Crescent Lufkin Contractor Chalk Set Bundle

Decent chalk box, not my favorte.

Bought this out of necessity, needed a chalk box for temporary chalk. Just what they had on the shelf, that stuck out as a decent chalk box. The good. Its mostly metal constructed. I like the claw sucks into the body and doesnt flop around, or need an extra step to store it. Gearing is great for quickly spooling the line. The meh. Cost is a bit high compared to other high end metal chalk boxes. The claw works, but you cant easily get it to catch a nail head, ended up having to tweak it a bit,...

Chalk line

This line works better than the high end name brand ones.

Does the job. A bit bulky

Overall does the job. Used to using decades old chalk reels. I am used to much thinner lighter reels. This feels good, but a bit bulky for my liking. Oddly, although it is plastic, it is heavier than my ancient metal one. Probably due to the gears and rubber parts. The new features can be considered a flaw, IMO. The rubber plug aids in fast refill, also has a traditional fill cap on the other end. Or just remove the rubber plug and fill there as well. Downside is more parts than neede...

Well made Chalk Reel

The reel seems to be well packaged from the start. The included instructions covered the important topics: faster rewind because of the 3:1 gearing, built in storage for the crank and hook, side slide door for the chalk. The housing is a black plastic as well as the handle axle, which has a push-to-hold feature which allows for faster unspooling of the string. When releases, the push handle feature drops out of some gears that seemed a bit awkward to operate at first, but became better as I fi...

Beta one I’ve had

First thing, metal beats plastic don’t kid yourself otherwise. The collapsible crank handle is actually a pretty nice touch considering you toss this around or shove into a tool bag. And that gear ratio to pull in the string is crazy I make my boss turn his head when I real this thing in. I personally love the top half that quarter-turns the reel head off and gives me wayyy more room to refill the chalk. Yes there’s a smaller hole at the bottom but you need the same brand long nose chalk bottle ...

High quality chalk line

This is a very high quality and durable chalk line. I was really impressed with the winding handle being 8:1 gear ratio, so there was less turns to wind up the line. Additionally, the hook on the line was pointed and gripped the wood well. I was able to use one hand to swing the hook to the end of the piece of wood and extend the line. I'm really impressed with the easy line lock on the wheel. When locked, it provides a solid hold on the line and allows for a single user to snap the line. You ge...

Maybe not this one!

This chalk line is light weight which is nice when you have to carry it in your tool pouches all day long. It works well, except after about eight hours of use the line broke. I cut it off and retied it to the hook. A short while later the line jammed inside the box and broke off. Not impressed because of the light duty line in the box. Probably good for occasional use, it just did not work for me using it for several hours at a time for a couple days in a row.

A little heavy

The line in this model is not as heavy as some other one hundred foot chalk lines. It is also a little heavy but it works pretty well. I recommend opening it up and cleaning the grease off of the plastic crank parts as it will get gummed up with chalk pretty quickly.

Difficult to reel, chalk everywhere

I was looking forward to this reel as I have several old plastic reels and figured this would be a nice upgrade to throw those away and consolidate to one... completely wrong! The "one way" refill valve leaks everywhere after use and is far from the "no-mess" that they advertise; every time it gets bounced around or knocked, chalk comes out. Don't keep it in your toolbag, a couple light knocks and you'll have a tablespoon of chalk in there. I'll be filling in the valve and only using the quar...

Solid Chalk Box

The Cresent/Lufkin chalk box is well designed with an ergonomic cast aluminum housing. The hub lock and reel are plastic with a rubber bezel that is textured making it easy to grip to lock and unlock the string-line. The metal end hook is larger than most with a double point which comes in handy when working alone. The 100' string-line is a very small diameter but very strong. The casing is notched out on the end which stows away the end hook nicely. The hub lock easy to operate and is clearly i...