When I was in high school, my idea of a toolbox was a rectangular box that my dad could pick up and carry with him to whatever project he may be working on. I knew there was something in the basement on wheels with lots of drawers standing about 4’ tall and 3’ wide that my dad also referred to as a toolbox but for me, that didn’t really register.
While I was in college, the paper mill that my dad had worked at for many years shutdown and he took a job with a local company that services large motors. Over the years, my dad would tell stories about “packing up his toolbox” and pushing it to the next motor he needed to work on. I realize now that I never really had an accurate picture in my mind of what he was describing. That was until this past Labor Day. I was making a trip with the kids to my parents for a visit and my dad invited me to stop by his workplace and pick out any tools I might want to call dibs on since he would be trying to sell the rest soon before he retired. This toolbox that he pushed from spot to spot was gigantic!
The toolbox stood 6’ tall and 6’ wide and it was beautiful. I felt like a kid in a candy store looking through all of the drawers at all of the tools with my dad. I have to say that I didn’t know what a fair number of them were called or even what they were used for and my dad had to give me brief descriptions. We went drawer by drawer that day and I created my “dibs” list. The rest of the tools he sold over the last few months before he retired. At some point in those last few months, I was asked if I wanted the toolbox. My initial reaction was, “No way, where would I put it?” However, over the next few days and weeks, after I had time to mull it over, I changed my mind and realized that a lot of my tools were sitting out on shelves (since my Craftsman toolbox was full) collecting dust and it would be nice to have a place to tuck them away.
What I didn’t realize at the time was that getting the toolbox into my garage would mean a Uhaul rental and four grown men. Yes, I said four grown men. This toolbox has a lid on top of it that creates a workstation on top of the drawers. The lid pulls down in the front to close it up when you’re done. For traveling, the whole top (made of thick sheets of metal) is folded in on itself. After rolling the toolbox into the garage, my dad and Juan started to attempt to assemble the lid but were quick to see they were going to need help. Juan called a couple friends over and these guys wrangled with it for at least 15-20 minutes. I asked my dad later how he possibly got the lid packed up by himself and he casually responded, “At work I had a crane.”
I love it. Who took the picture?