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Anyone heard of Cole Steel Cabinets?

Dredwolf

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Joined
Aug 16, 2011
Messages
22
Location
South Carolina
Managed to pick up 6 waist-high cabinets from roughly the '50's with this name plate from a seasonal consignment store, for about $20 each.

Has anyone heard of the name? They are much stouter than any new stuff, and I have not figured how I will use them in my garage yet. The tall cabinets got claimed during my 10 minute drive to the place after a friend shot me a cell phone picture. He was also inspired by Jack Olsen's garage, and managed to stuff 3 of the short cabinets in his suburban, all while waiting for me to arrive.

Two have combination lock doors, I will see what I can do with that. One has pretty good surface rust, but I am using some of the Permatex rust stop on it after attacking it with a wirebrush. I am of course a believer in machine gray for everything, but the wife is making a good case for a hammertone gray, like the Gladiator stuff I was looking at.

I'll try to post some pics later.

Dredwolf
 
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Dredwolf

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Joined
Aug 16, 2011
Messages
22
Location
South Carolina
Well, one of the locked doors got opened tonight....you are right on the 1950's. I managed to find out that these came from an old warehouse in SC, but no one knows exactly where.

After getting over the shock of actually finding something in the cabinets, and studying the contents and dates, it looks like this cabinet got closed in 1951, and was not opened since. There is a spread of items starting from 1942 to 1951, even some pennies and dimes from the range of years.
 

c39er

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Mar 23, 2008
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Seattle, Washington
I used to do electrostatic office furniture painting back in the 70's and used to paint all kinds of those name brand cabinets/ desks and credenza's.
 
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c39er

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Mar 23, 2008
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Jeez....
Here are some 4 drawer pics! Plus the insignia badge .
 

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Buckgnarly

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Oct 8, 2010
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Location
VT
VT has a state surplus warehouse, I always see a ton of Cole stuff there. REALLY well built stuff, always tempted to find a reason to buy some:thumbup:
 

tcsalvage

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May 5, 2011
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378
Location
brogue, pa
cole had a plant in york, pa for years that built desks, chairs and cabinets. they went belly-up in the 80's.
 

gnoahhh

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Nov 17, 2011
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I was a department supervisor at Cole Steel in York, PA in the late 80's. We made good quality office furniture in an antiquated facility. Failure to modernize production led to poor profitability. Anything with the Cole Steel nameplate on it is worth having.
 

tcsalvage

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May 5, 2011
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378
Location
brogue, pa
i have two of their office desks, built that heavy i would think they would be indestructable. also have a 4 section coat locker and a couple of filing cabnets.
 

mommysmom

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Jan 15, 2012
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1
Location
Camp Hill
I also was a super at Cole Steel York,Pa 70=80's. The color grey used by Cole was Steel Grey, the green was Mist Green. The file cabinets were made at the Loches Mill Rd plant, desk, tables and chairs were made at the North plant on Rte 30. Very good product.:
 

rbeldin

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Oct 1, 2013
Messages
1
Location
Atlanta
I know this is an old thread, but there are few references on the web to these things that I could find.

I picked up a Cole-Steel cabinet, about 40" high, 36" wide and 25" deep with a safe of sorts on one side.
The combination lock was torn off but I still have it, although I think it is toast. I'd like to have the combination 'functional', if nothing more than for looks. I'm thinking I probably need the entire door, since the lock mechanism appears to be between the double-walled door.

Any pointers or suggestions?

Rick
 
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