Snap On 1920s salesman’s cabinet pics

[ooba tooba]

I’ve only seen a few of these over the years and I always thought they were really cool. I love history, antiques, and tools so perfect! This example I picked up an hour north of me in SE Michigan the other day. I knew it was pretty rough, but the lettering/decals still looked pretty good, albeit filthy, and rusty. I’m not sure exactly what I’ll do with it yet, besides fill it with era correct tools. I’m up in the air about adding metal and making drawers for it. It’s definitely not a showroom piece. I thought if I didn’t want to go to that trouble, then it’d be pretty easy to cut off the bottom part and just have it as a hanging cab with no drawers. But I’m not sure yet. I have an awesome neighbor who at 85 makes unobtainable gun parts for collectors of old firearms across the world. He would love to get his hands on this to straighten every crinkled corner and whatever else to make it as good as it could be I’m sure (he’s done it to another old cab I had from the 30s) but right now I’ve just enjoyed slowly cleaning it up. Just using mild soap and water to wipe off the grime and then Gibbs oil and very fine steel wool to carefully clean the lettering and remove rust. Any others out there that have one please feel free to share your pics. I’d enjoy seeing the original top, and inside the drawers. A few shots

 

[ooba tooba]

Here

 

[woody 73]

 

[thehorse13]

There is no way I would leave this behind. Outstanding find and I don't care what you paid for it, you ****.

 

[ooba tooba]

Heh...it wasn’t free, but not what I would consider expensive either. It was priced lower than those Edison Bulb cabs I see on eBay time to time. Here’s another pic of right side with a lot of the grime removed and left side untouched yet

 

[thehorse13]

I love it, and yes, I'm jealous!

 

[snapmom]

Hardware store boxes.

 

[3baygarage]

Congrats on your find. I’d love to stumble across one.

 

[Lassen Forge]

Yepperino, you ****! One of my someday projects is to find a 1923-25 Model T roadster and build a SO Dealer's box for it... I have 2 pix of them, and man, do I want one....

Those are awesome, and like was said, there's no way in hades I would have let that slip by... Congrats!

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Cleaned up nice!

 

[ooba tooba]

I’d love to see the pics!

 

[ooba tooba]

Thanks, yeah I’m really happy.

 

[ooba tooba]

Awesome snapmom! And thanks for the correction. Do your drawers have dividers in them? I also find it interesting in the differences I see between ours. The color obviously, and the hinges. Did yours still have the little tool pic, number, and price inserts inside the box? ���� thank you

 

[snapmom]

the top inside of the box has been gutted. yours is little older than mine, green vs. black. I do not think you could ever fill one up

 

[David Jackson]

What neat old boxes! Have either of you guys tried tracing to first owner?

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Retail units. Point of sale for distribution in hardware stores, etc...

 

[Lookin4'67Galaxieconv]

Heh...it wasn’t free, but not what I would consider expensive either. It was priced lower than those Edison Bulb cabs I see on eBay time to time. Here’s another pic of right side with a lot of the grime removed and left side untouched yet

You've done a great job on that. Once you're done I'd ask the neighbor to do what he does. Don't wait too long or you'll be kicking yourself.

 

[ooba tooba]

Another Hardware store display from the same time. This from Walden Worcester

 

[ooba tooba]

What neat old boxes! Have either of you guys tried tracing to first owner?

Retail units. Point of sale for distribution in hardware stores, etc...

You've done a great job on that. Once you're done I'd ask the neighbor to do what he does. Don't wait too long or you'll be kicking yourself.

Well thanks! It’s not going to be a full resto I don’t think. It has holes and bends and crinkles and stains that won’t ever be put back to new like condition. I’ve spent about a dozen hours now with soap, water, Gibbs oil, rags and steel wool cleaning it inside and out. It looks 10 times better already. I found some brass pulls similar to snapmom’s drawer handles. I may just cut off most of the bad metal at the bottom leaving me the slots for 2 instead of the 3 drawers, and make them out of wood. I have this awesome piece of Wenge I’ve been itching to cut for something.

 

[ooba tooba]

In the end I will hang it. I have many of the tools that belong in it. Have a few other things that will look at home in there to like a ‘25 Willy’s gas measurement stick among other things. I’ll post more as more happens.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Looking forward to more pics!

 

[Rileysan]

Hardware store boxes.

I could spend days looking at/through your collection without speaking a word. spectacular!

Brian

 

[ooba tooba]

Ok, after a bit of other things occupying my time I was able to spend half a day with the Hardware store cab. First off, I decided to keep the slots for 2 drawers and make them, so cut off the rusty spots all the way around.

 

[ooba tooba]

Next up I pulled out the table saw and dug into the hunk of Wenge wood. Holy smokes is that some dense wood! When I hand sawed off a chunk it sounded like a piece of granite, or steel hitting the ground (also when I plugged in my adjustable speed angle grinder to sand a few rough spots, my grinder looked like it was coated in metal dust!) I wanted to book match the drawer faces (have the grains line up and going the same way) so I was careful how I measured and cut. I want to keep a big chunk of that left for another project, so I found some scrap for the back and side drawer pieces. Lowered my table saw blade to make the slots for the drawer bottoms to slide into before I attached the faces and locked them in. Could have sworn I had some thin material for the bottoms around here...found some! That old sign was bent and tucked in the corner of my garage for a dozen years...

 

[ooba tooba]

So I cut the sign and inserted the new bottoms (sprayed a coat of grey enamel) and attached the faces. Figured out a good spot for the pulls, and there she is! I feel pretty good about making a couple of drawers for it to keep it close to what it was instead of taking the easy way out and just cutting off the whole bottom and having just a 2 door cab. It’s not perfect, but it will look neat when I mount it on the wall and fill it with tools and things. Will come back and post those pics too!

 

[Lookin4'67Galaxieconv]

Nice save!

 

[Roberts210]

Wow. Looks great!

 

[ooba tooba]

^Thank you!^

 

[3baygarage]

Great job. Fully functional again.

 

[snapmom]

Nice piece of history

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Nice work!

 

[Shelbylex]

Great save!!!
Please post pictures once you start filling it

 

[ooba tooba]

I wonder how many of these were made back in ‘25... 50? 300? Since I’ve become aware of their existence about 6 or 7 years ago, I’ve seen a grand total of 5 of them (including Garage Journal members Snapmom’s and Chad S‘ cabinets) and one I saw on eBay was so faded you couldn’t make out the words of the decal. So I wonder how many survive. I hung it yesterday. The experts here may spot the Walden inside, or the Snap On that came out past ‘26, and I think the “please don’t ask..” placard is from the 50s or 60s. If someone else happens upon this thread has one then post pics!

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Looks great! Love the placard and the model car.
.

 

[ooba tooba]

Thanks Oldtuleguy!

 

[Oldtuleguy]

That cabinet is lucky you found it! It has not looked like that in 90 years.

 

[ganymede]

Every great while I see a tool pic so awesome I want to save it to my hard drive just to drool over on a rainy day .
Thanks Ooba & Snap Mom.

 

[ooba tooba]

Hey I’m just happy to prevent it from rusting to dust. I feel good knowing I had a small part in preserving something pretty neat to display, and hopefully for someone after me to enjoy! Cheers all!

 

[Shelbylex]

Looks Fantastic! Reborn again with new tools (for the box)
Bravo!

 

[thehorse13]

I need this cabinet in my garage. You should consider sending it to me for safe keeping!

This really is a fantastic item. Well done.