Sam'sAutoParts
Well-known member
That is a great box with an even better history! Enjoy it!
Huot Experts, Help ID This Box?
- Thread starter MN Falcon
- Start date
Huot Mfg. Company
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SeabeeVet,
It sure looks like our #101 & #250...If you read the post from March of 2012', you'll see that HMC jumped into the tool box business in 1947' with a first run of 100 units. Because yours do not have the oval embossed into the covers, my guess is yours are some of those early models. As for the spray felt in the drawers, that must be something that was added by someone else. Felt was typically found in a machinist chest or tool & die makers box, not in a mechanics box.
Good luck with your project!
It sure looks like our #101 & #250...If you read the post from March of 2012', you'll see that HMC jumped into the tool box business in 1947' with a first run of 100 units. Because yours do not have the oval embossed into the covers, my guess is yours are some of those early models. As for the spray felt in the drawers, that must be something that was added by someone else. Felt was typically found in a machinist chest or tool & die makers box, not in a mechanics box.
Good luck with your project!
Thanks HMC (John?). I wasn't sure about the MAC sticker on it, so I'll chalk that up to a later add on as it seems rural phone numbers didn't start going to seven digits until early to mid '50's. All the years I worked with him, I don't know why I didn't ever think to just ask?
zeet
Well-known member
I've been hoping to find one of these for years and I scored this slightly battered jewel this morning! I usually leave the finish alone unless it's just too far gone but this one is right on the line for me.... There's some reconstructive surgery to do on the lower panel of the front but I'm stoked!
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Huot Mfg. Company
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Wow, that's quite a find alright. And here we are again with those strange drawer pulls that nobody recognizes. I sure wish we could find an old (really old) catalog so we could nail down the age of a tool chest like that. Good luck!
wrenchguy
Well-known member
Huot Mfg. Company, thank u 4 sticking to this thread
ur help and input is appreciated 
zeet
Well-known member
Thanks, Huot!
As I mentioned, I've been watching for one for awhile. I'm very pleased with the overall condition of the chest, with the exception of the "swiss cheese" holes in that lower panel, of course - But since that will end up leading to a restoration, it's all good!
Two things I'd like to get my hands on before I dig in, though... Paint, and the Sticker. It looks to me as though the original paint scheme was a blue hammer-tone for the body of the chest and grey hammer-tone for the drawers...Does that sound right?...And dare I ask.... Is that paint still available through you guys?
Then there's the sticker :^)
If you run across that old catalog you mentioned, by all means let us know... These are great old boxes and there seems to be more interest in them all the time.
James
bobcatdan
Well-known member
Has the company ever thought of reentering the mechanic tool box market? Come on, Beach is coming back.
Huot Mfg. Company
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James,
Good luck with the Swiss cheese patching....As for the sticker, we've added a spot on our website with instructions for obtaining one. Go to www.huot.com and click on the products tab. Scroll down the bar on the left to "request a sticker" (or something like that).Two sticker images will appear to choose from along with instructions to send us a self addressed stamped envelope and yada yada.
Again, good luck!
John
Huot Mfg. Company
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zeet
Well-known member
Wow, John... VERY cool! Thanks for that, and I'll keep you posted on the "resurrection".
James
buba
Well-known member
I think this is an old model 201 bottom. It belonged to my father and he picked it up used around 1960, give or take a few years. I was wondering if anyone could help narrow down the age based on the pictures below. The handles and wheels appear a bit different than most I have found searching the web. The last image is of the 101 top box (I think) that my father added many years later, it was a yard sale find if I recall correctly.
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jakemac
Well-known member
Those handles are a new one to me. I wonder if they were a short lived transition between the round handles of the earlier style to the flat handles in your last picture. I haven't seen those before.
buba
Well-known member
Thanks, I think I have seen pictures of the handles in this thread but the all steel casters/wheels are a new one on me.
I wrote to Huot about the colors and locks. They replied they no longer have information on the boxes, locks, or colors.They added they switched over to powdercoating instead to liquid enamel paint over 30 years ago.
I think I am going to clean this up and treat the rust cancer. I will see what it looks when its cleaned up and then decide if it needs paint or not. If it does I may get a quart of silver hammered paint and mix in some blue until I get the color close enough and then spray it.
I wrote to Huot about the colors and locks. They replied they no longer have information on the boxes, locks, or colors.They added they switched over to powdercoating instead to liquid enamel paint over 30 years ago.
I think I am going to clean this up and treat the rust cancer. I will see what it looks when its cleaned up and then decide if it needs paint or not. If it does I may get a quart of silver hammered paint and mix in some blue until I get the color close enough and then spray it.
jakemac
Well-known member
I think that member drivesitfar and maybe another member have those "creeper" style wheels on their Huot bottoms, and have decided that they were original. Both of my bottoms are from the late 60's early 70's and have regular castors on them.
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buba
Well-known member
Well I got around to cleaning up the bottom box. The rust was significant enough that I went ahead and treated, primed and finish coated it with some 'almost' matching oil based enamel from SW. It is now back in service. I only cleaned the top box (no touch up paint).
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jakemac
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Looks good Buba.
Huot Mfg. Company
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Wow-nice job!
Caboverbob
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Greetings gents. Picked this jewel up today for $40. Seems like I might have done ok ?
Are the decals still available ? I know this is an old thread.
TIA
Nitro junkie and Union Piledriver
donoradvocate
New member
The free decals you receive from the factory aren't large enough to cover the oval on the front panel, but they still look better than nothing.
I am unsure if the reproduction Huot stickers sold on eBay are of the correct diameter, but might be another option. The seller was tripping on their price, so I just went with the free stickers. Another option is to take an image of a logo, resize it and print out on photo paper.
A Huot toolbox in good condition is a prize find. Hang on to it because toolboxes are no longer made with that level of craftsmanship because it is too costly. It is also a very nice looking toolbox, especially with a fresh coat of paint.
All I can tell you is to read the threads on this website. The answers are out there, you just have to take the time to research through them.
I am unsure if the reproduction Huot stickers sold on eBay are of the correct diameter, but might be another option. The seller was tripping on their price, so I just went with the free stickers. Another option is to take an image of a logo, resize it and print out on photo paper.
A Huot toolbox in good condition is a prize find. Hang on to it because toolboxes are no longer made with that level of craftsmanship because it is too costly. It is also a very nice looking toolbox, especially with a fresh coat of paint.
All I can tell you is to read the threads on this website. The answers are out there, you just have to take the time to research through them.
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Stuart in MN
Well-known member
donoradvocate
New member
The tool cart on the left looks very similar to Huot and was wondering what other toolbox companies sold rebadged Huot boxes, and any idea of a year when it happened. The cart on the right looks similar to the old Huot industrial boxes. If so, did Huot paint the boxes a Kennedy brown, or were they shipped with a primer only? On the white Huot stack, I mounted a 1.5-inch mirror across the top, and the lid will still close over it and not scratch the mirror. The mirror is called Mirredge, and was originally for trimming decorative mirrors, and I've used them quite frequently to decorate my toolboxes. It is sold through the Home Depot, and runs about $2.75 per linear foot. Don't use glue because it may stain through the finish and ruin the mirror, use rubber contact strips.
It is only my opinion, but I feel that when Huot never developed a nicer base cart, that it likely also hurt sales near the end because while other competitors and even Craftsman made a nifty 12 drawer tool cart, and by the time Huot began manufacturing their industrial toolbox line, it was a little too late.
Instead of wanting Huot to make toolboxes again, I would like to see them make an accessory top box for their drill bit toolboxes, a metal box with flanges & screw holes for mounting, complete with a top lid. Inside the box is stored a magnified light with a flexible metal stem and an 8 ft. electrical cord. It would be so helpful to be able to read the tiny stamped numbers on drill bits for easier reading & sorting.
I like Huot's Glidex drawer slides and they are probably one of the better ones in the industry, smooth, quiet & less clanking. I am not a fan of the earlier style drawer slides.
It is only my opinion, but I feel that when Huot never developed a nicer base cart, that it likely also hurt sales near the end because while other competitors and even Craftsman made a nifty 12 drawer tool cart, and by the time Huot began manufacturing their industrial toolbox line, it was a little too late.
Instead of wanting Huot to make toolboxes again, I would like to see them make an accessory top box for their drill bit toolboxes, a metal box with flanges & screw holes for mounting, complete with a top lid. Inside the box is stored a magnified light with a flexible metal stem and an 8 ft. electrical cord. It would be so helpful to be able to read the tiny stamped numbers on drill bits for easier reading & sorting.
I like Huot's Glidex drawer slides and they are probably one of the better ones in the industry, smooth, quiet & less clanking. I am not a fan of the earlier style drawer slides.
