Bought some vintage toolboxes, some with, some without keys. The two without keys came locked with most drawers open. So far I have not figured out how to get keys for these MAC toolboxes. In the meantime I bought a lock pick set which allowed me to unlock the boxes so I can comfortably use all drawers for storage. I found the picking tools take surprisingly little time to use after a bit of practice.
This got me looking at my other toolbox stacks which are Craftsmen boxes from 90s or so. These were bought as scratch and dents from Sears stores without keys so boxes cost almost nothing and have worked fine for decades of basement storage. When you look for replacement keys for old toolboxes you find that Craftsmen keys are very easy to buy, which I was preparing to do. But every lock needed a different key, which led me to consider replacing every lock so they would be keyed the same. But then it hit me that I would never need to lock them, and for me the only reason to lock would be to move them without drawers falling out.
So I decided to instead replace all the locks with thumb operated cam locks. No need to keep track of keys, and yet able to seal closed for moving.
There are several styles of the thumb knob, cheap and easy to find on Amazon and other places, so worth looking at options and picking the one you like best. Easy to install for these used and vintage craftsman boxes using simple cam locks, though most of the lock bars needed some adjustment with vise, hammer, grinder or file to mate perfectly.
This got me looking at my other toolbox stacks which are Craftsmen boxes from 90s or so. These were bought as scratch and dents from Sears stores without keys so boxes cost almost nothing and have worked fine for decades of basement storage. When you look for replacement keys for old toolboxes you find that Craftsmen keys are very easy to buy, which I was preparing to do. But every lock needed a different key, which led me to consider replacing every lock so they would be keyed the same. But then it hit me that I would never need to lock them, and for me the only reason to lock would be to move them without drawers falling out.
So I decided to instead replace all the locks with thumb operated cam locks. No need to keep track of keys, and yet able to seal closed for moving.
There are several styles of the thumb knob, cheap and easy to find on Amazon and other places, so worth looking at options and picking the one you like best. Easy to install for these used and vintage craftsman boxes using simple cam locks, though most of the lock bars needed some adjustment with vise, hammer, grinder or file to mate perfectly.
