Have an Interesting or Old Machinist's Tool Box ? Share it with Others Here.

t-head · Sep 17, 2013

My shop is a working antique auto machine-restoration shop where we do anything from basic machine work to babbitting
line boring, rod boring, cylinder boring all the way to machining new blocks, crankcases and heads from new castings.

This is my main working tool box for my measuring tools that I believe was made by someone using the hardware off of another
chest. It is made from solid tiger and birds-eye maple and it is a beautiful piece.

I thought I would share it w/you other machine-heads and start a post for all of us to show old and interesting tool boxes.
Why not add photos of YOURS HERE??

In case you are interested on the left is an original Frontenac Ford Model T racing crankshaft machined from the solid in alloy steel.
In front of the box is a rare Frontenac S-R racing cylinder head and on the right is an original 48" long 1915 Locomobile crankshaft.

We are not looking for any work as we are swamped, but if you would like to see our shop take a look here.

Jon Bohlander · Sep 17, 2013

I'll play. I have 2 green wrinkle Kennedys. The first has a pinup from 1947. I bought it from the man's daughter. The label says Bighorn Line

The second is rough and somebody painted the ourside poorly.

Jon Bohlander · Sep 17, 2013

Had tech issues

SouthBendModel34 · Sep 17, 2013

The Kennedy three-drawer Bighorn Line chest morphed into their current model 620.
By coincidence, just a couple of hours ago, I bought a crudely-repainted Kennedy three drawer, missing the drop-front and the key, for $5. A new 620 lists over $200.
I intend to use the long, fairly deep drawers to store wrapped files.
Your 1947 calendar will be correct for 2014 and 2025.

JRR

Jon Bohlander · Sep 17, 2013

Thanks Southbend

I had never been able to find much about them. They are small and the old timers did a lot with very few tools. From what I've seen for a long time most machinists had just the chest. Rivett did a neat exhibit in Kansas City with an early machinist chest and contents.

Now my work Kennedy is a mechanics chest, 2 drawer riser, 29" roll around and I built a frame for it to sit in with a cage for bulky stuff. Nowdays its mostly empty since we have to use shop precision tools even though in lots of respects I have a better selection of personal tools.

L Vanice · Sep 17, 2013

The Kennedy factory store in Van Wert, OH has a little museum of their old products. They also have parts, closeout bargains and seconds for sale. For instance, they can supply matching locks so one key will open all your boxes. It is a nice place, with friendly people.

Larry

t-head · Sep 18, 2013

Jon Bohlander said:
I'll play. I have 2 green wrinkle Kennedys. The first has a pinup from 1947. I bought it from the man's daughter. The label says Bighorn Line

The pinup is a nice personal touch.

Rick_B · Sep 18, 2013

I'm curious - did Kennedy ever make boxes for Craftsman? I've got a Kennedy and Craftsman that appear identical except the Kennedy has square corners and leather handle while the Craftsman has rounded corners and plastic handle. Somewhere I read that the Craftsman boxes were a Waterloo product but I think I also saw that Kennedy did some?

Thanks
Rick

t-head · Sep 18, 2013

I have a Kennedy that I use for storing cutting tools in and it is brown wrinkle finish, but do not know much about them. Were they available in green and brown or did they change colors and if so when??

L Vanice · Sep 18, 2013

t-head said:
I have a Kennedy that I use for storing cutting tools in and it is brown wrinkle finish, but do not know much about them. Were they available in green and brown or did they change colors and if so when??

I can't give exact dates, but around 1983, Kennedy made a few styles of dark blue wrinkle boxes with the International Harvester logo on them. At the same time, IH had some high quality wrenches and socket sets made with their name on them. The blue finish is beautiful, and I bought a few boxes at closeout prices from the Kennedy store after IH got into financial trouble and cancelled their orders. These boxes should be rare collector items now.

Kennedy also made boxes with a red wrinkle finish for quite a few years, ending around 1998 or so. Many styles were/are made with smooth red paint.

Kennedy also made a few styles, more for office use than for tools, with gray wrinkle finish.

I don't know anything about the green finish, but I do recall the early Kennedy boxes had smooth paint.

Larry

SouthBendModel34 · Sep 18, 2013

RickB:

We're gonna inadvertently drive the OP nuts with this discussion of Kennedy boxes, as the OP is about a magnificent birdseye maple chest the likes of which I've never seen. In this post, my only contribution to the original topic is that the hardware did not necessarily come from a different chest, as Gerstner sells their chest hardware separately.

Back to the Kennedy/Craftsman connection: Craftsman tool boxes & chests with Sears numbers beginning with 706 or 609 are definitely Waterloo products. I could not find Kennedy in the Sears manufacturer code list, but I once ordered a Kennedy replacement drop front for a Craftsman machinist box and it fit PERFECTLY, including perfect line up of the locking pins. I think the

LVanice: Thank you for the recommendation of the Kennedy Factory store.

Kennedy has made many different boxes with many different finishes, both smooth and wrinkled. For example, I have a box that Kennedy custom made for the tools and spares of an "M5 or M6 Rangefinder" - this being a mechanical AA fire control computer. That box has a smooth O.D. Green finish and dedicated interior dividers.

Now, I think we should try to get back to the original topic which is "Old and Interesting" tool boxes & chests. Kennedy only meets that qualification if it is OLD, like from the green wrinkle Bighorn era or WW2 or something.

John Ruth

L Vanice · Sep 18, 2013

You want old, I got old. Don't know how old but here are pictures of a circa 1890 portable cylinder boring machine installed on a large steam engine at the Henry Ford. They put a nice old steel tool box next to it, probably period correct. Note the neat hip roof shaped lid.

To be continued.

Larry

L Vanice · Sep 18, 2013

One more picture of the HFM tool box. They rearranged the display and opened the box, so here is what it looked like last Saturday.

Larry

L Vanice · Sep 18, 2013

Now, I know that HFM box is more a mechanic's box than a machinist's chest. Certainly the guy running that cylinder boring machine was a machinist. I have a similar box in my collection that is nicer than the one in the museum, so I have to show it off. I don't know how old it is, or whether it is a one off or factory made, but it is a beauty of its type. It is so similar in some areas to the HFM box that it could have come from the same maker, but the elaborate lid on mine seems like an older design. Check out that patina. The supports for a removable tray may not be original, and the tray is lost. It is 17" long, 8.7" wide and 9.7" high.

Larry

t-head · Sep 18, 2013

SouthBendModel34 said:
RickB:

We're gonna inadvertently drive the OP nuts with this discussion of Kennedy boxes, as the OP is about a magnificent birdseye maple chest the likes of which I've never seen. In this post, my only contribution to the original topic is that the hardware did not necessarily come from a different chest, as Gerstner sells their chest hardware separately.

John Ruth

John, I started this with the intention people posting anything interesting and it does not necessarily have to be old. So send in those photos folks......

Interesting to here that "Gerstner sells their chest hardware separately". I would guess that this chest is 30 years old and it is not factory made, has Gerstner sold hardware all along??

bedwards · Sep 18, 2013

This one came with my lathe when I bought it. I know it was used as a machinists chest as the old mans tools were still in it. He must have made it. I don't use it but saved it for that reason.

bedwards

t-head · Sep 18, 2013

bedwards said:
This one came with my lathe when I bought it. I know it was used as a machinists chest as the old mans tools were still in it. He must have made it. I don't use it but saved it for that reason.

That is quite nice and built back in a whole different time when machinist's made many of their own tools.

traditional-tools · Sep 18, 2013

I bought these toolboxes with some tools in it and the left one is a fairly old Kennedy. I've only seen one or two others like it, the majority of ones I've seen are like the one on the right.

A closeup of the latch

And the toolbox

Cheers,
Alan

Greg Menke · Sep 18, 2013

This is some kind of relatively cheaply made off-brand. No makers marks other than the mostly worn off painting on the front of the 2nd to bottom drawer. It has the key, the front panel stows beneath the bottom drawer- the usual design. Drawer corners were glued miter joints- no fasteners. A couple of them let go as I worked on them, so I reglued & reinforced w/ short lengths of #14 solid copper wire as trenails.

All drawer bottoms were originally cardboard, glued into slots cut in the sides of the drawers, warped and rotten glue stinking when I got the toolbox. A PM member had a shear and a lot of extra steel sheet, he was kind enough to chop off some pieces for new bottoms, onto which I glued new felt.

ronan · Sep 18, 2013

L Vanice said:
You want old, I got old. Don't know how old but here are pictures of a circa 1890 portable cylinder boring machine installed on a large steam engine at the Henry Ford. They put a nice old steel tool box next to it, probably period correct. Note the neat hip roof shaped lid.

To be continued.

Larry

View attachment 86200 View attachment 86201 View attachment 86202 View attachment 86203 View attachment 86204

Off topic a bit , but i thought it was trencherfield mill in wigan england in the background of your pictures.

Trencherfield Mill Steam Engine. - YouTube

Have an Interesting or Old Machinist's Tool Box ? Share it with Others Here.

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