Tool chests = red?

[John]

Hello everyone.

Bit of a random question here. Is there a reason tool chests are generally red? I.e. did someone start off that way and then every one else copied and it has just become convention now? Or is there some other reason? Just be interested to know really!!

Thanks

John

Topic

[Paul]

I don’t know if this applies to tool chests, or even if it’s 100% true:

My uncle, a former farmer and equipment aficionado, said that International painted their tractors a bright red circa 1940 to differentiate their brand from the others, and the trend followed to other industries. There was a good-natured John Deere International rivalry in the family. It never came to blows, but my uncle and grandfather took every opportunity to taunt each other over the matter.

[Kevin Criswell]

I noticed most chests designed for professional shop use are normally a bright color, usually the same colors used to mark hazards. I often have wondered if this was designed to make the equipment “stand out” and less likely to make someone walk or run into them.

[John]

Thanks for the answers guys.

I could see it being something to do with H+S, but really, how many times have we walked into anything in our jobs, be it a steel table or normal desk?! But then, I suppose if they were wheeled about into the middle of the shop, some careless person could klonk themselves!

[Kevin Criswell]

[quote=”Loose” post=84162]Thanks for the answers guys.

I could see it being something to do with H+S, but really, how many times have we walked into anything in our jobs, be it a steel table or normal desk?! But then, I suppose if they were wheeled about into the middle of the shop, some careless person could klonk themselves![/quote]

Well to be honest I used to wish they would paint the arms of two post lifts bright red. I can’t count how many times I have banged my head on those things.

From what I was always told red is the traditional color of tool boxes. It supposedly started with the small hand carried boxes, the makers would paint them red so they were easily spotted. Snap-On made some black and grey boxes, but techs complained the things showed every scratch, weld, dent and imperfection much more than a brightly colored box does.

Some claim that they are red because it was a cheap color, but that can not be correct. Historically red has always been one of the more expensive paints (as a metal enamel paint) as red contains many different pigments, if they wanted to paint them a cheap color they would have done as Henry Ford did and painted them black. I think where that idea comes from is red was used in barns because barns were painted with a pigment made from iron oxide and crushed brick, that pigment was very cheap.

[Lorrin Barth]

The last time I was at Sears I saw they had tool chests in hot pink and lime green. Go stare at those for awhile and you will start to love the red if you didn’t already.

[Kevin Criswell]

[quote=”barneyb” post=84246]The last time I was at Sears I saw they had tool chests in hot pink and lime green. Go stare at those for awhile and you will start to love the red if you didn’t already.[/quote]

Snap-on has a series that came in a very bright neon green, supposedly it was supposed to be Mopar muscle green.

:sick: Looks great on a muscle car, horrible on a roll around toolbox.

[Author]

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