Recommend a good, decently priced tool chest from craftsman please

[Maximus96]

At first I had my heart set on the CSPS tool chest from Costco but haven?t been able to justify this purchase to the wife since its over $800 now. I think when I first saw it at costco it was around $600. I see it go higher and higher in price the longer I wait. So I thought maybe I can justify a smaller tool chest from craftsman but I know they have some really crappy ones. Last time I was at sears I saws some big craftsman chest comparable to the size of the one from costco but it was over $1400 so the costco unit might not be such a bad deal. However I think I should look at something in between. Maybe around $300-400 range. If you have something in that price range that you can recommend, please let me know.

 

[alkemyst]

if you are looking at 41" Chests, most of craftsman will be more expensive and I don't believe any of the 41" come without ball-bearing drawers.

The 26" chests can be usually had in the $300-400 range (4-5 drawer base, 3-4 drawer intermediate and a top tool box with various doors) around Christmas and Father's day with ball-bearings.

The quiet glide aren't horrible for light duty.

Most people buy way too much chest though.

Harbor Freight has some chests that have good reputations out on the internet. Not sure on the model numbers.

 

[Safeway]

All of my experience with Craftsman tool chests has been bad. We have Matco, Snap-On, and Mac in our workshop.

Edit: You might want to look at the chest that CostCo sells. It is ball-bearing an $800 or so. Very heavy duty.

 

[olds]

The Craftsman chests won't hold up to heavy objects (pipe wrenches, etc) unless you get the ball-bearing drawers.

 

[Maximus96]

Originally posted by: Safeway
All of my experience with Craftsman tool chests has been bad. We have Matco, Snap-On, and Mac in our workshop.

Edit: You might want to look at the chest that CostCo sells. It is ball-bearing an $800 or so. Very heavy duty.

yes that $800 costco chest was the one i have trouble justifying to my wife. it looks heavy duty, i love playing with it at costco, i would love it more to play with it in my garage, but its a lot of money.

so anything with ball-bearing should be good for home garage use?

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Safeway
All of my experience with Craftsman tool chests has been bad. We have Matco, Snap-On, and Mac in our workshop.

Edit: You might want to look at the chest that CostCo sells. It is ball-bearing an $800 or so. Very heavy duty.

what experience and with which chests. If you are talking the $99 specials then they were never intended for more than light duty. All have drawer ratings posted.

One can say your Matco, Snap-On and Mac's are crap compared to Lista cabinets.

 

[daveshel]

Originally posted by: Safeway
All of my experience with Craftsman tool chests has been bad. We have Matco, Snap-On, and Mac in our workshop.

Craftsman tools are for people who collect tools. People who use tools use Matco, Snap-on and Mac.

 

[alkemyst]

sure thing Dave...let us know the next time that Mac or SnapOn truck swings by your house to replace a tool for you.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Maximus96

Originally posted by: Safeway
All of my experience with Craftsman tool chests has been bad. We have Matco, Snap-On, and Mac in our workshop.

Edit: You might want to look at the chest that CostCo sells. It is ball-bearing an $800 or so. Very heavy duty.

yes that $800 costco chest was the one i have trouble justifying to my wife. it looks heavy duty, i love playing with it at costco, i would love it more to play with it in my garage, but its a lot of money.

so anything with ball-bearing should be good for home garage use?

Not entirely true...figure out what you have to store and it's weight, then look at the drawer ratings.

 

[Safeway]

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: Safeway
All of my experience with Craftsman tool chests has been bad. We have Matco, Snap-On, and Mac in our workshop.

Edit: You might want to look at the chest that CostCo sells. It is ball-bearing an $800 or so. Very heavy duty.

what experience and with which chests. If you are talking the $99 specials then they were never intended for more than light duty. All have drawer ratings posted.

One can say your Matco, Snap-On and Mac's are crap compared to Lista cabinets.

For one, my dad is an 18-wheeler mechanic. (Don't knock, they make great money.) My workshop back home has probably $300,000 in tools and equipment. We swear by quality tools. Even before he was a mechanic, we would carry chipped drivers around with us. If we saw a Snap-On or Matco tool truck, we'd follow it to its next destination and swap it out!

Edit: And top quality chests from those manufacturers. One chest that we got for $1,500 had a $15,000 MSRP.

 

[Maximus96]

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: Maximus96

Originally posted by: Safeway
All of my experience with Craftsman tool chests has been bad. We have Matco, Snap-On, and Mac in our workshop.

Edit: You might want to look at the chest that CostCo sells. It is ball-bearing an $800 or so. Very heavy duty.

yes that $800 costco chest was the one i have trouble justifying to my wife. it looks heavy duty, i love playing with it at costco, i would love it more to play with it in my garage, but its a lot of money.

so anything with ball-bearing should be good for home garage use?

Not entirely true...figure out what you have to store and it's weight, then look at the drawer ratings.

i'm looking to store wrenches, ratchets, sockets, pliers, the typical home-use mechanic tools.

 

[Safeway]

Originally posted by: Maximus96

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: Maximus96

Originally posted by: Safeway
All of my experience with Craftsman tool chests has been bad. We have Matco, Snap-On, and Mac in our workshop.

Edit: You might want to look at the chest that CostCo sells. It is ball-bearing an $800 or so. Very heavy duty.

yes that $800 costco chest was the one i have trouble justifying to my wife. it looks heavy duty, i love playing with it at costco, i would love it more to play with it in my garage, but its a lot of money.

so anything with ball-bearing should be good for home garage use?

Not entirely true...figure out what you have to store and it's weight, then look at the drawer ratings.

i'm looking to store wrenches, ratchets, sockets, pliers, the typical home-use mechanic tools.

That is pretty light-duty, then. The CostCo chest would give you room to expand, though. One of our chests is full of lathe chucks. They are massively heavy. Another has about 20 sets of socket sets, standard and metric. Since you are just trying to organize your tools, a light-duty chest is fine.

 

[daveshel]

Originally posted by: alkemyst
sure thing Dave...let us know the next time that Mac or SnapOn truck swings by your house to replace a tool for you.

I've never had to replace any, but they all have a lifetime warranty.

But don't take it personal - it's your knuckles.

 

[alkemyst]

if you never broke a tool you are the one not using them.

$300k in tools seems a bit excessive even for a mechanic, being he is a mechanic the truck should have come to him. Unless you have duplicate of each tool though (like a pro shop) good luck getting a wrench most of the time.

Sears makes great tools and are everywhere and open much of the time.

 

[BoomerD]

I used to turn wrenches for part of my living and I agree that Snap-on, Mac, & Matco make the best quality hand tools, but after my garage got burglarized and all my tools were stolen, I replaced them with Craftsman. NO, they're NOT nearly the same quality, but since I don't wrench for a living anymore, they're more than suitable for my home auto repair use.

The Craftsman tool chests are OK quality, but only OK. Unless you're going to load them up with lots of heavy tools, they should be serviceable for home use. I've heard good things about the Lowes "Kobalt" brand, but have no personal experience with them, and I haven't been all that impressed by Home Depot's "Husky" stuff.
This is just one more area where you DO get what you pay for...good quality costs more.

 

[compman25]

Originally posted by: Safeway

Originally posted by: Maximus96

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: Maximus96

Originally posted by: Safeway
All of my experience with Craftsman tool chests has been bad. We have Matco, Snap-On, and Mac in our workshop.

Edit: You might want to look at the chest that CostCo sells. It is ball-bearing an $800 or so. Very heavy duty.

yes that $800 costco chest was the one i have trouble justifying to my wife. it looks heavy duty, i love playing with it at costco, i would love it more to play with it in my garage, but its a lot of money.

so anything with ball-bearing should be good for home garage use?

Not entirely true...figure out what you have to store and it's weight, then look at the drawer ratings.

i'm looking to store wrenches, ratchets, sockets, pliers, the typical home-use mechanic tools.

That is pretty light-duty, then. The CostCo chest would give you room to expand, though. One of our chests is full of lathe chucks. They are massively heavy. Another has about 20 sets of socket sets, standard and metric. Since you are just trying to organize your tools, a light-duty chest is fine.

And if he works on heavy equipment I bet he too has 1 1/2" and 2 1/2" drive sockets. F-ing heavy. Good luck putting those in a Craftsman chest and not having the drawer break off when fully extended. Most Craftsman chests are rated at holding 50lbs.

 

[Safeway]

Originally posted by: alkemyst
if you never broke a tool you are the one not using them.

$300k in tools seems a bit excessive even for a mechanic, being he is a mechanic the truck should have come to him. Unless you have duplicate of each tool though (like a pro shop) good luck getting a wrench most of the time.

Sears makes great tools and are everywhere and open much of the time.

Nope, this is our personal workshop. We have horizontal mill, vertical mill, wood lathe, metal lathe, band saw, horizontal band saw, table saw, drill press, vertical sander, horizontal disc sander, mortise cutter, industrial air compressor, industrial vacuum system, bench post grinder, routing station, routing table, full compliment of tools and accessories, planer, MIG welder, TIG welder, ... I could go on. And the $300k estimate was conservative.

The high dollar item in the workshop is a CNC vertical mill we use to mass produce motorcycle swing-arm extensions out of aluminum stock.

How about you act less like a pompous fucking asshole, more like a responsible and professional pharmacist. And yes, if you are in pharmacy school, you should have the brains to know when you shut your trap. I have first hand experience with pharmacy and pharmacy students since my girlfriend is a P3, about to go on clinical rotations.

 

[Safeway]

Originally posted by: compman25

Originally posted by: Safeway

Originally posted by: Maximus96

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: Maximus96

Originally posted by: Safeway
All of my experience with Craftsman tool chests has been bad. We have Matco, Snap-On, and Mac in our workshop.

Edit: You might want to look at the chest that CostCo sells. It is ball-bearing an $800 or so. Very heavy duty.

yes that $800 costco chest was the one i have trouble justifying to my wife. it looks heavy duty, i love playing with it at costco, i would love it more to play with it in my garage, but its a lot of money.

so anything with ball-bearing should be good for home garage use?

Not entirely true...figure out what you have to store and it's weight, then look at the drawer ratings.

i'm looking to store wrenches, ratchets, sockets, pliers, the typical home-use mechanic tools.

That is pretty light-duty, then. The CostCo chest would give you room to expand, though. One of our chests is full of lathe chucks. They are massively heavy. Another has about 20 sets of socket sets, standard and metric. Since you are just trying to organize your tools, a light-duty chest is fine.

And if he works on heavy equipment I bet he too has 1 1/2" and 2 1/2" drive sockets. F-ing heavy. Good luck putting those in a Craftsman chest and not having the drawer break off when fully extended. Most Craftsman chests are rated at holding 50lbs.

Yep. Snap-On, Mac, and Matco all the way, brother.

 

[BoomerD]

Definitely buy your tools and tool chests to fit the work they will be doing...a light-weight Craftsman box with drawer slides is fine for home use, but won't make it very long under severe usage.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Safeway

Originally posted by: alkemyst
if you never broke a tool you are the one not using them.

$300k in tools seems a bit excessive even for a mechanic, being he is a mechanic the truck should have come to him. Unless you have duplicate of each tool though (like a pro shop) good luck getting a wrench most of the time.

Sears makes great tools and are everywhere and open much of the time.

Nope, this is our personal workshop. We have horizontal mill, vertical mill, wood lathe, metal lathe, band saw, horizontal band saw, table saw, drill press, vertical sander, horizontal disc sander, mortise cutter, industrial air compressor, industrial vacuum system, bench post grinder, routing station, routing table, full compliment of tools and accessories, planer, MIG welder, TIG welder, ... I could go on. And the $300k estimate was conservative.

The high dollar item in the workshop is a CNC vertical mill we use to mass produce motorcycle swing-arm extensions out of aluminum stock.

How about you act less like a pompous fucking asshole, more like a responsible and professional pharmacist. And yes, if you are in pharmacy school, you should have the brains to know when you shut your trap. I have first hand experience with pharmacy and pharmacy students since my girlfriend is a P3, about to go on clinical rotations.

Dude, whatever...I am not a Pharmacist. I decided to go into IT/IS for a career.

No need for you get defensive.

You are talking COMMERCIAL applications though. These do not scale to HOME use. Not many of even the uber wealthy home mechanics have $300k in tools.

Anyway tool advocacy is for bitches. I pick the tools that I can use and find when I need them...I scale the tool for the job and don't over spend on a tool that I am not going to be using every day 8 hours+.

My wrenches are craftsman almost exclusively...I have a few snap-on's and some Mac that mostly I was given and some I found in other cars, junkyards, etc. When I break a tool I will need a replacement some of the time. Most of my tools I have duplication or an alternative I can use. Still if I find there is a tool I need that I don't have or I break one that's I don't have an alternative, I can run to Sears almost any day. Hell even Harbor Freight in a pinch....I can't run to Mr. Mac or Snap-On and I live in a major city.

To the person that said Craftsman Cabinets mostly are rated at 50lbs per drawer...some are much higher although not many scale up to the COMMERCIAL grade cabinets that can hold 250lbs per drawer. You are also talking different widths though, Sears are most 26" cabinents with some 41".....the COMMERCIAL ones are designed to cram every fucking tool imaginable in a bay duplicated by each bay you have at times. The home mechanic can spread stuff out, he is not trying to fit X mechanics in X sq ft.

I have sockets and wrenches all approaching 2" and 50mm...not much in the personal truck, auto and marine world I can't get handled. I have a 3.5' adj. wrench as my largest I think it covers about 5". I have various cold chisels (the big solid steel types)...these all weigh a ton. I am not scaling to the loads the COMMERCIAL mechanic is. I don't need too. My whole garage is mine and I can spread out.

Still I would love a set of Lista cabinets, they demo these with people standing in the drawers and sliding them effortlessly.

Snap-On, Mac, etc make GREAT tools, I am not bashing them. However, you pay for that and Craftsman (and the other major makes) aren't that far behind yet much cheaper. If you have more money than God then it makes sense to only buy the best and pick up doubles or triples so you never have to go without a tool.

Yet, if you skipped out on the Leather, Navigation and sunroof package on you vehicle because you couldn't afford them...it makes no sense to over spend on the tools to work on that vehicle.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: daveshel

Originally posted by: alkemyst
sure thing Dave...let us know the next time that Mac or SnapOn truck swings by your house to replace a tool for you.

I've never had to replace any, but they all have a lifetime warranty.

But don't take it personal - it's your knuckles.

What experience do you have, you sound like a Mac or Snap-on marketing drone?

All tools will break sometime...it's usage vs strength. While many of the pro tools are engineered to a higher life than home tools, not all are really different.

I use my wrenches and screwdrivers in some combination daily. Screwdrivers will wear out when you are dealing with less than perfect fasteners. My wrenches have sometimes been torqued out of spec. They still worked fine to complete the job and did not break...I replaced them free. It was rare.

I have broke a few deep sockets on overtorqued or those bonded with adhesive. This happens with them...I should have used a wrench.

My ratchets I have literally jumped on with 3' pipes and have only broken a 3/8" one and then it was just a tooth...the ratchet worked and I had a rebuild kit anyway, but I could have replaced it. I since have picked up a set of breaker bars in various sizes.

People like you confuse those wanting to get into this for hobby. Instead of looking at $300 in Craftsman tools (or Husky/Kobalt/etc) they figure they have to swallow $1k in Mac or Snap-On and still not have all the tools they may need. The more jobs, the more this separates.

I picked up most of my tools from about 16 to my mid 20's and have supplemented since (I am mid 30's now). At those times I was more interested in going out than spending my date and car money on exclusive tools. My tools have gotten me through tons of projects for myself and others. I use my tools and enjoy using them. This weekend I have a buddy from work bringing over his 350Z to do new door mirrors. I have all the interior panel tools he'd need without him having to buy them.

Most of the wear and tear on my hands would come with any tool, even the best can't stop sharp metal, clips, and the like from getting you. I don't care for gloves. My hands are pretty hardened now.

This same argument happens alot in the detailing world too. Griot's Garage has a lot of great items. The nozzle they sell for about $100 is awesome. However, equal quality nozzles can be found for a fraction of that.

The funniest thing is though, I know a lot of people with a lot more money that I have...a lot of these guys have spectacular garages and tools, yet still have all their work done for them. Their garages end up being just 'man caves' where we hang out and drink and talk crap.