The Garage Files

[HoosierBuddy]

I just replaced my old press wood/you assemble it yourself, 2-draw garage file cabinet from the 1990's with this gem.

2 drawer all steel construction. Picked it up at my local recycling center store for $5. It was marked $10, but I talked her down.

Then it took 4 1/2 cans of color and 1/2 can of clear to get it to this point (which is about $50 worth of spray paint).

Anyway...maybe I'm the only one that tries to hang onto all the manuals that come with lawnmowers, weed eaters, air compressors, chain saws, garage door openers, etc...plus I have copies of factory service manuals for my old mustangs. This gives me somewhere to keep all that in one place so can find it when needed.

At $5 it was a real bargain. At $55 maybe not....but the factory beige on it just didn't POP the way I wanted it to.

Phil

 

[rsparks64]

The red looks great. What kind of recycling center sells file cabinets?

 

[HoosierBuddy]

The red looks great. What kind of recycling center sells file cabinets?

It's a recycling co-op. Sort of like Goodwill or a Habitat for Humanity "Restore".

 

[James-W]

Sometimes a Goodwill store or a St. Vincent store will have file cabinets for sale pretty cheap. A buddy of mine picked up a 5 drawer metal file cabinet for $15 at Goodwill. It had a small dent in the one side, but not a big deal, everything worked just fine.

 

[JamesW84]

$10 for a can of spray paint seems high. https://www.lowes.com/search?searchTerm=spray+paint&sortMethod=sortBy_priceLowToHigh

$1-4 at lowes

 

[kaymccampbell]

Wow, that's all the manuals you have? I envy you. I've got a 4 drawer vertical file with nothing but manuals, etc for current active equipment in it.

 

[OneOfEm]

I'm up to six of the index card file cabinets (7 to 11 drawer), plus three 4-drawer and three legal file cabinets. I may paint them all someday, or maybe not.

For the most part, they aren't for manuals.

 

[bdbecker]

That turned out nice!

I still need to paint mine. I found it on the side of the road (trash day the next day) while driving home from a Jim Gaffigan show. May have embarrassed Wife a little bit by stopping and loading it up, but the price was right! Heavy duty and fully functional. It was beige originally, but someone took a very long time carefully brush painting it blue.

View media item 62256

 

[rsparks64]

It's a recycling co-op. Sort of like Goodwill or a Habitat for Humanity "Restore".

 

[HoosierBuddy]

$10 for a can of spray paint seems high. https://www.lowes.com/search?searchTerm=spray+paint&sortMethod=sortBy_priceLowToHigh

$1-4 at lowes

Yes...I had 2 partial cans of duplicolor Victory Red that I started with, because I mistakenly thought that would be close to enough. When it wasn't, I had to the paint that matches and it was $10.50/can. Poor planning on my part. Good news is...it matches one of my '65 mustang now (sort of).

Phil

 

[Boilerhouse]

You are not the only one with the old time file cabinet. Mine is a 4 drawer and also sits in the shop. I keep as much documentation as possible. All tools are filed alphabetically by manufacturer. Larger equipment or anything with an engine has its own file. Household stuff is separate from tools but also filed alphabetically. My cabinet is the ugly office beige. I hadn't really thought of painting it, but that is a great idea.
The last few years I have also started digital files as well, with photos of equipment, nameplates with serial numbers, projects, etc. You can't have too much information.

 

[James-W]

We have a metal file cabinet in the basement that I keep manuals in as well as all sorts of other paperwork. Anything that is REALLY important, goes into the lock box we have at the local bank. I should really clean out the file cabinet because I have paperwork in there that pertains to equipment we no longer have. For example, last time I was in the file cabinet I ran across a TV manual for a rear projection TV that has been gone for many years now. No real need to keep manuals and other stuff for equipment we no longer have.

 

[vavet]

I did something similar, but I used rustoleum brush on paint.
The drawer fronts are the gray hammer tone.