1940's Craftsman Toolbox repaint

[1982fxr]

I've been thinning out my collection of vintage boxes this year. I've refurbished and repainted tons of vises but always stayed away from doing boxes in part because of how much space it takes up.

This box has an old primer job on it. It's nice, smooth stuff, but shows wear, markings. Etc. It's going to be red. I know, I know, it's not original.

Can someone recommend a primer and paint, spray bomb... I use Rustoleum self etching primer and sunrise red on vises, but not for this. Looking for a similar color red, but with the wide pattern nozzle.

Any tips on keeping the hinges from turning into a gummy mess?

 

[1982fxr]

I'm not doing metal work or a bunch of sanding on this. It's going to get cleaned, wiped with acetone, primed, painted and done.

I will be pulling all the drawers and doing all surfaces, including the inside of the box shells.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

They were kin of a dark gray originally, red started later

 

[1982fxr]

Yeah, but I'll probably sell it and I think red will help it move better. I'm almost tempted to do burgundy and do the raised parts on the panels in creme.

I have another one that I think is original paint but I haven't looked too close at it yet.

 

[Tynee]

I know it's a little older thread, but I'm curious what you went with here. Did you do the burgundy and cream?

 

[1982fxr]

Still haven't gotten to it. I'm now kind of rethinking red or try to get closer to original color.

 

[BigTexasYardSale]

If you are going for "original" and you have a sample you might try the paint counter at one of the big box stores that has the color scanner. I did that when I needed some "Ridgid Red" for some pipe wrenches I restored, and did the same thing when I needed "Kennedy Brown" for a tool box.

 

[1982fxr]

Did they have am option on Kennedy brown to make it a crinkle finish? How did it work out?

 

[BigTexasYardSale]

No crinkle finish paint option, but my work around was to use rattle can crinkle paint then spray the color coat on top of it. IMHO it looked great, very factory. The hardest part was getting the crinkle just right, not too thick, not too thin. The real give away was the latch hardware. The chrome was shot and I was too lazy to remove it to do a proper job so I just sanded and painted them with aluminized paint. I think it looked pretty good but if you know the original is supposed to be chrome, well there you go.

 

[jywilli69]

I've been thinning out my collection of vintage boxes this year. I've refurbished and repainted tons of vises but always stayed away from doing boxes in part because of how much space it takes up.

This box has an old primer job on it. It's nice, smooth stuff, but shows wear, markings. Etc. It's going to be red. I know, I know, it's not original.

Can someone recommend a primer and paint, spray bomb... I use Rustoleum self etching primer and sunrise red on vises, but not for this. Looking for a similar color red, but with the wide pattern nozzle.

Any tips on keeping the hinges from turning into a gummy mess?

Did you ever find the date stamp? If so, do you remember the location? I am picking this one on Friday.

 

[1982fxr]

If ut has any it would be on the inside of the badges. It might not have any though, mine doesn't.

 

[jywilli69]

I appreciate it, can’t wait to get it home. Then I will have one from the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s. Then I will work on getting the keys for the boxes.