have another matching 3-drawer top box in the basement. Don't know what I'm going to do with that yet...

 

[JoCoSawdust]

Picked up a 3-drawer middle box this weekend, to augment my dad's top and roller-slide bottom that I have in my hot rod shop.
I've been hunting one of these for five years now, and.... well... it might be a little too tall now!
But, the amount of wear, paint fade and "age" matches my dad's just about perfectly, so until I can find a 2-drawer that's in the same condition, I'll accept it.
I paid $175 for it, and it came with a matching 3-drawer bottom box. I didn't need the bottom box, but it'll fit under a butcher block work bench I've got, so once my shop is set up, it'll work well.
I have another matching 3-drawer top box in the basement. Don't know what I'm going to do with that yet...

Nice set up. Be aware the 2d mid chest is the same height as the 3d, the drawers are just deeper. I have to do the tip toe reach with both of mine.

 

[Smokeshow69]

Nice set up. Be aware the 2d mid chest is the same height as the 3d, the drawers are just deeper. I have to do the tip toe reach with both of mine.

Agreed... it is really tall and I am a tall dude. I am not looking to add one to mine but if one came up for sale maybe I would buy it for my bench? I like to do this in my top chest so I am not missing a mid chest all that much



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[RubiconJK]

Picked up a 3-drawer middle box this weekend, to augment my dad's top and roller-slide bottom that I have in my hot rod shop.
I've been hunting one of these for five years now, and.... well... it might be a little too tall now!
But, the amount of wear, paint fade and "age" matches my dad's just about perfectly, so until I can find a 2-drawer that's in the same condition, I'll accept it.
I paid $175 for it, and it came with a matching 3-drawer bottom box. I didn't need the bottom box, but it'll fit under a butcher block work bench I've got, so once my shop is set up, it'll work well.
I have another matching 3-drawer top box in the basement. Don't know what I'm going to do with that yet...

Great find congrats.

Agreed... it is really tall and I am a tall dude. I am not looking to add one to mine but if one came up for sale maybe I would buy it for my bench? I like to do this in my top chest so I am not missing a mid chest all that much

Nice

 

[Smokeshow69]

Great find congrats.





Nice

I didn’t purposefully color match those Hansen socket organizers to the chest but it just so happened they are the same color, at least in 3/8 drive!


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[DFB]

So almost done with little my project and started putting the parts all back together today, greased the slides set the drawers in place. Most likely tomorrow will secure on the name badge, install the lock again and re-attach the polished up side handles. Will post a final photo or two then

And was trying to decide tonight which of several Craftsman vises I have might fit in best with the timeline of the top Tool Chest...

Maybe the Japan sourced 391 (probably late 70's) or the older 506 series vise (I have two of those ones slightly newer than the other) for a companion piece

 

[Brad54]

Nice set up. Be aware the 2d mid chest is the same height as the 3d, the drawers are just deeper. I have to do the tip toe reach with both of mine.

I was worried about that.
I'm 6'2, and keep all my 1/2-inch sockets and drives in the top of that chest... Might have to come up with a Plan B there...
A Plan B that doesn't simply transfer them to the three drawers I just picked up!

 

[Hudson31]

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[DFB]

Okay thats the completed project...I'm quite happy with results and looks a whole lot cleaner than it's grungy former life.

It was serious worker for sure.

Generally was a fun project after all the work was said and done

Made up my mind I am going to two tone the older 506 series vise in a similar fashion with red side arrow highlights over a grey body

 

[vfrcapn]

Okay thats the completed project...I'm quite happy with results and looks a whole lot cleaner than it's grungy former life.

It was serious worker for sure.

Generally was a fun project after all the work was said and done

Made up my mind I am going to two tone the older 506 series vise in a similar fashion with red side arrow highlights over a grey body

Nice work.

 

[torqueman2002]

Great tool boxes.


Here's one that popped up on CL this morning. SE Michigan/Metro Detroit.

https://detroit.craigslist.org/mcb/tls/d/sterling-heights-craftsman-rolling-tool/7092241203.html


I love these, but I don't have room for a third, plus the SO in the garage.

 

[Smokeshow69]

Great tool boxes.


Here's one that popped up on CL this morning. SE Michigan/Metro Detroit.

https://detroit.craigslist.org/mcb/tls/d/sterling-heights-craftsman-rolling-tool/7092241203.html


I love these, but I don't have room for a third, plus the SO in the garage.

That one looks pretty clean!


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