Tool Talk
What's-It Forum => What's-It Forum => Topic started by: satsoddtoolsstuff on September 29, 2016, 07:11:29 PM
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I have a craftsman tool box, 32x9x8-with a corbin lock and 2 leather handles, one on top and one on the end--Anybody have a clue when this was made and what it was used for
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Pictures always help, and welcome to the forum!
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Welcome to the forum! Find the introduction forum and tell us about yoursels and your old tool interests!
Pictures will help us ID your toolbox, and we do have some Craftsman aficionados here.
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From the length, almost certainly a carpenter's toolbox. The length is necessary to accommodate handsaws. They generally came with a tray in the top, slightly narrower than the width so that you could put your framing square in the box, with some of the short leg sticking out a knockout in the top*. The top should have a clip or two or some wooden brackets, or the rivets indicating that they were at one time present; the saws (one crosscut, one rip) went on the lid. Google "craftsman carpenters tool box," and see if the images match what you've got.
The end handle would probably have been for hauling it out of the truck and maybe helping to balance it on your shoulder while carrying; a carpenter's kit would be light enough that a shoulder carry would work (unlike a mechanic's toolkit, which would tend to crush your shoulder bones).
Interestingly, they're still made, by more than one company (including Proto), so they still serve a need; somewhere, there must be carpenters who carry handsaws...although the new ones I found didn't have the saw clips, so maybe they're just for long tools.
I own one (Craftsman also, as I recollect), purchased because I used to drool over them in the Big Book when I was younger; but my carpentry is 99% on our half acre, so I don't really need a portable box.
*I've never tested how that works. I suppose you slide the leg through the slot while the lid's open and the top tray's out, pivot the square down, put the tray in...I think I'd just carry the square in my other hand.
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Thanks for the info-it does have a clip on the back wall which I assume is for the saw--thanks-Ill try and get some pictures up this week, thanks again