Snap-on Boxes, ready to sell

[Stelzer]

Just waiting on the touch-up paint to come, but I still cut & buffed it anyways. 2 different compounds, 2 polishes, 1 glaze. Removed all drawer slides, cleaned, waxed & reinstalled, did some minor repairs to the sides of a few of the friction sliders, and I just need to cut & fit the new drawer liners. Pretty happy with it overall, (will be happier once I can touch-up the nicks), but it's completely immaculate, inside the boxes as well as drawers.

I paid $800 for the combo, got about $85 into it, plus my time. Not sure what I'm gonna list it for just yet. I'd been following a similar combo on FB Marketplace which finally sold after he lowered the price to $3,250, although I highly doubt I could get anywhere near that for it. Still though, it'll pay for my new 72" upper/lower combo and then some, which is fine by me. Shame to see it go, but the layout and dimensions just don't work for me.

Attached is a before & after pic, along with a comparison pic of the new drawer liner I got vs. Husky's "premium" line I had laying around. Granted, the new thicker roll is longer too, so it's not apples-to-apples, but one quick glance at the side will show the difference in thickness. My favorite liner.

 

[Marvin Berry]

What brand is the drawer liner?

 

[LWB]

Looks mint!

 

[Lassen Forge]

Cleaned up nice - you should get your money back out of it, no problem. Actually, if it were me, I probably wouldn't sell it, I'd use it. I like those layouts, and they make for a nice combo.

 

[CGarage]

What did you use to cut and polish the paint?

 

[Walkers]

I have those boxes, paid $3k in 1993. They are decent boxes, I wish the thin drawers were slightly taller though.

 

[CGarage]

The drawer liner on the left looks thicker but it isn’t Husky. Who makes it?

 

[txvwnut]

What brand is the drawer liner?

The drawer liner on the left looks thicker but it isn’t Husky. Who makes it?

www.onreva.com

 

[Stelzer]

What brand is the drawer liner?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09SGR9MNM/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[Stelzer]

What did you use to cut and polish the paint?

After removing the stickers I cleaned it with a diluted oxalic acid which not only removes the shadows from the stickers, but also melts away the oxidation. After that, I wet sanded with 1,000/2,000/4,000,
then used Meguirar's Speed Compound
then Meguiar's Ultimate Compound
then Meguiar's Ultimate Polish
then Meguiar's Mirror Glaze

 

[Stelzer]

Cleaned up nice - you should get your money back out of it, no problem. Actually, if it were me, I probably wouldn't sell it, I'd use it. I like those layouts, and they make for a nice combo.

Most of the drawers just don't have enough height or depth to put my stuff in them, at least not without having multiple drawers of sockets, wrenches, etc. As it is now, I've got multiple boxes housing various tools, but would very much like to consolidate. It's like the old Mac boxes in the sense that I love the look of em, but not practical for my purposes.

 

[CGarage]

After removing the stickers I cleaned it with a diluted oxalic acid which not only removes the shadows from the stickers, but also melts away the oxidation. After that, I wet sanded with 1,000/2,000/4,000,
then used Meguirar's Speed Compound
then Meguiar's Ultimate Compound
then Meguiar's Ultimate Polish
then Meguiar's Mirror Glaze

Did you polish with a random orbital or what kind of buffer? Looks very good and shiny now.

 

[Jayman17]

That looks awesome! Can you go into detail on the oxalic acid cleaning like dilution used and method of cleaning? Thanks.

 

[LXCam]

Damn dude, that turned out excellent. You shouldn’t have any issues getting a few extra bucks out of your efforts.

 

[Rinspeed]

Nice job.

 

[Stelzer]

Did you polish with a random orbital or what kind of buffer? Looks very good and shiny now.

I have a Festool RO 125, RO 90, as well as a few of the HF DA Polishers. The Festools are awesome since they can switch from a straight "grinding" rotation to a random orbital in the switch of a button, and the RO 90 can switch from a round head to delta, (triangle), in less than 5 seconds, which is especially useful for corners or other hard to reach bits. Before I finish off one grit in "grinding" mode, I follow it up with random orbital mode. This insures no swirls or scratches will be seen from each of the previous grits.

The finishing glaze is what makes it look wet and it's the only thing which is applied by hand. I had to make the finish shinier so I can wet sand it back after touch-up to have everything a uniform sheen. Another 3 hrs of work after I get the touch-up paint and it'll look brand new. I documented most everything, but there's already some great write-ups from other members and I'm not sure I'd have much to add really.

 

[Stelzer]

I have those boxes, paid $3k in 1993. They are decent boxes, I wish the thin drawers were slightly taller though.

That's exactly my wish too and ultimately is the deciding factor in selling vs. keeping.

 

[Stelzer]

Damn dude, that turned out excellent. You shouldn’t have any issues getting a few extra bucks out of your efforts.

Thanks, but if I were to bill myself for the hours, I'm pretty sure I'd have been better off rolling this out of my garage and buying an Epiq, lol. Definitely a labor of love and not for profit, unfortunately. I love restoring old tools though. After my Dad died, (lifelong mechanic), my step-mom gave most of his big boxes and tools to my step sister, but I did get some of his tools from the garage at his home, and I thoroughly enjoy bringing some of them back to life. Just got done grinding and filing one of his old 24" Mac prybars. All that's left to do is put some acetone on the handle to remove the cloudy bits and it'll look brand new.

 

[Stelzer]

That looks awesome! Can you go into detail on the oxalic acid cleaning like dilution used and method of cleaning? Thanks.

I do a lot of commercial pressure washing, so I have 50lb bags of ox acid in powdered form that I can mix up at whichever strength and quantity I need. This was done with hot water, about 4oz/gal of ox, 2 oz of lauramine oxide as a surfactant, various scotchbrite pads, then was cleaned off with some hot water, Awesome Orange, and pharmacy grade D-Limonene. It's an efficient method for degreasing, starting with an acid and following up with a mild caustic. Same process for fleet washing big rigs and heavy equipment.