The chimp experiment (which I've heard before, though like you I don't know exactly how true it is) would only prove that they have the capacity to impart learned behavior to each other - which I don't think anybody was disputing. Plenty of critters can do that.
As for toolmaking...as you say, it depends on where you draw the line, but to my way of thinking that's still a practical, concrete notion. It certainly is impressive that the crow can recognize something's potential as a tool, but I don't think it proves anything about whether they are capable of considering more abstract issues. "Can I use this to get food?" is a lot more of a concrete question than "is what I'm doing right?" or "where do we go when we die?" or what-have-you.
One such chimp experiment ultimately showed that the chimp was a very good mimic of human behavior. As he got older they were not able to teach him not to display aggressive behavior.
http://www.npr.org/2011/07/20/138467156/project-nim-a-chimps-very-human-very-sad-life
