Are the old tool boxes really necessary?

They are really only useful early on, when your early tool generating items like garden barrel/toolbox/cleaning supplies have limited use and are always on cooldown, because then it allows you to get more tools faster. Once you have higher level tool generating items or multiple copies of them, the old boxes don't really matter and in that case I start selling them.

If I am not actively seeking the items from the old boxes, I will sell those rather than store them or waste energy and space on cobwebbed level 1 items (the most common). But if I am actively seeking higher level items from the same category as those in the old box, I will my barrels, pots, cleaning bucket, etc. first and once it tosses out the common level 1 item, I will toss out a cobwebbed item from the box so I can quickly clear it.

They are not too useful, though, agreed! 😃