Lippyp
Well-known member
Why are most tool boxes/chests red? There must be a reason.
Tool box question
- Thread starter Lippyp
- Start date
sam.coll
Well-known member
The same reason the sky is blue......
dlcwent
Member Emeritus
Red is equated with a stop sign. You'd better stop if you think you can use my tools.
thegroundpounder99
Well-known member
Lol....I like that logicRed is equated with a stop sign. You'd better stop if you think you can use my tools.
Ridwaan Gallow
Well-known member
Maybe it has something to do with overcrowded workshops and garages.. a red box is easier to spot than a ''beige'' box?
PelicanPines
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Red = hey the tools are in here!!!
Or men just like having pretty red things???
Or men just like having pretty red things???
mr.speaker
Well-known member
It seems like that's the standard color that the top companies offer and the other colors usually take some time to get ordered and delivered so the customers just settle with red..
I do see a lot of Blue and Black boxes as well though
I do see a lot of Blue and Black boxes as well though
covert
Well-known member
Maybe it's the reason so many barns are/were red - the price of red paint is cheapest.
I'll hazard a guess:
Tool boxes haven't been red throughout all history. Traditionally, woodworkers' wooden tools boxes were dark green, painted with some form of copper which was cheap and thought to possess wood preserving properties. (they were probably right)
Machinists had wooden or black vinyl covered wood boxes. When the first steel machinists boxes were made, they were painted Brown or black to look like earlier boxes (and shaped the same).
Its really the auto shops and specifically US shops where red was the dominant tool box color. Over on collectingsnapon.com, Frank Murch says KRA was Kenosha (SO HQ) Red, Algona (The town in Iowa where they are made).
Here's my explanation:
100 years ago, cars competing in the "Gran Prix", or grand prize races, identified their cars' or drivers' national origin (typically the same) by the color of their cars. The colors were standardized as follows:
Italy- Red
Germany Silver or white
France- Blue
England - you guessed it, British racing green.
Japan white (this is probably why the mach 5 was white) typically with a red dot like their flag.
USA white with blue stripes (later blue with white stripes)
In the early days, the Italians dominated and had fantastic looking cars. As time went on, Italian cars were seen by Americans as sports cars and red became a typical hotrod color. For racing fans red became ****, hot, fast, exciting.
My guess is, this was a kick *** color that US mechanics liked and felt was "sporty". This also explains why colors of boxes elsewhere may be different. It also explains why Porsche for example, advertised and continues to advertise their products in silver, jaguar, in green etc. These colors are part of a motorsport tradition that stretches back over 100 years. That's my guess anyway.
Tool boxes haven't been red throughout all history. Traditionally, woodworkers' wooden tools boxes were dark green, painted with some form of copper which was cheap and thought to possess wood preserving properties. (they were probably right)
Machinists had wooden or black vinyl covered wood boxes. When the first steel machinists boxes were made, they were painted Brown or black to look like earlier boxes (and shaped the same).
Its really the auto shops and specifically US shops where red was the dominant tool box color. Over on collectingsnapon.com, Frank Murch says KRA was Kenosha (SO HQ) Red, Algona (The town in Iowa where they are made).
Here's my explanation:
100 years ago, cars competing in the "Gran Prix", or grand prize races, identified their cars' or drivers' national origin (typically the same) by the color of their cars. The colors were standardized as follows:
Italy- Red
Germany Silver or white
France- Blue
England - you guessed it, British racing green.
Japan white (this is probably why the mach 5 was white) typically with a red dot like their flag.
USA white with blue stripes (later blue with white stripes)
In the early days, the Italians dominated and had fantastic looking cars. As time went on, Italian cars were seen by Americans as sports cars and red became a typical hotrod color. For racing fans red became ****, hot, fast, exciting.
My guess is, this was a kick *** color that US mechanics liked and felt was "sporty". This also explains why colors of boxes elsewhere may be different. It also explains why Porsche for example, advertised and continues to advertise their products in silver, jaguar, in green etc. These colors are part of a motorsport tradition that stretches back over 100 years. That's my guess anyway.
Bagherra
Well-known member
Saw a white SnapOn at Merchants Tire yesterday...that thing was "awful purty".....
mr.speaker
Well-known member
Maybe Canada is different then the rest of the world .
From my experience, white is the cheapest and red is the most expensive. (at least when painting cars)
covert
Well-known member
Perhaps, but who would want a white barn?
mr.speaker
Well-known member
LOL . Not me !!
Thing is red paint is probably the least stable colour wise. I had a 1975 Triumph Dolomite in Pimento red and the ****** thing would turn a powdery chalky pink every 12 months until I cut the paintwork back and polished and waxed it, the older VW golfs were just as bad.
Mind you go back earlier to the days of stuff being properly stove enamelled rather than painted and toolboxes were often greens and greys and pale blues.
Mind you go back earlier to the days of stuff being properly stove enamelled rather than painted and toolboxes were often greens and greys and pale blues.
Lotek
Well-known member
Real mechanics have red tool boxes, start messing with tradition and you will have 'technicians' wasting all their time hanging around the soyfrappelatte machine in the showroom...just ain't natural.
malykaii
Well-known member
People are attracted to red. Why does everyone paint their calipers red and it's fine. Do a different color and,it's considered tacky and rice.
My calipers are black and my box is blue. Tradition, eat it lol.
My calipers are black and my box is blue. Tradition, eat it lol.
MushCreek
Well-known member
It's to hide the blood when the wrench slips and your knuckles find the sharpest edge in the engine bay.
chris_1001
Well-known member
My understanding is people painted their (houses) front door red (as red paint is/was is expensive) to show affluence.
Dont know how this applies to boxes, as having any color snap on box shows you have money (or debt)
This, red shows power, speed, sexiness. It grabs your attention and commands respect.
crewchief888
Well-known member
I agree !!!
Id think its because originally they would have been painted with an oxide paint , as a rust preventative , and thats red. Over time the red stuck as a main colour even though metal treatment and rust prevention has moved on?
What do ya think of my logic, come on guys shoot me down
What do ya think of my logic, come on guys shoot me down
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maxpower_hd
Well-known member
My guess in plain visibility. Although it's only a guess. Now that I'm in a rather poorly lit shop shared with gray/grease colored floors I find myself avoiding tool purchases in the greys, blacks etc as they are hard to see when they aren't put away. I lean toward anything bright including red.
On a side note, I requested a green Snap On work light from the Snap On truck and all he had was red. So red I got.
On a side note, I requested a green Snap On work light from the Snap On truck and all he had was red. So red I got.
Lassen Forge
Well-known member
Never thought about it until now.
My guess is some company painted them red, and everyone else followed suit. Probably just after the war, when the mechanics coming home were so sick of seeing Olive Green everything, it was as far from that as they could get.
Anyway... being younger than those WW2 mechanics, the toolboxes I've had have always been red, because that's what they were. Except for this one Sears Special that was dark silver with black drawers. I always thought that looked "cool". That first box I was given - behind the patina of stickers and grease... yep. Red.
OTOH... My "carry" boxes were old-school Kennedys - both of them hammer-finish dark tan. My daddy-s old Kennedy - yep, Hammer dark Tan. So maybe it's manufacturer specific. Every "good" machinist's chest I've seen was either natural wood, or painted brown.
It's like the other one - coveralls. Usually either dark Gray or Blue? EVERY shop I've worked in has been one or the other. Or some combo of blue pants/shirt.
My guess is some company painted them red, and everyone else followed suit. Probably just after the war, when the mechanics coming home were so sick of seeing Olive Green everything, it was as far from that as they could get.
Anyway... being younger than those WW2 mechanics, the toolboxes I've had have always been red, because that's what they were. Except for this one Sears Special that was dark silver with black drawers. I always thought that looked "cool". That first box I was given - behind the patina of stickers and grease... yep. Red.
OTOH... My "carry" boxes were old-school Kennedys - both of them hammer-finish dark tan. My daddy-s old Kennedy - yep, Hammer dark Tan. So maybe it's manufacturer specific. Every "good" machinist's chest I've seen was either natural wood, or painted brown.
It's like the other one - coveralls. Usually either dark Gray or Blue? EVERY shop I've worked in has been one or the other. Or some combo of blue pants/shirt.
warmpancakes
Well-known member
correct, and the reason early fords only came in black???? Black paint dried faster so cars could be built faster
Mechanical Noise
Well-known member
Why were so many of the old boxes of the 40s and 50s hammertone grey?
Old time glossy red paint was crummy stuff. Even stopsigns weren't universally red. I remember seeing old yellow stop signs still in use in the 1960s. Old reds could bleach almost to white over the years. I think fade resistant reds became affordable around 1960 or so.
The fade resistant reds of the 60s were NEW and COOL. A car could be red, a stopsign could be red, even a toolbox could be red! I have no doubt the new red toolboxes just killed the dowdy hammertone grey toolboxes in sales.
I'm seeing alot more black boxes now, as the balance shifts between individuality and herdthink.
Old time glossy red paint was crummy stuff. Even stopsigns weren't universally red. I remember seeing old yellow stop signs still in use in the 1960s. Old reds could bleach almost to white over the years. I think fade resistant reds became affordable around 1960 or so.
The fade resistant reds of the 60s were NEW and COOL. A car could be red, a stopsign could be red, even a toolbox could be red! I have no doubt the new red toolboxes just killed the dowdy hammertone grey toolboxes in sales.
I'm seeing alot more black boxes now, as the balance shifts between individuality and herdthink.
One of the reasons that fire trucks are also painted red. However, a lot of reds today are high solid and can be expensive.
crewchief888
Well-known member
FWIW,
up until the mid 90's i cant remember seeing a (professional type) toolbox that wasnt red.
the exceptions being CM 2 tone, kennedy wrinkle brown, SK green
that being said i do have a cranberry SO set from '94 or so.
up until the mid 90's i cant remember seeing a (professional type) toolbox that wasnt red.
the exceptions being CM 2 tone, kennedy wrinkle brown, SK green
that being said i do have a cranberry SO set from '94 or so.