Looks like the conversation was heading this way in the what did you do today thread, so I am moving it here.
After a recent happenstance of things basically leaping out at me every time I would open a toolbox drawer in either my old 90s vintage Craftsman 9 drawer 27" tool cabinet or similar vintage Stanley Proto 27" 6 drawer tool chest, I upgraded to a Craftsman 52" 10 drawer cabinet and 8 drawer chest.
I looked at the options, the features, and the price points. I knew the SMALLEST I was willing to go was 52" as I needed to massively upsize, but I also wasn't willing or even able to quite go up to a 72".
I looked at the Husky 52", the Craftsman 52", and the US General 56". They each had their good, and bad points.
On the Craftsman:
The Good:
Perfect size for what I wanted, not too small, not too large especially considering I plan on adding a side cabinet / locker for taller items than would fit in a drawer.
Good locking system, not great, but good.
Nice smooth operating caster with toe locks on the swivels.
Integrated 6 outlet power strip with 2 USB charging ports
Pre-cut drawer liners
Nice deep / roomy top shelf that is not too far off the ground, and tall enough that I can put my Ryobi One+ charger with 6 amp hour battery in there and close the lid while it charges if I want to.
REALLY easy to use, and remove drawers from the soft close drawer slides.
Integrated pegboard into the back of the shelf area of the chest and both sides of the cabinet if I want to hang anything from there.
Super smooth rolling even when fully laden.
USA made with imported content. From what I have been told the boxes, drawers, and slides are USA made 100%, the locks and casters are Taiwan.
The Bad:
Mix of 20 and18ga steel in the constructions, the Husky and US General both use 18 ga only. I have sen a demo of one of the larger drawers loaded and it flexes down and scrapes the drawer below it. In my use / testing I do not experience this though.
10 drawer cabinet instead of a 9 drawer. It would have been nice to have that one freakishly wide drawer for oddly long tools like my inner tie rod service tool set that is about 4" too long for the drawers and as such must live in the top shelf area.
Did not come as the sales folks at Lowes told me it would, keyed alike. I had to swap a lock in the tool chest to get it keyed to match. That was a cheap and easy upgrade though, so now my tool cabinet and tool chest use the same key.
1500lb load rating. Even with a side cab locker loaded up, I won't ever exceed 1k lbs but capacity is nice to have.
On the Husky:
The Good:
Same size as the Craftsman, with a ncie deep top.
Long cross drawers on the cabinet.
Thicker steel in the drawers, less flex when loaded I am sure.
Pre cut drawer liners.
Soft close drawer slides. Probably the same ones Craftsman uses.
Good locking system, again not great, but good.
2500lb load rating. 1k lbs higher than the Craftsman. The design and construction are very similar so not sure how. Must be the casters and the way they mount...
The Bad:
Casters on the demo were anything but smooth.
Drawer configuration is series of wide drawers next to series of narrow drawers, I personally prefer even sized drawers side to side with one long drawer at the top of the cabinet. You may prefer the wide thin approach...
The outlet strip is mounted to the right side interior of the chest making it slightly narrower interior volume wise, and at least for my application, making power outlets less convenient to access and use.
The finish. The metal panels where they joined, were sharper than the other boxes, and the finish coating was rather uneven.
No pegboard that I noticed. Not sure that matters or not.
Higher cost by about $200.00 than the Craftsman. The thicker gauge steel throughout instead of the mix could be worth it to someone else, I just didn't see a major benefit.
The US General.
The Good:
Largest of the 3 at 56" wide, with the sturdiest construction. This may actually be 16 ga steel as it just feels heavier / thicker.
Best finish of the bunch.
Constructed like an early 1990s Snap On is the best way to describe it, everything is well made, well dressed out and finished.
Highest capacity at 4500lbs
The Bad:
Again, for me, I dislike the wide drawer / thin drawer arrangement, and this had it.
The top shelf in the chest had a very short overall height drastically reducting its usefulness to me.
No included drawer liners.
Drawer slides are not soft close, that was an important feature for me.
No outlet strip
Highest cost, pre tax was 50% higher than the Craftsman.
After going over the options, I quickly purged the Husky from my list. I simply did not like it. Again someone else may love it, just wasn't me.
The US General was awfully tempting, and had the prices been closer together, the result may have been different. I could have learned to like the drawer arrangement, or not. I know I like the Craftsman drawer layout... My big sticking points were the depth of the upper shelf part in the chest, and those soft close drawer slides.
I am replacing, or adding to actually, an early 90s Craftsman 9 drawer 27" tool cabinet. I need to strip it down, figure out what is going on with the locking system as I think the lock itself barfed, thoroughly clean, degrease, and paint prep the cabinet and the drawers, refinish it because 30 years can be hard on a tool chest, see if I can get a keyed to match lock that works with this box, but uses the key to my new box, and then a wooden top and mounted up my benchtop drill press. This is planned to become my drilling station cabinet...
So what's your steel tool cabinet story and how does it work in your shop. Any things you love / hate about it?
After a recent happenstance of things basically leaping out at me every time I would open a toolbox drawer in either my old 90s vintage Craftsman 9 drawer 27" tool cabinet or similar vintage Stanley Proto 27" 6 drawer tool chest, I upgraded to a Craftsman 52" 10 drawer cabinet and 8 drawer chest.
I looked at the options, the features, and the price points. I knew the SMALLEST I was willing to go was 52" as I needed to massively upsize, but I also wasn't willing or even able to quite go up to a 72".
I looked at the Husky 52", the Craftsman 52", and the US General 56". They each had their good, and bad points.
On the Craftsman:
The Good:
Perfect size for what I wanted, not too small, not too large especially considering I plan on adding a side cabinet / locker for taller items than would fit in a drawer.
Good locking system, not great, but good.
Nice smooth operating caster with toe locks on the swivels.
Integrated 6 outlet power strip with 2 USB charging ports
Pre-cut drawer liners
Nice deep / roomy top shelf that is not too far off the ground, and tall enough that I can put my Ryobi One+ charger with 6 amp hour battery in there and close the lid while it charges if I want to.
REALLY easy to use, and remove drawers from the soft close drawer slides.
Integrated pegboard into the back of the shelf area of the chest and both sides of the cabinet if I want to hang anything from there.
Super smooth rolling even when fully laden.
USA made with imported content. From what I have been told the boxes, drawers, and slides are USA made 100%, the locks and casters are Taiwan.
The Bad:
Mix of 20 and18ga steel in the constructions, the Husky and US General both use 18 ga only. I have sen a demo of one of the larger drawers loaded and it flexes down and scrapes the drawer below it. In my use / testing I do not experience this though.
10 drawer cabinet instead of a 9 drawer. It would have been nice to have that one freakishly wide drawer for oddly long tools like my inner tie rod service tool set that is about 4" too long for the drawers and as such must live in the top shelf area.
Did not come as the sales folks at Lowes told me it would, keyed alike. I had to swap a lock in the tool chest to get it keyed to match. That was a cheap and easy upgrade though, so now my tool cabinet and tool chest use the same key.
1500lb load rating. Even with a side cab locker loaded up, I won't ever exceed 1k lbs but capacity is nice to have.
On the Husky:
The Good:
Same size as the Craftsman, with a ncie deep top.
Long cross drawers on the cabinet.
Thicker steel in the drawers, less flex when loaded I am sure.
Pre cut drawer liners.
Soft close drawer slides. Probably the same ones Craftsman uses.
Good locking system, again not great, but good.
2500lb load rating. 1k lbs higher than the Craftsman. The design and construction are very similar so not sure how. Must be the casters and the way they mount...
The Bad:
Casters on the demo were anything but smooth.
Drawer configuration is series of wide drawers next to series of narrow drawers, I personally prefer even sized drawers side to side with one long drawer at the top of the cabinet. You may prefer the wide thin approach...
The outlet strip is mounted to the right side interior of the chest making it slightly narrower interior volume wise, and at least for my application, making power outlets less convenient to access and use.
The finish. The metal panels where they joined, were sharper than the other boxes, and the finish coating was rather uneven.
No pegboard that I noticed. Not sure that matters or not.
Higher cost by about $200.00 than the Craftsman. The thicker gauge steel throughout instead of the mix could be worth it to someone else, I just didn't see a major benefit.
The US General.
The Good:
Largest of the 3 at 56" wide, with the sturdiest construction. This may actually be 16 ga steel as it just feels heavier / thicker.
Best finish of the bunch.
Constructed like an early 1990s Snap On is the best way to describe it, everything is well made, well dressed out and finished.
Highest capacity at 4500lbs
The Bad:
Again, for me, I dislike the wide drawer / thin drawer arrangement, and this had it.
The top shelf in the chest had a very short overall height drastically reducting its usefulness to me.
No included drawer liners.
Drawer slides are not soft close, that was an important feature for me.
No outlet strip
Highest cost, pre tax was 50% higher than the Craftsman.
After going over the options, I quickly purged the Husky from my list. I simply did not like it. Again someone else may love it, just wasn't me.
The US General was awfully tempting, and had the prices been closer together, the result may have been different. I could have learned to like the drawer arrangement, or not. I know I like the Craftsman drawer layout... My big sticking points were the depth of the upper shelf part in the chest, and those soft close drawer slides.
I am replacing, or adding to actually, an early 90s Craftsman 9 drawer 27" tool cabinet. I need to strip it down, figure out what is going on with the locking system as I think the lock itself barfed, thoroughly clean, degrease, and paint prep the cabinet and the drawers, refinish it because 30 years can be hard on a tool chest, see if I can get a keyed to match lock that works with this box, but uses the key to my new box, and then a wooden top and mounted up my benchtop drill press. This is planned to become my drilling station cabinet...
So what's your steel tool cabinet story and how does it work in your shop. Any things you love / hate about it?
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