go ahead, don't be shy.....

 

my old box



my new box

 

I want to see the "real theif" that could steal that entire box in one attempt.... maybe with a rollback or a forklift and a trailer to set it on.


EDIT: ooooooooooooo sexy iron. You trade in the Mac on it?

 

Is that the Made in China box?

Made in USA is EPIQ

Josh

 

Exactly... a real theif would use the company's fork lift or have a car trailer with winch.

Josh

 

guys who go for this sort of stuff use a box trailer that is a
"weedslammer".......

get into a shop, roll two or three boxes in, and drive off.

truth be told, if i had one of these toolboxes, there would be a gps
locator widget buried in the box......
my work van has far more in tools in it than the van is worth,
and there is gps tracking on it.......

god help the person who decides to try to steal it or break into
it... there are auxiliary outputs on the alarm that do things.
it can "just stop", the doors can be locked, and the alarm set
to run, while sending it's location to my cellphone.

screw lojack. if i have a gps beacon, and a shotgun, i don't
need lojack. i have a low tolerance for folks who steal the tools
someone makes their living with.

 

I think this is the most entertaining thread I have ever started. And seems I am the OP I can keep dragging it OT.

I too question the necessity of the high dollar boxes. My box I inherited from my father. The top is a decent NAPA branded one, the bottom ???, but I think it is older than I am. Has a custom built pneumatic tired cart to ride on. All my big stuff lives in a 3x4 plywood and 2x4 bench cabinet that I built. The security isn't that great, but the forklift is usually less than 50' away. I figure any thieves will take my coworkers stuff first.

You can get started with lower end tools first. You have to remember that most newbies don't start rebuilding engines right away, you can work your way into more expensive tools. I have a monthly amount I put aside to add to my collection or upgrade.

If you go to and complete tech school, there are usually special deals from the tool companies that are pretty reasonable.

I usually get a laugh at the tool company fliers that get handed out. I like all the specials on 1/4 drive socket sets. First, how many sets do you need? Second, I use mostly 1/2 and up. Rarely use 1/4 or 3/8. I do realize most people work on smaller stuff.

I went to school for engineering. After a long and varied path, I now pull wrenches on farm equipment. I would much rather do, than sit around and talk about doing. I enjoy the work, get paid pretty decently, and don't have to worry about job security.

Feel free to keep venting, or dragging way off topic. I was pretty much just venting when I posted originally.

 

i'm gonna throw out the wife's china cabinet and buy me a toolbox!!!

 

Ben all the bs in this thread is great. Its also all very valid.
So far as the cost of my tool box or any of my tools as well as many of the guys I know they also serve a second reason, thats a tax break.

 

Well the personal tool box of an A&P tend to start with the 1/4" and 3/8" stuff
and some of the really odd things are provided by the employer do to the need
for tool certifications.
I have a tube double flair tool that is from post WWII that is better than anything
you can find now. It does real nice work on copper and aluminum tube. Cost an
arm and a leg to replace. I post a photo some time if you want.

Sean

 

i cant stand oak either...wenge, purpleheart, african walnut...oh the possibilities

 

I have never said this to another man before in my life........ nice box man!

 

I guess I didn't know that wholesale box theft was such a big problem, I've never heard of multiple, entire boxes going missing all at one time. I still think common pilfering would be a worse problem for the average guy, there are no better thieves than the people you work around every day, especially when shop politics and BS start pissing people off.

My tools live in a crappy Craftsman stack with two broken drawers, but we have a different type of security system for stopping petty theft around here...

Who am I kidding, she's a lover, not a fighter.

 

mine almost did.

my spouse is a foodie, and loves to cook..... she was looking
at a cooking show, and the kitchen had two snap on boxes
back to back, with a butcher block top custom made for it,
locking them together.

her eyes sharpened, head came up, and she stared intently.
a bird dog pointing is the best description i can manage....

she wanted to know if i could make a top for it.... then she
found out what two new boxes like that cost....

she decided five digits wasn't worth it.....

as for wholesale theft of boxes, it's not common, but it does
happen often enough to give one pause.

i'm a sparkie, not a wrenchie, but i lost a toolbox once.... a
knapp gang box built into a custom trailer. the thing was
pretty cool, the tongue swung under the rear bumper, and
you could back it up and jack knife it till the trailer tongue
touched the rear wheels on the astro van i used at the time.

so there was no way with it parked like that, to unhitch it.
you literally could park it in two adjoining parking spaces
without unhitching it. and two padlocks, one on the hitch,
and one on the tow chain....

they got it anyway... with $22k in tools inside. digital O-scopes,
plasma cutter, welding bottles, tons of cool stuff.

and Mul-T-Locks on the two lock pockets. no way to open it except
to burn or grind the lid around the lock pockets, so you could
open the lid.

there was also enough Cadweld product (exothermic welding
product similar to thermite) inside the box to slag the whole
thing down to a puddle in the floor, including the welding bottles.

i hope the *******s who stole my toolbox had it hooked to their
truck, parked in their attached garage when they cut it open.

 

The company I work for does have insurance that covers the tech owned tools. Unfortunately our other shop got hit this summer... a couple guys lost some stuff, but got compensated for it.

As far as inhouse theft goes, I think if anyone tried to pull that, they would soon need a toilet with multiple holes. Some stuff does get misplaced, we do borrow from each other on occasion, but I haven't seen anything intentional.