There’s only one thing that’s a bit more complex about the Japanese tool boxes and that’s their names and brands. So, let’s simplify it for you... Hand-held tool boxes are generally the smallest type. They can be made of nearly any material, and can be designed to fulfill many different purposes. The only thing all hand-held tool boxes have in common is the fact that they can be carried by hand.

America has had a complex relationship with Toyo tool boxes for many reasons. Some of us love them as icons of pop culture design. Some of us hate them as an imported steel product. Some of us see them as one of those “shark” products like the classic Snap-on tool chests – something that hasn’t changed in 50 years because it was already perfect.We love a toolbox in the Tinker and Fix house. All sizes, all colours. We use them for everything from storing tools, to keep art supplies together. Japanese pressed steel tool boxes are our particular favourites - to both use and sell. They are simplicity personified. They do exactly what you need, nothing more. Apart from looking just great. Meaning they work really well about the house or they add a touch of colour to the workshop or garage (as well as keeping your tools safely stored and organised). The build quality of this typer pf Toyo tool box is excellent, partially because both the main bottom box section and both cantilever box sections are made of a single piece of steel pressed into a “U” shape, with carefully wended side-walls added to complete the coffer shape. This minimum-piece design is a hallmark of Toyo Steel products, and is one of the reasons they last so long under heavy use. The Toyo tool box ST-350 and ST-350-B are classic examples of the all-steel 2-level cantilever tool box. It measures 13 So, let’s take a much closer look at Toyo tool boxes, and what they offer compared to American-made alternatives.

Whilst Toyo make and sell their own colours and all sizes of steel toolbox, they also, at the same time, make toolboxes for many other companies. Which is why you may look at pressed steel toolboxes and wonder whether they are different, other than perhaps the name on them, or their colour.We might not jump straight to “How recyclable are the materials?” when we think about buying a tool box. We might think about style, utility, weight, or expense first. However, considering the state of our climate and natural resources, environmental concerns should always be in the corner of our minds. The Toyo tool boxes we’ll look at today are all branded as Toyo Steel, though as we’ll discuss below, Toyo also sells the exact same tool boxes through another distributor under another brand name. This is very much the “classic” Toyo tool box design, beloved for its simplicity, functionality and durability. Both the top and bottom are stamped from a single piece of steel, giving them a sturdiness and resilience that cannot be matched by a steel tool box made with welds or rivets. Hand-portable cantilever tool boxes are far more common than wheel-mounted units, but the top box of a combination box may well have one or more cantilever trays in its topmost compartment rather than a “top hatch” type opening.

Toyo Steel is the company that makes most Japanese pressed steel tool boxes. They’ve been making them for 53 years and are a renowned Japanese company that makes a whole range of really well designed products for around the house, garden and garage. Toyo Steel was established in 1969 in Osaka, Japan. Toyo believes in creating useful and tactile products and these tool boxes are no different. Designed to safely store all your bits and bobs, from tools to art supplies. Crafted from one thin sheet of solid plate metal using a drawing press technique, resulting in the classic tool box.

TOYO Camber-top Toolbox Y-410 BK (Black)

Because they are relatively small, a handheld small tool box does not hold many tools or much equipment. On the other hand, it will be light and portable even when full, and it can literally go anywhere you can go. You can’t say that for more modern developments like the pit box. As a class, hand-held tool boxes also tend to be less expensive than other types. Toyo is well known for its cantilever tool boxes, such as the model GT-470. A cantilever tool box has one or more small trays which open up from the top, each mounted on a single or double set of cantilevered arms. inches tall when closed. Most of the models available today are in a slightly metallic blue powder coat finish. It weighs just over 5 Made in Japan” can mean different things to different people. The American auto industry, and most of its manufacturing sectors, encourage us to think of Japanese exports as they were immediately after World War 2: cheap exports using even cheaper materials from a former manufacturing giant who had been devastated by war.

products, the Crossbox is made of an easily and economically recyclable high impact polymer resin. Using this material makes the Crossbox light and extremely durable. Better still, each one that leaves our factory in Defiance, Ohio already contains plenty of recycled materials. Yes. Toyo Steel makes boxes for Trusco, who are a trading company that sells tools and other products made by several factories. If you see a Trusco tool box that matches the description of a Toyo tool box described here, you can assume it is in fact a rebranded Toyo Steel product. There are 4 different shapes of toolboxes that we sell (regardless of whether they are Trusco or Toyo):Part of making an environmentally sound product is making sure your materials are reusable, recyclable, or both. Toyo uses only one single material for most of its tool boxes – steel. Steel is easy to recycle, and more importantly, it is economical to recycle. It is less expensive to melt down steel products than to extract the ore from the earth and refine it. That said, Toyo has been manufacturing very well-made tool boxes since 1969, and any Toyo tool box from the 1970s in good condition is likely to be a sought-after collector’s item. You could pay quite a lot for a vintage Toyo tool box. One of these companies is Trusco - which is a great and popular Japanese brand. Trusco have some colours that are specific to them and Toyo has some colours that are specific to them.