Picked up a new knife storage chest >>

patrickb

patrickb

Joined
Dec 29, 2003
Messages
339
A Gerstner knock-off if you will. I wanted something to store lots of small items including [of course] my knife collection and its tools, my wrist watches, spare watch straps & bracelets, watch tools, among other things.

I couldn't justify the cost of a Gerstner as for that kind of money I could buy another custom knife. I found these chests at ebay initially (based on a thread here) and bought directly from their website.

It's made of oak, has a decent finish and seems to be fairly well made. Well enough for my purposes. It may not be passed down to my children's children as a Gerstner chest may, but it looks nice and serves its purpose quite well. This oak 8 drawer chest cost $160. Dimensions are 20" (W) x 10" (D) x 13 1/2"(H).

picture.JPG
 
Nice box.. and what the heck, it is the knives you'll store in it that will get passed down to your children's children.
 
LostSol said:
looks very nice! how is the fit of the drawers and the quality?
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Very, very good. Much better than I would have thought. No large gaps, the drawers move quite smoothly and the spacing is very even. The hardware seems decent quality, not that I have any frame of reference, but in my uneducated opinion, it very nice and well worth the price.

It doesn't have drawer stops, so I need to be careful when opening. I'm thinking of making some stops myself. That's probably they only thing I wish it had. It's good quality wood and finished quite nicely.

Hope that helps.

-pb
 
stjames said:
Could you likn us to where you got it? Thanks.
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Sure thing. I wasn't sure if I should post a link to the retailer's site, but as long as it's OK to do so. I got it from:

http://www.suncoasttools.com/shop/toolchests.html

Definitely worth the price. They carry four different models with a variety of sizes, number of drawers and woods (ash, maple, and oak). The oak model pictured is the largest and most expensive, but at $160, I'm very pleased. My wife bought it for me as a birthday present.
 
It's a Gerstner. Old one. I have been using it for MY knives. Never thought about anyone else being nuts too.

http://www.tech-line.com/hockit/gerstner.JPG

Funny story on acquisition. I had a pawn shop. Guy brought it in FULL of machine tools. He let it go and never redeemed it. I thought well heck I'll sell it.

I put $750 on it FULL. Tools I had NO idea what they were. All kindsa stuff. Sacramento is NOT a manufacturing town so it sat and sat.

One day, one of my tool regulars came in and I offered it to him for $500...FULL.

He was a really "cheap" character and walked away from it. It sat for a few more days and I got the bright idea to see what I could get for the tools alone. Called a (maybe the only) major machine shop and they came out to look. Offered me $1100 for the tools. (I had hidden the box)

They bought the tools and I had a brain fart and brought the box home for knives.

About 2 weeks later, cheapo came back to see if I would sell it even CHEAPER. Told him it was sold and that I kept the box.

He told me the BOX was all he wanted. I can see why as it is very handy and neat old oak. AND......the original doesn't have drawer stops either. As I have found out a few careless times.

:D
 
patrickb said:
This oak 8 drawer chest cost $160. Dimensions are 20" (W) x 10" (D) x 13 1/2"(H).
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:eek: I can buy another Microtech LUDT for that!

Ever been to the Container Store? I got a plastic one with 4 plastic drawers with dividers. It's easy to bring into the living room in front of the TV if I want. The dividers keep everything from sliding around and each of the drawers have locks so they don't slide open. I'm happy. I think I paid $20 for it.

That said, if money were no object (and it were a little lighter to carry), I'd get what you got. ;)
 
fulloflead said:
:eek: I can buy another Microtech LUDT for that!
Ever been to the Container Store? I got a plastic one with 4 plastic drawers with dividers. It's easy to bring into the living room in front of the TV if I want. The dividers keep everything from sliding around and each of the drawers have locks so they don't slide open. I'm happy. I think I paid $20 for it.
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Come on now FOL...comparing your $20 plastic container to a nice wooden tool chest is like me saying I can get a $20 tawainese knife that's just as good as that LUDT you want! ;)

You may be happy with that plastic container, but for me...I'll take oak. And it's got handles so I can bring it in front of the TV too :)
 
patrickb said:
Come on now FOL...comparing your $20 plastic container to a nice wooden tool chest is like me saying I can get a $20 tawainese knife that's just as good as that LUDT you want! ;)

You may be happy with that plastic container, but for me...I'll take oak. And it's got handles so I can bring it in front of the TV too :)
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Well, not EXACTLY. I'm "into" knives but I'm not "into" storage of knives. See?

I DO see your point, though. If your proud of your collection and WANT something like that then you SHOULD buy something nice like that.

I actually DO have a box very similar to yours. I keep gunsmithing tools, allen/torx wrenches, files, etc. in it. I originally bought it because my girlfriend and I lived in a TINY apartment and I was ALWAYS tinkering with something on the coffee table in front of the TV. I wanted to keep a set of "tinkering" tools near where I worked and that was the way I helped my girlfriend become OK with the idea. It looked nice and I got to keep tools in the living room. :D
 
Thanks for the link, it looks like a good value for a solid Oak piece. You can get cheap plywood veneered ones but they will fall apart on you (as a friend at work found out the hard way).

I do think it's funny that all these people we know keep their thousands of dollars worth of knives in shoe boxes :rolleyes:
 
stjames said:
Thanks for the link, it looks like a good value for a solid Oak piece. You can get cheap plywood veneered ones but they will fall apart on you (as a friend at work found out the hard way).
I do think it's funny that all these people we know keep their thousands of dollars worth of knives in shoe boxes :rolleyes:
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I was surprised upon receipt. It's solid oak, no particle board in sight. It's nice and hefty and looks very nice on my desk in my office. Aesthetics are important..after all ;) To me, a nice solid wooden tool chest is all part of the fun.

Lavan, I found a old Gerstner Oak chest in an antique store here in my town. It's about the same size as this one pictured. It definitely needed refinishing and they wanted ~$275 or $300. Note that a comparable NEW chest from Gerstner would run $500-$700. For me, the knock-off was a better choice. I'd likely ruin the Gerstner trying to refinish it as I'm not very handy.

-pb
 
beautiful storage chest...thanks for sharin'
 
Does anyone the purpose of the diamond shaped mirror, mounted on the inside lid? How about the the large stout drawer in the middle? They were definitely put there for a purpose. Anyone know? Sorry, no prize for correct answers.

Ken
 
originally intended as a jewelry chest, perhaps?
 
My knife storage needs are filled with several large plastic storage bins [ and inside the bin they are individually stored in knife rugs ] for two reasons in lieu of those great looking wooden chests.

1= The containers I use are not subject to humidity which may affect long term storage.

2= The containers are hidden where the BG's can't get to them, tucked safely away out of prying unauthorized eyes should I be burglared one day.

I don't feel comfortable leaving things out in chests like that one [ though it is very nice indeed ] where a BG would be drawn to it, catching his attention right away.

The containers are quite large but not that high so they slip into places most would not look when burglaring the home. The entry point is also under lock and key to prevent them from accessing the knives to begin with.

But it's a great looking case and you did well on the price to my thinking.

Brownie
 
Sorry Pendentive :( . Any more guesses on why these two items are where they are?

Ken
 
mirror - checking yourself out, silly

drawer - machinist's handbook (from olden times)




psst....I cheated. I called Gerstner direct and asked. Friendly staff people there. :D
 
now tell us the full story - we're dying to hear it....:p
 
Yup, that middle drawer is sized to fit the Machinist's Handbook. Close on the mirror. Back when every machinist used one of these tool boxes instead of a Sear's rolling toolbox, things were a lot different. If you place one of these tool boxes on a standard hieght workbench and open the lid, you'll notice the mirror is very close to eye level. Safety glasses were unheard of back then, and it was very common to get a flying piece of debris in one's eye. This mirror was placed there, so the worker could get a quick look at his eye and try to remove the foreign object.

I wonder if the manufacturer knows why he's building them that way, or if he's just trying to be as accurate as possible in re-creating a classic piece?

Ken

Edited for typo
 
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