Tool box hobby

[Tynee]

So, my "alternate tinkering" lately has been looking for vintage toolboxes to flip. Found a couple of vintage boxes at a local pawn shop yesterday, and they followed me home. Planning to clean them up, clean and grease the slides, and flip them. If I can make enough on the Proto and the tools that are in it to cover my cost, I may keep the Snappy. Don't tell Mrs. Tynee that, though.


1966 Snap-On KRA58B. All drawers work, none sag. Lock is there, no key, have my doubts as to the functionality of the lock if I did have the key. Only issue I can find is the slightly bent lower drawer pull, and some rust. Going to take more elbow grease on this than the Proto.





I know a whole lot less about the Proto. Twertsy, from GarageJournal and ToolArchives, informed me that the "Registered Trademark" in the logo means it's AT LEAST IR era, I'm hoping there's a way to lock it down to pre-Stanley, we'll see. Steep learning curve on this one.




Only real issue with this one seems to be some light surface rust on the lid. Going to take a LOT of cleanup and lubrication. Again, no bent sheet metal, no sagging drawers. No key, but the lock looks to be in much better condition on this one. This one included a Proto 3/4" ratchet, half a dozen 3/4" drive sockets, and 6 or 8 Proto combination wrenches, all 1"+.

Interesting side-note: The Snap-On is heavier with nothing but light-weight junk in it, than the Proto with several reasonably heavy tools.

Let me know what you think of them, I'm open to all information on them.

[Russell Ashley]

Interesting. I think I like the Proto box more than the Snap On. If the tools that came in the Proto are in good shape they would probably bring a good price by themselves.

[franken]

I'd like to know how to fix the drawer sliders on the early Snapon boxes if you can share. I have a few drawers that are difficult and grind.
I'd probably try to get rid of the misspelled shotgun bit and clean them up and mechanically fix, but not restore cosmetically (as some call it). I like my old junk to work, but not look new. If I wanted new, I'd buy new. Some junk I wipe down w/ phosphoric acid to remove and treat rust but leave paint.

[Tynee]

Originally Posted by Russell Ashley

Interesting. I think I like the Proto box more than the Snap On. If the tools that came in the Proto are in good shape they would probably bring a good price by themselves.

No date code on any of the tools. Nearest I can put the dates on them is '71/2 to '75. All in decent shape with only light surface rust. Should clean up very nicely with a little bit of steel wool. It would be great if the tools would come real close to paying for the SO box, so I could justify hanging on to it until something comes along that I want to trade up to.

Originally Posted by franken

I'd like to know how to fix the drawer sliders on the early Snapon boxes if you can share. I have a few drawers that are difficult and grind.
I'd probably try to get rid of the misspelled shotgun bit and clean them up and mechanically fix, but not restore cosmetically (as some call it). I like my old junk to work, but not look new. If I wanted new, I'd buy new. Some junk I wipe down w/ phosphoric acid to remove and treat rust but leave paint.

Do a little googling using the terms drawer removal and hacksaw blade, should take you over to Garagejournal.com. There you will find everything there is to know about rehabbing older SO boxes and drawer slides.

I can see the beauty in a fully restored gem, but I don't have that kind of time. The Proto is going to get a good cleaning to remove dirt, grease, and surface rust. I MAY have to paint the outside of the lid, depending on how much paint is gone with that surface rust. Other than that, you and I are thinking the same. The SO will need more work, as it's rust issue is a little more severe. Definitely will need to get rid of the old owner's markings. Still won't be a full resto, though.

Turns out the Proto box is a 1978 model. That locks it in to before Stanley bought the brand from Ingersoll Rand, so that's good. Found a key in the box while I was cleaning it out, got the broken key extracted from the lock, lubed it, and the box locks now, so that's progress.

[Tynee]

Finally got it as cleaned up as I'm going to. The lid could use a re-paint, but I think I'm going to leave it.
Before:

After a bunch of Simple Green, Steel Wool, and Elbow Grease. I saw the cork drawer liner in somebody else's thread on Garage Journal, and thought it looked great. Also pulled all the drawers and slides, cleaned and lubed them. Most of the tools are Proto, and will go with the box when I sell if I can.:







Let me know how it looks, and what I could have done better or differently. This is my first clean-up of one of these. I'd love some feedback.

[Advanced Design]

The box cleaned up really nicely and the cork liner is a good idea.

Should make a nice box for someone...would like one like that for my Grandson.

[franken]

Looks great.
Any hints on fixing the slides on a Snap-On box much like the one in the 1st pic in post 1?

[Tynee]

Originally Posted by franken

Looks great.
Any hints on fixing the slides on a Snap-On box much like the one in the 1st pic in post 1?

I don't have the slides out of this one yet, but if you look at the link I posted above, and poke around GarageJournal.com, you'll find what you need to know.

[swamp rat]

I have an old Montgomery Wards Powercraft top chest, 6 drawer, 3 small drawers on top and 3 more below, my first real tool chest, bought about 1980, may not be on par with a Proto but i cant bear to let it go.

I found an old Kennedy box out in a field about 1991, more like a carpenter box with 2 top open lids and a leather handle, it was stomped on pretty bad but i was able to get it hammered out pretty well, probably a mistake but i painted it red because it was what i had, i use it for my old antique wood working stuff

[Tynee]

Both of those sound great. I was looking at a hip-joint Kennedy like that last night on eBay or CL. Yours sounds like it could be pretty old with the leather handle Definitely cool. I've got a newer 2 drawer Kennedy that I use to carry on rescue missions and trips to the pick-n-pull.

I sold the Proto and all the tools this weekend. I put a little work into the Snappy, I'm waiting on my dad to decide if he wants this one. If he doesn't, I'm going to buy a little sand blasting pot and some walnut shells. This one may get a full cleanup and repaint.

I missed out on buying a little bottom box from a different pawn shop. It was the same year, and was made to fit under this top box. I left it and came back for it later and it was gone. Kicking myself for that one.