Show your “Crowntop” Craftsman

[Cruzan80]

Nice part about those (in general) is the negative rake for the RAS. I probably would have grabbed it, and then had to figure out a way to bore a 1" arbor hole (my RAS is considerably bigger than 12").

 

[Cruzan80]

And to keep it on track, here is a Crowntop Commercial grinder I listed for sale. All the pieces are there, just not in the pic.

 

[Etchase]

Small, but handy.

 

[d42jeep]

I found this Crown mid box at a Tahoe estate sale yesterday. It was part of an upper/mid box set that I was able to talk the seller into separating. I would have preferred finding a Kennedy but I’m not complaining.
I cleaned it up a bit and lubed the slides.
-Don

 

[fishwatcher]

I found this Crown mid box at a Tahoe estate sale yesterday. It was part of an upper/mid box set that I was able to talk the seller into separating. I would have preferred finding a Kennedy but I’m not complaining.

Wow.. that looks practically new.

 

[Smokeshow69]

I found this Crown mid box at a Tahoe estate sale yesterday. It was part of an upper/mid box set that I was able to talk the seller into separating. I would have preferred finding a Kennedy but I’m not complaining.
I cleaned it up a bit and lubed the slides.
-Don

I like the box but I like the greenbrier in the back ground more!

 

[d42jeep]

We’ve had it so long it’s a member of the Family. It’s an early aftermarket camper van. Here it is camping around 1990.
Here it is in May after it’s long winters nap.
-Don

 

[genog]

..... I would have preferred finding a Kennedy but I’m not complaining.

Here's a Kennedy mid box

 

[rustyedge1]

Broke out the old Crown Top pruners today for a little work on the butterfly bush.

 

[d42jeep]

I found this Crown mid box at a Tahoe estate sale yesterday. It was part of an upper/mid box set that I was able to talk the seller into separating. I would have preferred finding a Kennedy but I’m not complaining.
I cleaned it up a bit and lubed the slides.
-Don

I stuck it on the Stainless table below the Kennedy.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Here is a Crown tubing cutter found at a Carson City, NV estate sale today.
Cleaned it up today.
-Don

 

[AntiqueBen]

I found this beauty today for $8. It's a Craftsman Auto Scroller Saw (glorified jig-saw). For some reason I've never seen one of these before. I am still fascinated how you can lock the blade in any position or leave it unlocked & you can turn the blade with the knob instead of moving the whole saw. Not sure how practical it is yet, but it was difficult to pass up. It looks fresh out of the box even though it probably dates to around 1970'ish. The original Craftsman plug isn't grounded. Anyone have any ideas when the Craftsman Auto Scroller Saw was first offered?

 

[AntiqueBen]

The badge includes Simpson Sears LTD. A joint venture between Simpson & Sears stores in Canada. So, is this a Canadian version of this tool?

 

[Skellyii]

I found this beauty today for $8. It's a Craftsman Auto Scroller Saw (glorified jig-saw). For some reason I've never seen one of these before. I am still fascinated how you can lock the blade in any position or leave it unlocked & you can turn the blade with the knob instead of moving the whole saw. Not sure how practical it is yet, but it was difficult to pass up. It looks fresh out of the box even though it probably dates to around 1970'ish. The original Craftsman plug isn't grounded. Anyone have any ideas when the Craftsman Auto Scroller Saw was first offered?

Wow! I haven't seen one of those in years!

There was a similar American made one that an uncle left me in 1986. I used it for quite a few years until it finally died.

I think most of my uncles tools were from the late 60s, early 70s.

 

[Provincial]

I found this beauty today for $8. It's a Craftsman Auto Scroller Saw (glorified jig-saw). For some reason I've never seen one of these before. I am still fascinated how you can lock the blade in any position or leave it unlocked & you can turn the blade with the knob instead of moving the whole saw. Not sure how practical it is yet, but it was difficult to pass up. It looks fresh out of the box even though it probably dates to around 1970'ish. The original Craftsman plug isn't grounded. Anyone have any ideas when the Craftsman Auto Scroller Saw was first offered?

The badge says "double insulated" which means it doesn't need a grounded plug. Nice saw.

 

[Beerhippie]

The badge says "double insulated" which means it doesn't need a grounded plug. Nice saw.

But it still has a polarized plug--meaning you always have to try twice to get it the right way around when plugging it in. May as well have left the ground lug on just so you get it right the first time.

Get off my lawn!

 

[Mintgrun]

I couldn't resist this carpenter's box for five bux. I like the flip-up handles on the ends, but neglected to get photos showing them. That little sticker on the top left corner explains that the bump is an optional pop-out for a framing square. There are two little holes drilled through the lid that attached a block of wood with slits to hold handsaws. His saws were there too, but I left those. (They're still there. I try not to collect hand saws).





It's got the same black/red crown logo as some of my other boxes (including the brown one behind it). Is there a particular time frame when that logo was used?

Tom​

 

[d42jeep]

That one is fresh looking. I found a Heritage version some time back and gifted it to my old carpenter buddy. It had the wood attached to the lid. I think it was $5.00 as well.
I’m not sure about the red Crown logo.
This one is likely around 1967.
-Don

 

[Mintgrun]

It's funny that your heritage box has a similar block of wood screwed to the lid. Mine was missing the front screw too. Your tray is narrower. I have a second tray for mine that I bought a long time ago and had been wondering which box it'd fit. Know I now!

I have a box or two with logos like yours; with red letters,
but lacking the red stripe around them.


I think your recent mid-box has the red lined logo to match my brown box.


That little carry box has a plastic handle.


This little carry box has the rubber covered metal handle. As does the carpenter box with the red-lined logo. So, it appears the transition from metal handle to plastic happened within the red lined logo timeframe and the red-letter without-line is older. (I like the metal handles).




Here's an old thread discussing the two logos. (They suggest the same logo sequence).

craftsman crown date please

i started collecting crown top tool boxes (it's all your fault) and have noticed that the logos are different. some have a only black outline around them and some with a black and red line around them. what is the date line for these? could you please tell me the time line for the black only...

www.garagejournal.com

 

[alinc100]

I couldn't resist this carpenter's box for five bux. I like the flip-up handles on the ends, but neglected to get photos showing them. That little sticker on the top left corner explains that the bump is an optional pop-out for a framing square. There are two little holes drilled through the lid that attached a block of wood with slits to hold handsaws. His saws were there too, but I left those. (They're still there. I try not to collect hand saws).





It's got the same black/red crown logo as some of my other boxes (including the brown one behind it). Is there a particular time frame when that logo was used?

Tom​

Nice find. A quick perusal of my catalog collection and the first instance I see of the red trimmed logo is 1970, the last being around 1976 ,as in 1977 they went to the red/white rectangular Sears/Craftsman logo. Key for your box,and Don's heritage badged boxes are still available.

 

[d42jeep]

Yeah, it looks like the red striped logo goes mostly along with the plastic handles. Honestly, I’ve never paid that much attention to the color change.



-Don

 

[alinc100]

The "plastisol coating" appeared about 1961 , obviously the all plastic handles later. But obviously there was overlap and I'd bet some of the boxes had a plastisol coated handle longer than some of the smaller boxes. I am assuming based upon shape that Mintgrun's carpenter box and smaller carry box are the handles Sears refers to is plastisol coated.
.

 

[d42jeep]

Some boxes with Plastisol handles. No red stripe.
-Don

 

[Mintgrun]

Nice find. A quick perusal of my catalog collection and the first instance I see of the red trimmed logo is 1970, the last being around 1976 ,as in 1977 they went to the red/white rectangular Sears/Craftsman logo. Key for your box,and Don's heritage badged boxes are still available.

Thank you. If you look closely at the brown box in this photo, you'll see one of the keys you sent to me. It's a fine looking key and I'm glad you found those for me. But, I'm not going to order more keys right now, since I have a hard time paying more for keys than I paid for the boxes.



I have some boxes with the red/white logo you mentioned and I noticed that they also added one more crease along the front of their carry boxes when they switched logos.


I think this logo was contemporary to the Heritage logos, but used on their larger boxes. Is that correct?



Then, the red and white ones came along.



The earliest red and white tagged top boxes (made by Waterloo) still had the semi-circular tabs where the corners wrapped onto the front, before they went to squared off/straight up joints. This black and red box is pretty much the same as the red and gray one, aside from the drawer layout.






Tom

 

[d42jeep]

I bought mine from Sears early in 1977. Obviously Waterloo made. All the details are the same as the earlier gray/red boxes except for color and branding
-Don

 

[alinc100]

I think this logo was contemporary to the Heritage logos, but used on their larger boxes. Is that correct?



Then, the red and white ones came along.










Tom

The Heritage logo ran about 1945 through 1958/59 on most pieces. Then the Crowntop logo began appearing in 1958 running through the mid to late 70's on some items. The Craftsman chevron logo begins to show up on the larger boxes around 1961. The rectangular Sears/Craftsman logo finds its way to us around 1977 .

 

[rustyedge1]

Purchased a box lot of padlocks today at auction one was a small crown top brass Craftsman perfect for tool box. Has original key also.
I was after the Corbin NYCS locks was a nice surprise when got them home. A couple brass Eli Lilly Best locks too.

 

[genog]

Shot this on my Photo Safari

 

[d42jeep]

I found this Crown metric DOE set at today’s estate sale. The bag cleaned up pretty well.
Cleaned up.
-Don

 

[genog]

Found another Drill Grinding Attachment...which I need to practice on


and shot a pic of this ole Crowntop box
People seemed really interested in the boots......

 

[d42jeep]

I found a couple of Crown items at estate sales yesterday. First is this carry box with a plastic handle. It should clean up decently.

I also found a Crown marked 10” hacksaw blade “Made in Sweden”.
-Don

 

[genog]

I've got four Crown Top circular saws
or as they're called, Electric Hand Saws

 

[Mike'smeatshop]

I've got four Crown Top circular saws
or as they're called, Electric Hand Saws

Very cool.

 

[genog]

Yeah.....four of 'em
Here's the other two



The two saws pictured here have also been posted in the Collecting Power Tools thread.
I find it interesting that of the four old vintage C-man saws that I have, two are 6-1/2"ers and the other two are 7"

....I've always known circular saws to be 7-1/4" until I acquired these

 

[Mike'smeatshop]

Yeah.....four of 'em
Here's the other two



The two saws pictured here have also been posted in the Collecting Power Tools thread.
I find it interesting that of the four old vintage C-man saws that I have, two are 6-1/2"ers and the other two are 7"

....I've always known circular saws to be 7-1/4" until I acquired these

I always thought the same with the 7 1/4".

 

[demiandvm]

An early 1960's vintage #4 plane that happens to be in excellent shape.

 

[d42jeep]

I picked up this working Crown drill at an estate sale yesterday to go into my empty Crown drill case.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

I found a Crown marked hacksaw recently. Unfortunately it was quite rusty in the area of the handle, even after some cleaning.
As found.
Cleaned up.
I remembered having the handle half of a Crown saw in the Crown storage box. It was pretty nice and a match for the rusty one.
I switched out the handles.
Into the Crown storage box.
-Don

 

[RTM]

Here is my contribution to the Crowntop thread. I don't usually grab these*, but it was a decent box at a decent price. MLW found it at an ES I couldn't go to, at 20 min til closing on the last day. Couple of OK tools inside, but has the dividers. Front flap is present, but don't see a pic of it on my phone. Bottom is rusty, the left more so than the right. Lightly textured finish, kind of a green brown. No key present. Burgundy or maroon felt will need some replacement when I get around to a full cleanup. Just vacuumed the **** off it, Simple Green spray down, and set it aside for later.

As found


Some of the goodies inside



I think these are Telecom tools.






Interestingly, it came with a pair of these. Not sure their intended function, but worked quite well at release the drawer slide latches

Here is the cleaned up box, minus the front flap (Think the color change between first and last is garage light v natural sunlight.


*Childhood trauma of trying to start a Crowntop hand crank lawnmower on hot summer days. Hated that thing

 

[Smokeshow69]

Scored a set of tubing bender springs in the cardboard box. also got this pulley today in a mutual trade.