Alemite Gas Station Work Bench Restoration

[thehorse13]

Today I went to the home of a gentlemen in his mid to late 70s. He posted an Alemite gas station work bench for sale on Craigslist with an asking price of 125 dollars. After telling him that I do not want his ($20) bench vise, I asked how much he wanted just for the table. He told me 50 bucks. Sold.

When I arrived at the sellers house, I asked about the rest of the cabinet and then he gave me the story.

In 1960, his brother in law purchased a gas station in Gettysburg, PA. When they moved into the garage, the Alemite workbench and cabinet surround were left behind by the previous owner. It was used for 40+ years and when the business closed in the 2000s, the workbench went to the seller's house and the cabinet surround went to his brother in laws house.

After talking to the seller for a while, he agreed to sell me the cabinet surround when he is ready to move to Florida. It currently has a bunch of stuff in it and as soon as they get over there to gather up their things, he is going to contact me to come and get it. How much you ask? 200 bucks.

Here are the photos of the workbench. The seller tells me that the cabinet surround is in similar condition but it has not been given a bad spray paint finish.

When I got the work bench home I was able to find sections of original paint. This bench was white with blue accent paint. I will be restoring it and painting it the original colors.

Stay tuned. This will be a long process.

 

[gtodoc]

Nice find. Can't wait to see the finished product


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[RStewart]

Look ashamed. Haha. Nice score.

 

[FJ 432]

Big time suckage. I very jealous. Nice find.

 

[ADSR]

wow! That's going to be fun!

 

[Richard Cranium]

good luck, I am sure it will look great when you are done. keep posting pictures as you do it.

 

[twertsy]

I knew about this SUCKAGE score well before Sonny posted this. It was all I could do to keep from sniping his find!! Can't wait to see her in her former glory!

 

[bluebolt]

That vise looks like a Wilton utility vise, I would have picked it up for $20!

And the workbench is cool, can"t wait for the restoration!

 

[thehorse13]

Here is where the story begins. I flipped the bench upside down for a number of reasons. The first being to find any trace of original paint. I also wanted to see how bad the non visible areas were, and finally, I happen to know that it's much easier to disassemble this way.

To the average observer, this bottom may look really bad but to me, it was a sigh of relief. No gaping holes or welding repairs will be needed. Just straight up bodywork (mostly). Woohoo! There is only just a layer of surface rust to contend with which really makes me smile.

Just to see what was hiding under years of bad spray paint, I decided to strip the handles and emblem. Look what I found hiding underneath. The original red paint on the emblem. She will shine up like new for sure.

 

[Username already in use]

Great score! $50 is a steal. I'm subscribing to see the (re)finished product.

 

[thehorse13]

That vise looks like a Wilton utility vise, I would have picked it up for $20!

And the workbench is cool, can"t wait for the restoration!

It is a Wilton but he wanted $75 for it. You can buy them new for 82 bucks on Amazon. To me, it's a 20 dollar vise.

Besides, this is what will live on that bench when I'm done.

 

[WarrenJ]

This project will keep you busy,

 

[thehorse13]

This project will keep you busy,

For a little while anyway. lol

 

[Zeeman]

I really like your find Horse. Are you going to paint it back the original color?

 

[bluebolt]

It is a Wilton but he wanted $75 for it. You can buy them new for 82 bucks on Amazon. To me, it's a 20 dollar vise.

Besides, this is what will live on that bench when I'm done.

Gotcha, the new ones are Chinese though, that one looks like USA made. I just sold a USA one for $100.

 

[thehorse13]

I really like your find Horse. Are you going to paint it back the original color?

I sure am!

 

[LXCam]

Just hopping in line for the process and final result. I'm hoping one of these days the garage gods will grace me with a smoking deal like this too

 

[jimreed2160]

Nice and tank like solid. Can't wait to see you spiff it up and put it back to work.

 

[don long]

Great find. I hope you get the rest of it. Have you seen it? I restored one a few years ago. It was very rewarding

 

[thehorse13]

Great find. I hope you get the rest of it. Have you seen it? I restored one a few years ago. It was very rewarding

I have not seen the remaining parts but the seller told me that it is in similar shape. For the price, I'm going to keep my mouth shut and be thankful that I actually found one to restore.

Since you've already done one of these, I suspect that once you got it broken down into parts, you:
1) Got the metal straight.
2) Primed.
3) Course sanded.
4) Primed again.
5) Fine sanded.
6) Painted and assembled.

This is my outline for restoration.

 

[don long]

I have not seen the remaining parts but the seller told me that it is in similar shape. For the price, I'm going to keep my mouth shut and be thankful that I actually found one to restore.

Since you've already done one of these, I suspect that once you got it broken down into parts, you:
1) Got the metal straight.
2) Primed.
3) Course sanded.
4) Primed again.
5) Fine sanded.
6) Painted and assembled.

This is my outline for restoration.

Yes, that's the outline I used.
Here is a link to my alemite build thread if you are interested.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=172858

It took me about 3 months to finish

 

[thehorse13]

I had a few minutes today and while I was standing at my workbench looking at the parts I've pulled off the table, I decided to paint the emblem. It turned out pretty nice and only took me about 1/2 hour from start to finish. If only everything was this easy.

I haven't polished up the chrome yet. Don't worry. That will happen when I'm near the end of the project.

 

[thehorse13]

I try to do a little bit on the cabinet each day. Today I removed one of the doors and did a little bit of metal straightening.

One of the best body guys I have ever known showed me a trick. Take two adjustable wrenches and place them jaws opposite. You've now created an awesome metal bending tool that produces outstanding results.

You'll see the right corner, which is bent up pretty well. The left was worse. After about 5 minutes of the adjustable wrench technique, I'm now ready for some dolly and hammer work to hammer out the fine detail shape.

Another thing you'll learn to do is label bags of parts. This is especially helpful with car restorations or other large projects with a lot of disassembly.

A quick application of some paint stripper on the inner door and presto, the Alemite serial number tag appeared. I will fine detail clean it later on before it goes back on for good.

 

[NYBODYMAN]

Nice old trick with the wrenches. I did that for years. Works well. Good luck with the resto. Can't wait to see the rest of the process.

 

[Rileysan]

I really like your find Horse. Are you going to paint it back the original color?

If you can keep him off GJ for more than a few minutes at a time!

 

[thehorse13]

I have 15 pounds of coarse crushed walnut shell blasting media laying around the shop and I figured that I would see how it does on the Alemite. Let's just say that it failed so I have to drag out a bag or two of black diamond medium.

I did throw a little bit of paint stripper on this door. I've gotten through 4 layers of paint and pretty soon I will hit bare metal.

It's miserably hot out today so I've thrown in the towel. Whenever it's not 100 degrees outside, I will resume this project.

 

[thehorse13]

Now that I have my air pressure and blasting material issue under control, off we go on stripping metal...

 

[Zeeman]

That's a lot of paint. I'm looking forward to seeing the progress.

 

[yhprum]

Watch out you don't warp the metal. Lots of car bodys have been ruined this way.

I once saw all the tin on a VW engine stripped nicely by dropping in a 55 gallon drum of water with drain cleaner or lye added. Had it up on blocks with a wood fire underneath to get the water hot. Cold works too, just takes longer. The paint will come right off.

 

[Rileysan]

Watch out you don't warp the metal. Lots of car bodys have been ruined this way.

I once saw all the tin on a VW engine stripped nicely by dropping in a 55 gallon drum of water with drain cleaner or lye added. Had it up on blocks with a wood fire underneath to get the water hot. Cold works too, just takes longer. The paint will come right off.

Crushed walnut shell is used on sheet metal in place of the more common abrasives because it doesn't generate much heat and therefore won't warp the metal. Not cheap, but worth it on a project like this!

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[thehorse13]

Crushed walnut shell is used on sheet metal in place of the more common abrasives because it doesn't generate much heat and therefore won't warp the metal. Not cheap, but worth it on a project like this!

Sent from my LGL41C using Tapatalk

Yep, exactly correct.

I'm shooting it with crushed walnut at a higher psi. No metal warping will take place.

29 dollars a bag though.

 

[bill300d]

Don't waste any!!!

 

[alemite]

So glad this bench went to someone that will bring it back to its previous glory!

I believe that your workbench is from 1950 or 1951 based off of the serial number and style.
The 1948-49 benches had a slightly different font spacing of the word "ALEMITE" on the id plates:

Your work station complete, most likely looked like this; all of kickplates were originally black.

When you acquire the rest of the merchandiser cabinet, sometimes there is a stamp or hand written (in pencil) date on the interior light assembly from when the electronics were tested.

Great Find!

 

[thehorse13]

Here is where I am with the first cabinet door. It's dent, ding and metal fixing day. I hope to have this door in the spray booth by this evening for a coat of primer.

 

[thehorse13]

So glad this bench went to someone that will bring it back to its previous glory!

Thanks! I have been lusting after one of these things forever. I feel like I hit the lottery.

I believe that your workbench is from 1950 or 1951 based off of the serial number and style.
The 1948-49 benches had a slightly different font spacing of the word "ALEMITE" on the id plates:

Awesome info. I was going to try to do this research once I was finished. Thank you for getting me the info that I need.

Your work station complete, most likely looked like this; although the majority of kickplates were black.

Funny you mention. What I thought was blue paint was actually just one of the several layers of bad paint jobs this thing went through over the decades. I did find several sections of the kick plate that have original black paint. I still may go with a blue though.

When you acquire the rest of the merchandiser cabinet, sometimes there is a hand written (in pencil) date on the interior light assembly from when the electronics were tested.

More great info. I will look that over when I get the rest of this beast home!

 

[thehorse13]

Annnnd, we have one door finished.

 

[thehorse13]

I'm slowly stripping, sanding and dent popping the two cabinet doors. It's a slow go for sure. There are layers of horrible old paint on this thing. I've got one door all ready to go and I'm currently stripping the second door.

While I'm thinking about it and of course while I have plenty of time before final assembly, I'm looking for a door latch that's missing. I have attached a picture of one that was still on the cabinet. Does anyone have one of these or know where I can buy one?

Thanks.

 

[jakemac]

Look for old steel storage cabinets on the side of the road. Many of them had similar spring loaded clips spot welded on the doors to keep them closed.

You might also find them on 50's style steel kitchen cabinets.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

 

[thehorse13]

Look for old steel storage cabinets on the side of the road. Many of them had similar spring loaded clips spot welded on the doors to keep them closed.

You might also find them on 50's style steel kitchen cabinets.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Yep, that's precisely what I have been doing during my flea market runs. Surprisingly, this sort of stuff has become hard to come by with any degree of regularity.

I figured I would ask here too. You never know where a good lead may come from.

 

[uncwstudent]

Nice score! That thing is going to be gorgeous when you're done with it