Heading home today, I passed by an estate sale.
Picked up a Cornwell top tool box with 12 drawers and the lift up top.
In very good condition. And full of tools.
Also picked up a Zebco 6020 gold spinning reel, a Wright-McGill trailmaster 6.5' 4 piece rod, in an aluminum tube and in unused condition, plus a 6.5' Kunnan 2 piece rod in new condition.
The tools, box, 2 rods, and 1 reel cost me a $100 bill.
Took 3 guys to lift the box into my truck.
I don't know much about Cornwell tools or boxes —- but it is certainly well made and a quality box.
Best, Fred
You did very well with the box alone at that price.
Cornwell tools, if made in the USA were from the Ohio and PA region and were very nice tools. It looks like you have mix of tools there, I see some Craftsmen and some others (sockets) that look like they might have been made in Taiwan. I believe Cornwell did inport some of their tools from Taiwan and China as well.
Quite the impressive find.
I don't know if Cornwell is still in business but they made good tools.
Quote from: MarkT on April 18, 2026, 08:53:04 AMI don't know if Cornwell is still in business but they made good tools.
Cornwell still in business, they sponsor quite a bit in NHRA racing, Austin Prock funny car among others. - john
Nice acquisition!
Tad
Nice score!
:) Now that is a much better deal than the last mini tool boxes earlier this year. Even if the the box was empty. :d
Emptied out the box today.
Tossed out a 5 gallon bucket of crap stuff and broken tools.
Still have a table full to go through and store mostly in the extra bins that have oddball tools that don't match or are not complete sets.
There are a few decent tools in here —- but mostly duplicates of what I already have, and poorly taken care of.
Vacuumed out the drawers, cleaned out crud and greases of 60 years, burnished the SS handles, greased all of the slides with SuperLube, removed the lock to get a key made, cut and installed rubber mats in all 12 drawers and the top lid compartment.
It measures 26" Wide - 19" high - and 12" deep. 46 lbs, empty.
Now to figure what to store in the box. Thinking of making it a specialty box focused on vehicle service, repair, and maintenance —- plus equipment around the property. I'll label all of the compartments.
Did a little research. Looks like these Cornwells were considered a professional grade box comparable to Snap-On, or similar.
Best, Fred
In-N-Out FTW!
While reading this I was thinking you need to line the drawers Fred,& of course you did :D
I lined my 1st Husky rollaway years ago.I gave it to a friend when I upgraded to a larger HF General,their drawers come already lined. It is a must.
Once again you found a deal!
Is there a preferred material/source for drawer liners? From my previous life I used to have access to printing blankets that worked really well, but that supply has evaporated and the last time I bought material specified for tool drawer liners from Bezo's Express it was really thin, smelled strongly of petrochemical, and within a year (temps in my shop/garage well over 100F in summer) started to turn to black dust and degrade. - john
I just had an extra new roll I bought from Sears before they closed, from when I lined my taco Snap-On box. Best, Fred
I have a huge tool box that I win from work more than 10 years ago ,left in the storage shed never store anything . Someday my kid will sell for $100
Funny anecdote about lubing the slides. I was on the weekly AT.com Zoom call and decided I would get the drawers on my box moving easier. Well.....I ended up emptying and removing every drawer, cleaning and lubing each slide and reinstalling. Years of saw dust, dirt, etc were cleaned out. Time we'll spent, but wasn't expecting it to take 4 hours. "Found" a couple tools that I thought were lost too :d. Bill
Great work Fred!
I have an old Huot toolbox that I found in a discard pile in my neighborhood, it even had a few old tools in it. I brought it home and was ready to completely refurb it, but all it really needs is paint. All of the drawers work, and they even have cork liners that are in OK shape. It's safe and dry so no rush on the paint, that is a pretty big job with a box like this.
Finished up the service and maintenance station.
This will be for work on vehicles, trailers, and other equipment.
Just roll it out on the concrete —- it probably has 90% of what I need. Return the tools to their places when done —- then just roll the box back into the shop.
Best, Fred