ToolBox Resto-mod

[littleviking]

Over the weekend I picked up a craftsman top and bottom for 75.

Sorry for the horrible cellphone picture but it was dark and dingy in my garage.

My plans are to strip it down to the individual pieces and de-rust and repaint.

It's not vintage( I don't think)
-has hard plastic drawer handle covers
-craftsman logo is plastic and not stamped
-stickers on the side from patchogue autowrecker and bodyshop are older but not 70's old.

First things first Im going to rent(or buy) a sandblaster and bring it down to bare metal. no way in heck am I doing this with a grinder or a orbital sander.

all the slides will be dipped in vinegar(or lemon juice whatevers on sale)

The color scheme is going to be Mopar (I'm a jeep, dodge chrysler kid....32 is still young!)

this is going to take awhile because I still have my wifes yardsale cabinet that needs to be sanded down and stained. Plus about a hundred more honey-dos



Questions????

Where can I find not just the paint code but the color swatches for MOPAR paints?

And

Can anyone tell me what cabinet I have? I cannot find one like this anywhere?


Thanks.

 

[dandan111]

Looks like a great buy for $75.

 

[ford guy]

That's a good price! Grab some better pics of the sides & front and post 'em.
Also, a Google search of "mopar paint colors" will bring up alot of paint codes, just depends on what year you're looking for.
Sand blasting the drawers is a good option, as I've just did the same with my resto. Plan on alot of long tedious nights sanding / hammering & painting. It is all worth it!

Bob

 

[Stuart in MN]

Does the whole thing need to be stripped to bare metal and sandblasted? It looks like there may be some surface rust on the lower drawers in the photo, but if the rest of the paint is in reasonable condition you may be able to just sand it down a little and then repaint.

 

[ford guy]

Here is a better paint code finder www.autocolorlibrary.com

Bob

 

[larryq]

Very nice box for $75, and I second the decision to sandblast rather than use a wirewheel or paint stripper on something that size.

As for paint swatches, when I needed some touchup for my vehicle I went to paintscratch.com and entered the model number and year. They gave me a listing of on-screen swatches of the colors for my car. Don't know if that's what you're after but it worked for me, and they shipped reliably and accurately.

 

[littleviking]

That's a good price! Grab some better pics of the sides & front and post 'em.
Bob

Plan for tonight is stripping down the paint from the wifes yardsale find and getting a heck of alot better pictures of the whole thing.

Does the whole thing need to be stripped to bare metal and sandblasted?

Lots of surface rust. I'm not going to go through the hassle of sanding down the top coat to get good paint adhession only to find three years down the line its peeling and bubbling on me.

blast
prime
paint - sand -paint - sand - paint - sand - wax

As for paint swatches, when I needed some touchup for my vehicle I went to paintscratch.com and entered the model number and year.

That and autocolor library gave me a heck of alot of choices!

THank You!

 

[bobcatdan]

I think with that color scheme, that was a "pro" box before the ball bearing boxes came out. That possibly was one of sears best boxes when that was new. I would guess real late 80's or early 90's.

 

[littleviking]

Better Pictures

 

[nine4gmc]

you scored, nice setup with all those drawers!!

 

[Mastermind]

find your local old school body shop, i'm guessing you're looking for old muscle era colors, they would be most likely to have the old books buried somewhere, we have books full of color chips (1 inch squares) back to 72, for newer stuff we have the cabinets full of varients, wich are larger samples (2"x3") a little time with an old dusty book should get you the codes, the auto paint store can mix by the ounce, i prefer to do toolboxes (that get 'used') in single stage enamel rather than base clear. i would invest in an inexpensive mini gun for the drawers. any other questions, feel free to ask, have done many toolboxes over the years.

 

[littleviking]

I brushed some strip-kleen on the back part of the upper box and left it alone for about a half hour while i was doing a few other things.

When I came back and scraped it off it was completely stripped to bare metal with no scratches or swirl marks in the paint. It looked awesome.

I'm going to see if I can get a qoute for a soda blasting from a local guy and see if he would make it worth it versus the almost 70 bucks worth of stripping gel to get it cleaned.

 

[BoostAddiction]

Agree with the soda blast as opposed to sand blasting. Using sand will distort the very thin sheet metal in those boxes. Soda is the right choice for the problem you have unless you have a lot of free time and no cost for the materials for stripping paint.

Eastwood has a nice soda blaster (I have one) and it's a tool that can be used for lots of stuff around the garage.

 

[jeffmoss26]

Wow, I've never seen a Craftsman box in those colors. Should turn out very nice!

 

[2oolhound]

Waterloo made boxes with a pin stripe handle like that in the 90's. They made the Canadian Tire mastercraft boxes and maybe sears too.

Good score!

 

[littleviking]

Wow, I've never seen a Craftsman box in those colors. Should turn out very nice!

ok so before I start stripping this thing down and repainting it.

I would like to make sure I don't have a rare box.

I already know its not vintage but is it rare enough for me to simply fix the rust and repaint it the correct colors?


It has a tag inside it paper tag that says

Sears
Model Number
706.6572?0 ? might be an 8 or a B

 

[Outlawmws]

OK lets see if my computer dies on me again trying this post...

Any tool box Craftsman made in that era isn't going to be rare or very collectable IMO. Even the older boxes were made and sold by the zillion, with few exceptions. (I have two that might be considered rare, from 54 and 57 respectively, but the top ten drawer I have seen several examples of on GJ, but the 5 drawer roller appears to be an orphan... I say this because I only see them in those two years of catalogs, but there are gaps before, between and after those two catalogs so... :dunnoi: )

Where are you located? if in Canada, there might be color schemaa not seen in the US...

 

[littleviking]

OK lets see if my computer dies on me again trying this post...

Any tool box Craftsman made in that era isn't going to be rare or very collectable IMO. Even the older boxes were made and sold by the zillion, with few exceptions.

Where are you located? if in Canada, there might be color schemaa not seen in the US...

IM in North Carolina.

The box has NY stickers on it so it is possible it was purchased from canuckistan or a canuckistanian.

 

[littleviking]

Ok this weekend i got a start on the project.

I used this stuff

To strip the paint and grime off most of the box.

This is a picture with the elephant snot glooped on the top.

here is the bare metal(kind of) and rust.

Im glad i used the chemical strip and not the good old fashioned wire wheel. I got to see alot of the surface rust that is sitting on this box.

Next step is to strip the remainder of the box and begin the priming.

I still need to figure out how to get the craftsman marque off the front as it is held on by two metal retention "nuts" and plastic posts. It looks like if i try to remove it it will break.



Big question.

Does anynoe have prior experience with 3m rubberized coating for the interior of the draws? I figure this will stop rust and give me a nice coating and act as a non slip pad as well?

Thanks everyone.

 

[jeffmoss26]

Take a look at this thread:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=157681

 

[onewaydave]

What about spray on bed liner for pick ups?

Dave.

 

[littleviking]

What about spray on bed liner for pick ups?

Dave.

I was looking at that as well. I was thinking of the rubber coating for the anti skid and elasticity.

If i can get the duplicolor spray on truck bedliner cheap enough Ill go that route

 

[littleviking]

Take a look at this thread:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=157681

I have it was the inspiriation to get off my **** and start it up this weekend instead of waiting for the fall when the weather cooled off a bit.

But Ford's box has different badging than mine does.

Mine has the outlined Craftsman plastic badge with two plastic posts behind it held on with small metal tabs that have been "pressed" onto the posts to prevent removal.

I can cut it off and "weld" new posts onto it or maybe order new ones?

Not sure yet.

 

[ford guy]

How about cutting the posts off, and re-install the emblem with 3M Emblem double stick tape? That seems to be the easiest way to me, & the 3M tape will work great.

Bob

 

[littleviking]

How about cutting the posts off, and re-install the emblem with 3M Emblem double stick tape? That seems to be the easiest way to me, & the 3M tape will work great.

Bob

I was thinking somewhere along that line. Might be a last ditch effort.