Metal Cabinets vintage or homemade and no name toolboxes. got any to show please do

[drivesitfar]

ALL; some of us are as excited about buying a cool old metal cabinet as a new tool or toolbox to store our tools in so let's show them. i've seen some made into dressers and sinks too.

also there is a huge inventory of homemade or old toolboxes that you can show off so here's a thread where they will have some company.

i'll start with a few of mine.

the file cabinets that were file cabinets for those old microfilm files with designs of planes at Boeing for years now holds a lot of parts and bits and pieces.

these old Cole metal 33 drawer file cabinets i bought from a TV repairman that was retiring. they probably were originally made for some kind of paper files.

and this old tool box has been called a funeral or tractor toolbox and have seen a few others and we still don't know the origins.

I have several more, but would love to see what all you have acquired or even seen to post up your pictures and if you want to show what's in the drawers and how you use them all the better. also feel free to post some old tool boxes or metal cabinets that you might have made or revised.

thanks

 

[Mark in Indiana]

Drives,
All of my cabinets are the 1950s steel kitchen cabinets that came from my Dad's apartment building. They are far more robust than what you would get new, from Lyon or Tennsco. At the time that I got them, you could get paid for taking them, no longer true now. I refinished them before installing. I also have a some industrial parts cabinets

 

[dittle fart around]

We moved to California a couple of years ago to take care of my father in law. His garage storage was made up of bits and pieces of store display cobbled together. It worked fine for what he needed.
I started hitting flea markets and garage sales for better storage cabinets.

View media item 51174
The cabinet to the left has a safe on the door side and file storage on the other. The cabinet on the left has a pull down writing surface with the old call in numbers for credit card sales still on the surface. The worktop is a chunk of bowling alley. The office chair belonged to my father in law.

He passed in February and now were back in Washington State.

 

[MShaw]

I made this machinist's tool box and base about 40 years ago.

 

[drivesitfar]

ALL: nice cabinets guys. here's a few of my nuts and bolts bins that might have been government issue. i've also got a few made by Lyon and a few other manufacturers that are Army green that i'll post when i get some pictures.

I've also got my 500 pound Lyon (little) cabinet that i've stored up to 2000 pounds of weight plates on each shelf before and now vises. it's not easy to move, but i've moved it by myself to 4 different locations and my wife has instructions to bury me in it if she can't find a use for it.

And this blue cabinet on wheels that came from a dentist's office. it also will hold a lot of heavy stuff.

 

[spongerich]

This isn't technically a 'no name' but the name is obscured.
No other marks other than the decal on the drawer.

.
.
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What can I say, I'm a sucker for oak machinist's chests.

 

[PugetDude]

No other marks other than the decal on the drawer.

.

Looks like the fossilized remains of the original GarageJournal logo to me....you may have a valuable collectors item...

 

[Bob-B]

Spongerich, I think that's a Star chest based on what's left of the label.

Check out this link:

https://sites.google.com/site/theguideforwoodmachinistchests/

 

[spongerich]

Spongerich, I think that's a Star chest based on what's left of the label.

Check out this link:

https://sites.google.com/site/theguideforwoodmachinistchests/

Ooooooh- Bookmarked that one.

Thanks!

 

[crewchief888]

I made this machinist's tool box and base about 40 years ago.

thats nice

 

[nine4gmc]

That is nice MShaw, I have some oldies I will post in a bit.

 

[rayh]

Drives, in post 5 you show some parts cabinets in the 1st picture. I was given 2 of those but someone bent the pull tabs on nearly all the drawers. Probably why they were given to me. Would you have a slick way of reshaping them? Back in May we had a fire and while the house is being rebuilt I've been tinkering in the shop (actually redoing it) to keep my sanity. Thanks

 

[drivesitfar]

All: here's a nuts and bolts bin made by Lyon and possibly for the Army. it's stout and in pretty good shape considering it's about 50+ years old i'm guessing.

SC: i like that single row of metal drawers that you made into your grinder's stand. good luck finding more and thanks for the kudos about some of mine.

Rich: are all those boxes full of tools? care to share how you filled them out so you can find something. very cool wall of machinist boxes that is for certain.

RayH: i'm guessing getting a small piece of pipe and maybe a plumbing torch to heat them up a bit so you can bend them back without breaking them. they are not as stout as some i have and i have broken off a couple in the past trying to bend them so BEE CAREFUL. sorry to hear about your fire and hope you are ok. care to share how it happened? i've seen a rag with stain left on a wood bench that charred it before my neighbor found it and removed it or it would have burnt down his garage. good luck

 

[Mark in Indiana]

Drives,
I'm really glad for this thread! There are so many cabinets that can be picked up and repurposed for nothing. If I had known that in the early 80s, I'd never bought my first Kennedy set, and would have saved thousands over the years.

 

[rayh]

Thanks Drives, yes they do look like they could break easily. I may see if I can come up with a way to replace them. Drives it was a window air conditioner, sure has made me get my act together. You never think of starting over at 73 but the good thing is the next 73 will be better. Thanks again for the help.

 

[drivesitfar]

Ray: i wish you all the luck in the world and my (our) prayers are with you. good luck with the starting over and post up some pictures of your cabinets and how you fixed them (before and after pics would be awesome even if in 2 or more posts).

cheers

Mark: yes i agree those old metal kitchen cabinets were tossed and sometimes i could have even had the builders that tore them out to remodel would deliver them to my storage for free because they didn't want to trash them. happy to see you were able to save a few for your shop and show more if and when you get any or just watch this thread grow and comment with your skills as you have time.

 

[2oolhound]

I have posted pics of these elsewhere on this forum but since this is a consolidated specific thread here they are again. This 1st one is all aluminum. I really like the simple roller system and the way it was designed to lift each drawer out and take to the bench for convenience.





This little gem was originally a 35mm slide storage cabinet. The bottom drawer is for 2 1/4" slides. It is comprised of 3 different sections stacked on one another.

 

[nine4gmc]

NICE!! Love this thread, you guys keep posting! I'm going to get some pics and post some of mine, bbs.

 

[DWise]

Here is a picture of my old Steelcase with all brass hardware. It holds all my Park bicycle tools.

 

[drivesitfar]

DWise: cool old cabinet and i like the color. care to take a few pictures with the drawers open for us to see how you organize it?

2ool: awesome cabinet and thanks for sharing. do the drawers come in and out easily? thanks for showing the insides. any more?

ALL: i've had a few of these and sold quite a few as I get older ones i like the look of more. these do work great because you can take the full drawer out and take it to where you are working. i have one left with electrical stuff in it that makes it a snap when i have one of those type of projects to do. sorry i didn't have a picture handy of the electrical stuff in a drawer so i'll post this one and get more pictures.

I'm sure a lot of you have tools in metal cabinets so get your cameras out and take a few pictures to post because we all like old metal tool or stuff.

 

[dngrmse]

I posted this here before, this is a file cabinet that was in use at a body shop for all different kinds of consumables. There was no name on it, the badge is one I pulled off of another cabinet. The thing I liked about it the most was the drawer configuration, I have never seen anything like it. Probably dates back to the 20s or 30s. I stripped the brown paint off, and repainted it Rustoleum dark steel. The front of the drawers were stripped down to bare metal, and the finish was achieved with the help of a scotch brite pad, and then clear coated.

Before:

And after:

 

[Tellingthem]

Picked up this little rolling file cabinet a few months back for $4. Plan on making a little tool cart out of it. I was going to take a picture with the lid open but forgot the key (currently in storage). So when I got home I grabbed the key and thats when I realized the leather key holder was imprinted with the company it was from. It's from an old Pontiac Dealer. And I have a thing for Pontiacs (obviously haha) so it's even cooler to me now!

 

[nine4gmc]

dngrmse, that makes me not even want to post my lil **** now... Thanks! What is it used for now? I think that would be in my bedroom for my wallet and keys and watches and stuff. Wow.

Here is my stack between the lathe and milling machine. I bought the green box from a member and had it shipped here then restored it to how you see it here before I had the other pieces, now I wish I had left it...May have to restore them all now... dang ocd...The drawers are lined in cowhide leather in it.

 

[dngrmse]

dngrmse, that makes me not even want to post my lil **** now... Thanks! What is it used for now? I think that would be in my bedroom for my wallet and keys and watches and stuff. Wow.

Here is my stack between the lathe and milling machine. I bought the green box from a member and had it shipped here then restored it to how you see it here before I had the other pieces, now I wish I had left it...May have to restore them all now... dang ocd...The drawers are lined in cowhide leather in it.

Nines, those look good, they line up nicely. Believe it or not, my 5 yr old was the first to commandeer some of the narrow drawers for his Legos. I have files in the bottom drawer, fishing lures, and some tools of course throughout the rest.

 

[drivesitfar]

Dngr: do you remember how many hours you spent restoring your cabinet? Amazing job and i do like it.

Telling: great little cabinet and love that you found key with something to make it better.

Nines: very nice stack. Are they filling up?

 

[nine4gmc]

Drives, the top are drill bits, I have a few in there but no where near filling yet. Measuring tools in the green one and clamping fixtures, drill press and milling vices in the bottom two cabinets, those are FILLED.

Here is an old pic of one side of my divider wall, it's all fence boards up top and rusty roof tin on the bottom half. The green wall cabinet was an auction cabinet from the state, it was a UV sterilizer in a previous life. I removed the guts and screwed a couple melamine planks in for a shelves. That's an old Craftsman work bench below it but it has a restaurant table top on it. It was too deep so I ripped it and used the cut for a back splash to keep things from rolling off. The left of that is a 63(IIRC) Chevy dash with a shop light mounted behind it shining on my shipping table below. The outside two cabinets are lab cabinets from an auction that I decided to use for my shipping supplies. There is a formica lab table top on it that I repurposed along with ripping depth for a back stop again.

Here is the end now, I have staples, screws, upholstery clips and fasteners in the small drawers and gray cabinet, the back two door cabinet is my paint supplies cabinet, tools in the boxes of course.

The next two are the opposite wall. Those wall cabinets are old LYON locker cabinets, there slant top and perforated sides/back matching pegboard holes so I can hang peg board hooks in it. The wall between is pegboard that I "wallpapered" with an old engineering book from the 1920s. The base cabinets are the rest of the lab cabinets from the auction that I painted to match the top section and built a riser/toe kick. I was contemplating leaving that one out cabinet out in the first pic to use as a desk with a chair in there but went ahead and put another cabinet in there for more storage shown in the second pic. The top was a 4x6' lab table I ripped down the center and made this 12' long wall.

This is a cubicle filing cabinet and a map/flat file cabinet I welded a frame for and made a table for my lathe.

Here is one of my favorites, it's a Globe Wernicke book case I got from auction and restored.

I stripped it down and went back with rosemary hammertone paint and padded sage suede on top.

Glass installed and books in.

 

[Killinger]

This is quickly becoming my favorite thread!

 

[DWise]

DWise: cool old cabinet and i like the color. care to take a few pictures with the drawers open for us to see how you organize it?

Sorry drivesitfar, but I just left for Florida for the winter, so no drawer pictures until next May.

 

[rt dak]

Man this thread has got me thinking. What would you guys pay for this? 38" wide, 27" deep, 50" tall.

 

[dngrmse]

Man this thread has got me thinking. What would you guys pay for this? 38" wide, 27" deep, 50" tall.

That's nice. I would be willing to pay $200 or less for that. But around me, the ask price for something like that would probably range from $300-$500 if the seller used words like "Steampunk", "Industrial", or the latest and my least favorite one- "Primitive" to describe it.

Keep in mind you will have to buy 36 tiny knobs to fill in those holes. They sell them on ebay and Amazon, which can add up pretty quick.

 

[rt dak]

That's nice. I would be willing to pay $200 or less for that. But around me, the ask price for something like that would probably range from $300-$500 if the seller used words like "Steampunk", "Industrial", or the latest and my least favorite one- "Primitive" to describe it.

Yeah tell me about it. They're asking $500.

 

[drivesitfar]

RT: that's one i haven't seen before so probably worth closer to that than $200 if not rusted. i know i wouldn't be selling it if I owned it because I like the color and how stout it is. if i was single it would be my sock and under ware dresser if i didn't need it for tools. thanks for posting a picture

Nines: thanks for all the pictures and i'm sure you probably have a few more or will have soon. remember we can also post the small metal tool boxes that were either homemade or no brand name on them. your shop looks great BTW.

 

[drivesitfar]

Killinger: thanks for stopping in and your kind words. take a few pictures of your own or a friends or even if you see online and think it's worth posting. i think there are a ton of options we like and some we've never thought of or seen before as members post here.

ALL: since there are not as many wood cabinets or maybe there is i'll start a similar thread for the wood ones and sadly i don't have any of my own to post so we'll need some of yours to fill it up. i do have my eye on a few that clients and friends have promised to me and looking forward to the day when i can own them with my metal ones.

cheers

 

[drivesitfar]

ALL: i can't find a name on this old tool box, but old owner said Snap On. since his price was only $25 and an hour's drive it didn't matter that can't find a name on it. it needs some work no doubt, but if any of you that know which box this is please let me know and how to remove the drawers to paint them?

thanks

 

[drivesitfar]

ALL: I found this a while ago that one of the workers at a big steel fabrication company made for his tools or maybe his lunch too. it's pretty stout and not sure exactly why i like it but i do.

anybody else seen one like this?

 

[taumac]

ALL: i can't find a name on this old tool box, but old owner said Snap On. since his price was only $25 and an hour's drive it didn't matter that can't find a name on it. it needs some work no doubt, but if any of you that know which box this is please let me know and how to remove the drawers to paint them?



thanks

Drive I highly doubt that's a Snap On. Side handles don't fit but it's in that one era I don't know well at all. I'm thinking allying lines of makers Remline. . I bet you put that on Vintage toolbox and someone can tell you better than I can

 

[drivesitfar]

Gerard: i might do that or maybe the guys will see it here so i don't have to post it twice until i restore it. i still haven't even taken your old MBC out of the cardboard to look at it, but it's on the list. thanks for posting and do have any non Craftsman boxes or organizers to show here please do.

ALL: i also like old metal parts bins that are open from the front and this one came with a nice stand. i thought i had a couple pictures saved of my brown parts or nuts and bolts open bin so i'll take a few and show you one that i sold that is similar for now.

 

[Killinger]

My collection so far.

 

[nine4gmc]

Killinger, what about the ones to the left of that file cabinet?

 

[drivesitfar]

Killinger: i like your metal bins and drawers on top of your bench. i have a very similar situation and my bench is almost as or maybe messier. i agree with Nines that it looks like you have some shelving to the side with more nuts and bolts or parts bins. care to show it and maybe the insides of a few drawers?

thanks