Craftsman or Husky tool box????

Are Husky tool boxes as good as their hand tools....or are they complete crap???? I have looked at the Craftsman and they seem to be pretty much the same quality as they have always been. The lower end Husky tool boxes look pretty cheap. I am primarily talking about the higher end stuff.

Any comments would be helpful on this issue. I am not looking for any flame wars on this topic. I just want honest input on whether Husky tool boxes are worth it....or if I should look at Craftsman. I know some of you are going to say buy Snap-on or some other brands. They are too expensive for me and I don't want to buy used.

-Tool Guy

It has so far been an excellent box. About the only problem I have with it is the high effort required to close the ball bearing drawers. My tools keep ending up in the backs of the drawers, and the drawer liners fold up. If I am the only one using the box it doesn't happen as fast, because I have learned to close the drawer, then snap it the final 1/4 inch to lock it. It is when you slam it the whole ten inches that it sends everything to the back.

Craftsman boxes are not any better than the Husky, and the price is almost double. Snap-On and Matco and Mack are insanely expensive for home use. Granted, they are really nice boxes ( I wouldn't mind an Intimidator series box!)and they have neat locks and stereos and other toys, but my shop is a dirty place, and after a year they will all look the same anyway! (The tractors shine, but the overspray and sanding dust on the tool boxes makes them real ugly.. the upside is that theives don't find my boxes too attractive !) I would much rather spend my tool money on good wrenches and special tools than pretty boxes!

2. The Husky brand is owned by Home Depot who buys products from Stanley and others under this brand.

3. Based in the info I have that is a couple of years old, Stanley owns two tool box manufacturers, Beach of Canada and, MATCO of the U.S. Beach is world renowned in offering relatively inexpensive tool boxes for DIY and semi-professional users. My wild guess is that Husky's least expensive box might be from Beach. The more expensive box could be from MATCO.

4. Craftsman boxes are made by Waterloo. BUT, the Craftsman products are made in a seperate plant in Waterloo IA and have little or no similarity with the Waterloo brand of chests and cabinets made different specifications.

Possibly the above will help you to decide. The obvious differences are the types of drawer slides
and the overall weight.

There are other excellent brands in the market, all made in U.S.A. and all worth considering.

Stack-On has some of the lowest cost/medium duty products that are made in USA. I have their Pro Series that is more than adequate for a DIYer.

More expensive and possibly better boxes are made by RemLine, Kennedy, Waterloo, Homak and others. The van operators such as Snap-On, MAC and MATCO have excellent boxes.

Suggest that you are spending a fair amount of cash and you should at least check the Yellow Pages for industrial/tool suppliers who carry some of the above mentionned brands so that you find the best for your use and pocket book!

Thanks

I have no knowledge of this and suspect it is inaccurate.

However, my broad statement that Danaher aka EASCO or Moore are the main source of Craftsman tools, not Stanley is incomplete.

The Craftsman brand is on a wide range of products and Stanley is probably a source for many, many tools.

But, when I think of Craftsman, I think of wrenches, ratchets, etc., and Danaher makes almost all of the forged steel flat wrenches and has done so for decades. S-K is said to have made some wrenches although I suspect the bulk has always been Danaher.

Danaher and Stanley both have the capacity to make sockets for Sears. I'm not 100% sure who supplies Sears with sockets these days and the writer you referenced could have been thinking of sockets and maybe Stanley (National HandTool factory) had the Craftsman contract for a while.

Other tools, such as hammers, saws, and other handtools where Stanley is a world power, could be supplied to Sears--I just don't know.

Sorry for the incomplete information. The Craftsman range is obviously very broad and while Danaher is the largest single supplier of Craftsman handtools, there still are many other suppliers of a broad array of tools not made by Danaher.

Thanks for all the info. Your info is accurate. I looked up waterloo tools and they do seem to be the ones who make the Craftsman tool boxes.

In regard to Husky....The box that I am looking at did have a "Made in Canada" stamp on it. This box is probably made by the company you called Beach of Canada. I have not been able to find any info on this company on the net. If you know of a web address for that company I would appreciate it.

Thanks,
Tool Guy

I appreciate all the great info in here. I will take a look at the weight of each box. That will give me an idea of how tough the box should be. I am not a professional mechanic...so it probably won't need to be armor tough....but it would be nice to have a box that will last a while.

-Tool Guy

Good Luck!!

P.S. I'm not a Tractor person but any owner of a vechile that is constructed of metal & requires petroleum is part of the brotherhood in my book!!

Thank You Richard Reisig