Alright guys,
One big last post and then I'm going to disappear for a while (okay, maybe not, but I won't be working in the garage for a few weeks)...which might be a good thing, because I won't have a chance to mess it up!
I've been cleaning the garage like a mad man in anticipation of tomorrow. I've probably spent 15 hours in the last couple of weeks just on cleaning alone. I was able to reclaim a wall! Most of the clutter is gone! This is as good as it is going to get until I get some more storage solutions built (which are in the plans down the road, but won't happen for a little while).
In any case, I hope you enjoy the photo show, and my apologies in advance to people that have already seen these same type of pictures about 1000 times and are pretty tired of the lack of creativity
First up, I decided to polish up a little more of the fridge.
Here is how it was looking before:
Not bad, but not great. I clean up parts of it, but it had been sitting like this for a while. This only took an hour or two, but now it looks a little more fresh:
There is some corrosion at the bottom of the feet and I'm going to leave it for now. Eventually, I'd like to hit those feet with some Evaporust and then try and match the paint as closely as possible. On this bad boy, the wear and patina adds to its character, so I only want to be as invasive as I need to be for preservation's sake.
Some art deco goodness:
Another part of 'cleaning up' the garage was to do something with the Red Star cabinet. Here is a visual of the saw:
And the base:
I had it broken down into 4 separate parts for storage, but wanted to get it a little further apart. It is comprised of 4 side panels and 4 corners that attach everything together on the inside. Some of the bolts were pretty rusty, but they used these flat spring steel squares as 'nuts' so once they broke loose they were actually able to come off pretty easily. It might have been a little bit of a cost saving measure, but I thank the engineers (or is it the bean counters?) at Red Star for this
Also, the stand had these huge chunky adjustable steel feet that were put on, only they weren't so adjustable - they were welded on after whoever it was adjusted them:
So to get the saw back to a lower working level and retain some originality, off they came.
Once I got those off, I started inspecting the panels. This is the front panel:
I'm not sure how much work these panels are going to take to get restored. I will use electrolysis to pull all the rust off, then see how bad the pitting is. If it isn't horrible, I'll probably just move along with priming and paint eventually. If the pitting is really bad, then I might try and use some filler, at least on the front where it is the most visible. The worst rust is on the inside and near the bottom of the panels, so I might be able to just get away with using a sanding primer.
Also, once we are done with the de-rusting, we're going to need some bodywork:
Is doesn't look that bad, but the bend gets compounded the further up it goes on the door. We've got a specialist metalworker in our local OWWM group and so I'll probably either pick his brain (or his tools!) to attempt to flatten out the door. The tricky part is that it is attached to the panel. I may or may not be able to punch the rod that holds it together to remove the door. We'll see.
Now check out the logo:
What I love about this logo is that it is raised - so the painted parts are slightly 'recessed', which means a resto will be super easy. For the plates that are completely flat and painted - it basically means you destroy the plate/originality if you refinish. The 1940s Craftsman grinder I have has a flat tag and I can't really touch it, unless I generated a computer image and recreated either a decal or a stencil. I'm sure there are some professionals who restore those kinds of tags and plates. I'm sure they also charge top dollar and that it is worth every penny. Fortunately I won't have to use that route on this one.
On the front of the door, there is this little lock. At first, I didn't think much about it, but now after a close examination, I don't think it is OEM. Take a look at the cutout hole for the key and the location of the rivets:
The back is kind of messy too:
I think that top bracket might be original, but it is broken. I'll probably reach out to some other Red Star owners and maybe see if I can get some pictures of their cabinet doors.
Next up was the panel that has this switch on it:
Inside:
I tried to locate a date on the fuses or the box to try to get more of an indication as to when the saw was made (which is not necessarily an accurate method, but would provide a starting point), but no luck. I'd love to restore and use it with the saw once the saw is rebuilt, but I'll have to double check the electrical integrity and test for function - look a little closer at those fuses:
And with working out there for hours on end, this is the fruit of the labor (sorry that this seems to be all I ever take pictures of anymore):
My reclaimed wall!
I rearranged things just a bit - I never liked when the tool chest nor the fridge was on the side wall - I kept worrying about the car getting a little too close while parking and clipping it. So I moved the fridge to the back wall (right next to an outlet!) and the tool chest to an easily accessible location. Its nice to have it right near the door because many times I find myself going outside the house and into the garage just to get a tool to bring back into the house (the only access to the garage is from outside, there is no direct house-garage entrance) so it is nice being close to the door. I had some plans for that spot that the fridge is in, but these are the limitations working within a smaller space and compromises must be made. Its all good
Reclaimed wall:
I cleaned/scrubbed the floor and probably swept it about 11 times. You cannot see the hairline crack on this quadrant where the crack repair buckled the epoxy during the extreme cold week, but its down there. If the extra epoxy I have in the bins is still good, I'll have enough for a repair.
Wider shot:
'Tool alley' (I'm still playing around with the floor layout here):
Some goofy shots for the heck of it:
Well, that's all for now. The next project will be continuing to work on my overhead storage and the workbench header, both of which I've gotten recent inspiration to do.
Thanks everyone for following along and for your encouragement! I'm not sure when the next update will come, but if it is an update made soon, it will not be garage related
Catch you all as soon as I can!
-RL
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