Down Sizing (Required Work Area) aka Floor Space

[reible]

Just a couple of quick thoughts. Tools are heavy and while a tool box might seem like a good idea and yes I have quite a few, they are not easy to move around when loaded. Thinking that you will roll one out and on to a truck, well good luck with that.

I have a Craftsman tool chest, with three parts. I also have a large cabinet from them with two sets of drawers and no wheels. I have a bench with draws as well. I've not had any issues with any of them.

On the cheaper side I have some performax chests as well. They don't have the load capacity but the price was right. I keep lighter items in them. They work well for that.

I also have a harbor freight rolling tool box with flip up lid and some drawers then open space below where I can store more tools. I would not get a flip up lid system again as it is always got stuff on it that has to be cleared off to open it.

I'd check the weight of the chest then add the weight of the items you hope to put inside and see how much that is. It might be a lot more then you think.

Ed

[dusty]

Ed, I will heed your warning. The last thing I want is for one of the boys (or even two) try to push that new tool chest up a loading ramp and have it dump off the side.

I am going to get a large chest on wheels. I currently have small tool boxes of several descriptions being used to hide whatever is in them - quite effectively I might add.

This is what I am partial to:

Capture Kobalt Chest.JPG (61.79 KiB) Viewed 10190 times

[charlese]

Sorry, just can't help here. I am conscious of and believe everything that Ed (Reible) said.

When I moved from TX to CA, I disassembled and put everything into boxes. made a crate for the Mark V and wood boxed for heavy items like bench vice.

Tried to set up all boxes so weight was only 50 lbs or less. The jointer was a bit more.

Cut out hand holes on the ends of the Mark V crate. The movers called it Gramma's coffin.

Still don't have a large tool chest and am still using some of the moving boxes for storage.

[roy_okc]

Dusty,

You may want to look at Harbor Freight's offerings. Apparently the larger sets may be the best quality short of high-end sets from SnapOn, etc. Sadly, Craftsman and others have been going the cheap quality route. Here's one article comparing some typically locally available sets: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/sho ... p?t=153445.

[reible]

Ed, I will heed your warning. The last thing I want is for one of the boys (or even two) try to push that new tool chest up a loading ramp and have it dump off the side.

I am going to get a large chest on wheels. I currently have small tool boxes of several descriptions being used to hide whatever is in them - quite effectively I might add.

This is what I am partial to:

Capture Kobalt Chest.JPG

That is a nice looking unit!

I checked it out at Lowe's and I see the weight of just the unit will be 362 pounds. Now add the weight of the tools, you could estimate that by weighing the boxes you hope to empty into the unit and see where that gets you. It looks like you could have a gross weight of up to 2000 but I expect that would not be your case. Still it doesn't take much to get the weight up to say 800 or so pounds.

Ed

[dusty]

Thanks for the feedback, Ed. The extra research that you did is quite helpful.

I don't know which one yet but I will be purchasing a mobile tool chest of some sort. However, I will NOT attempt to move it from one house to another with the chest loaded. In fact, I will probably not even purchase the new chest until we have relocated.

I hate to think about that because I packed like the move was going to be the next day. Now I have no idea when but everything is still packed. Well, not everything. I have dug into the boxes several times to get items I need; items like a square and level and a mallet, and a Wixey, and a plumb bob...etc. This has proven to be a very poorly planned and executed endeavor.

[rlkeeney]

Before you buy look at the tool chests that harbor freight sells. I have two different Craftsman set ups and one Harbor Freight. I like the Harbor Freight one the best. THe HF chest is bigger better and cost a lot less.

Lowes and Home Depot have some nice ones too.

They are great for moving. Lock them up. Roll them in the trailer and tie them down done.

[jmattsson]

To paraphrase Winston Churchill: "Never give up. Never give up. Never give up." Never give one tool, one of anything. Take it all with you and sort it out after you get settled. It took you a lifetime to acquire what you have. Never give up.

[dusty]

To paraphrase Winston Churchill: "Never give up. Never give up. Never give up." Never give one tool, one of anything. Take it all with you and sort it out after you get settled. It took you a lifetime to acquire what you have. Never give up.

Thanks for the advice but it all comes too late. We have downsized to extremes. The only area in the house that is missing a lot of stuff is my shop.

But then, even there, there is a lot missing. I got rid of a lot of cutoffs, a few old battery powered hand tools, all the cheap stuff a bought many years ago, empty boxes, jars, cans, old paint and adhesives, and I could go on.

I am really comfortable with what has disappeared.

I knew I had to do this when my wife started going through her closet and the kitchen cabinets. She had three different pickups by a charity organization. If she was serious about this, I had no choice.


Yes, thanks for the advice but I had to follow the leader.

[Hobbyman2]

I know how that is , we were cleaning the garage the other day so I would have room to build a bed, I found stuff I was saving for one of those ,,,,you never know moments,,,,,couldn't believe how many of those moments I was planning on .