I m with those who advised to keep your boxes until your return window has expired. Once that day arrives, RUN do not walk to the NEAREST trash can or recycle bin. We re assuming you ve bought your tools to USE. Only hard core collectors with serious OCD get their panties in a bunch about boxes. They seem to get their jollies looking at a pile of shrink wrapped boxes with contents that haven t seen daylight since the factory and never will.
I have another hobby in which there are individuals who get aroused by stuff in boxes. For most of us, they are a major PITA to have all those damned boxes underfoot, and we just don t happen to have a warehouse sized area to store that ********************. Unless your tools came in a nice wooden box and should be kept, like the Stanley #55 or some such, in the case of cardboard boxes, "From trees thou art, to mulch thou shalt return"
- OleGrump
I have a different take on this "OleGrump".
Surely there is room here for all those who not only acquired their tools simply to use, but also those who admire and cherish them because of their historical association with events in their lives or sometimes with the growth of our country.
I still do use my hand tools when I am able, but I am more of a collector these days. I love the old hand tools I grew up with - I enjoy handling them, cleaning them, admiring them, reasearcing their historical association and reminiscing about my exploits in using them.
My first usage of hand tools began in 1938 under the tutelage of my father when I helped him work on radios - chassis and cabinets were wood in those days. Later (1947-1950) I apprenticed as a truck cab and body builder at the firm of Oswald Tillotson, Burnley, Lancashire, England. Cabs and Flat Bed Bodies were hand built of wood with only minimal metal work at that time. I worked mostly in the cab shop doing framework joining and door making/installing, although I occasionally built flat bed truck bodies (always under the watchful eyes and guidance of senior craftsmen) as did all apprentices, from time to time. Unlike building cabs that required considerable skill, building flat bed truck bodies was simple and straight forward - it was more akin to carpentry than fine woodworking (and something like kit building). Because of this, some basic flat bed truck body building was assigned to apprentices who could thereby hone their skills under the watchful eyes of senior craftsmen. Quality of work was the guiding principle. I think Tillotson's physical plant was typical of similar British manufacturing businesses of the period. There was no compressed air system in any of the woodworking shops and therefor pneumatic tools were not used. There was overhead electric and natural lighting throughout and electrical outlets were provided in most shops. The Mill Shop had electrically operated machinery: circular saws, band saws, planers, sanders, drilling machines, shapers/routers, etc. There were no individually owned electrical hand-operated tools used such as circular saws, screw drivers, jigsaws, sanders, glue guns, nail guns, routers, etc.
I used a pretty basic tool kit when building flat beds. Other apprentices used a similar selection of hand tools. Upon being given the assignment, I would usually take my tool box, and/or a tote containing the tools I anticipated using, to the job site and set up a makeshift work bench using heavy boards on two saw horses.
Rip hand saws and jointer/jack bench planes were not needed as all lumber had been sawn and planed straight and square in the Mill Shop (but not cut to length) and so only smoothing and block planes were needed to dress up joints, etc.
Most of my tools were, and are, of 1920s and 1930s vintage, being the favorite ones I used during my employment in the woodworking trade (1947-1950), later as a woodworking hobbyist and that I still use for (now only occasionally) home maintenance projects.
So I have a long association with manually operated woodworking hand tools - and that brings me to saving the factory boxes they come in. I kinda like the old cardboard boxes they used to come in. I think they are part of the history of the tools and oftentimes provide invaluable information relating to them. For instance, consider the following factory box for the North Bros. "Yankee" no. 105 Radio Tool set - the label provides information relating to the tools in great detail and hard to find elsewhere.
The box for the following North Bros. No. 1431 Radio hand drill is about 90 yrears old - that is as old as I am! Surely something to be treasured - a great historical artifact.
So, I do like factory tool boxes and have saved and accumulated quite a few. But, that is just my personal like.