Tool boxes

[Bcampbell1989]

How come you never see home made tool boxes? One of the guys I work with has been talking about building his own for about a year now, mostly due to the cost of a nice, higher end boxes. I told him to check out this site, that I’m sure there would be several. But I couldn’t find any except a couple of work benches with a couple of drawers. I’ll admit, it doesn’t sound like a super fun project to me with all the sheet metal work that will be involved, that and I’m perfectly content with my Proto 540 box at work and my old made in the USA craftsman purchased in 2010 and the two older waterloo (2013ish) mid and top boxes at home.

[Jon]

We have some listed here: https://www.homemadetools.net/site/search?q=toolbox but yes, it's a rarer build. My best guess is that homemade toolboxes fall farther away from the "sweet spot" of homemade tool building. People are generally building homemade tools when those tools exist at the desired confluence of a variety of factors: utility, cost, ease of building, market availability, customization, task specificity, etc.

If the combination of those factors is not within range, then sometimes it's just best to purchase the tool (occasionally modifying it to suit your needs), and focus your tool building efforts elsewhere. This is somewhat of a paradox of toolbuilding: the time you save by buying a tool can be used for building another tool.

On the other hand, for certain tools, some builders want a level of craftsmanship that simply isn't available in the commercial market, and they will build that tool to their specifications. For toolboxes, a good example is this oak/walnut/maple machinist tool chest by DUKESALLEY.



For tool organization, something that I am watching for is DIY 3D printed clear tip-out bins. Ideal for fastener and part storage, but expensive enough that their use is mostly limited to the medical and dental fields, especially for the large scale storage that we would need. Sometimes you will see them in older hardware (not big box) stores. A setup like this (perhaps 4-5 times as large) would be a huge timesaver, and would greatly ease ideation, because you could visually scan all your bits and pieces at once. However, it would cost thousands of dollars.

[Philip Davies]

How come you never see home made tool boxes? One of the guys I work with has been talking about building his own for about a year now, mostly due to the cost of a nice, higher end boxes. I told him to check out this site, that I’m sure there would be several. But I couldn’t find any except a couple of work benches with a couple of drawers. I’ll admit, it doesn’t sound like a super fun project to me with all the sheet metal work that will be involved, that and I’m perfectly content with my Proto 540 box at work and my old made in the USA craftsman purchased in 2010 and the two older waterloo (2013ish) mid and top boxes at home.

Just to let you know that I have posted pictures of two toolboxes. One was a joiners toolbox, the other was a nail box.

[wizard69]

jon hit upon some of the issues with tool box building, at least in the traditional sense. It is really hard to beat the cost of new or even used tool boxes when you consider the time, effort and materials costs. This really doesn't matter if you look at it from the standpoint of a sheet metal worker or a wood worker, the only way it would be cost effective is to make use of scraps from paying projects. In a similar manner I was looking for bulk storage for larger tools and found that I cna buy kitchen cabinets new for less that I could possibly diy suitable cabinets, so I hung a few on the wall. Of course that was before the massive increase in housing materials costs.

Mind you I'm a bit of a dreamer and have looked into building a hardwood tool chest that would make Gerstner blush. The problem is time, maybe in retirement. I've also considered using a lot more metal including casting aluminum trays for the drawers. We can have all sorts of dreams when it comes to the perfect tool box. It is even harder to beat the custom boxes from the likes of Huot if you want to organize taps, drills or whatever. Sure you can build a box, drawers and dividers, label everything and go at it. But the time and money to do so really makes purchasing used or new far more appealing.

The other reality is this, i have a selection of tools for both metal and wood working and frankly far more than the average person. Yet even with all of this I still don't have the tools to pull off a build in either wood nor metal. I'd have to have the shell bent if in sheet metal $$$$$ or weld up a steel frame and hope that I can do that to the quality level required. These days I've done more by building a frame to house a tool box and support a strong table than to build a tool box itself.

[Bcampbell1989]

We have some listed here: https://www.homemadetools.net/site/search?q=toolbox but yes, it's a rarer build. My best guess is that homemade toolboxes fall farther away from the "sweet spot" of homemade tool building. People are generally building homemade tools when those tools exist at the desired confluence of a variety of factors: utility, cost, ease of building, market availability, customization, task specificity, etc.

If the combination of those factors is not within range, then sometimes it's just best to purchase the tool (occasionally modifying it to suit your needs), and focus your tool building efforts elsewhere. This is somewhat of a paradox of toolbuilding: the time you save by buying a tool can be used for building another tool.

On the other hand, for certain tools, some builders want a level of craftsmanship that simply isn't available in the commercial market, and they will build that tool to their specifications. For toolboxes, a good example is this oak/walnut/maple machinist tool chest by DUKESALLEY.



For tool organization, something that I am watching for is DIY 3D printed clear tip-out bins. Ideal for fastener and part storage, but expensive enough that their use is mostly limited to the medical and dental fields, especially for the large scale storage that we would need. Sometimes you will see them in older hardware (not big box) stores. A setup like this (perhaps 4-5 times as large) would be a huge timesaver, and would greatly ease ideation, because you could visually scan all your bits and pieces at once. However, it would cost thousands of dollars.

Oh man those tip out bins would be awesome