sti491
Well-known member
Wow, I got the coolest Christmas present this year... actually a combination Christmas, Fathers Day and Birthday present from my son & wife (I got zip for B-day & Fathers Day last year)... but it was worth the wait!!!
My son found a used Snap-on KRL761 Cranberry tool box in Lynchburg VA, about a 2 hr drive from where we live that he had to rent a truck to go pick it up with. He had been looking for one for me for a long time.
It had been in some kind of industrial or fabrication environment with scratches in the paint, some dents along the bottom sides and it was really dirty... all the grime into the drawer slides, etc. All the ball bearing drawers worked but were siding a little hard. So, I decided to rebuild it... time for a Tim The Toolman Taylor Aarrr, Aaar, Aaarrr!!
I completely dismantled and cleaned it. I ended up color sanding, then paint correction just as on car paint. There was ALOT of orange peel... the heavy powder coat allowed me to sand down quite a bit to either completely remove nicks and scratches or significantly improve deeper ones that are no longer noticable from most angles. It was a 6 step process: 1000/1500/2000 wet sand, and three stages of pad/compound/polish combinations using a Flex polisher.
So now with the SS trim peices I bought from Margard I have under $2,000 in a box that cost $5,500 new (I think it was about that, they don't make it any more). $1,600 used cost plus $390 in Margard parts, new keys, a few parts from Snap-on. One thing I did that saved a lot of $ was that I went for a brushed finished look on the aluminum and SS parts that enabled me to "refinish" the big chrome handle and all drawer handles and the three vertical trim pieces instead of replacing them. It turned out great. To get the brushed look I either used a scotchguard pad by hand on the drawer handles or removed the other parts and used a fine wire wheel on a bench grinder.
Wish I had thought to do "before" pics... but I did not. Attached are the after pics. Hope you like.
It was an awesome Christmas gift. FYI: refurbishing one of these is not for the faint of heart. There are so many drawers & slides that dismantling, cleaning, lubricating and then correcting the finish was a much bigger project than I anticipated. It took most of my Christmas vacation to complete. There was grime in every crevice of this thing. It's antiseptic now... the ball bearing slides are like butter.
Props to you guys and this forum. I searched looking the net for parts and ideas... found this forum. It gave me a lot of ideas and was very helpful.
Never thought I would have a tool box like this. What a luxury. Maybe overkill for a garage mechanic like me as opposed to a professional mechanic. It's so heavy duty, it puts Craftsman or other Home Depot/Lowes boxes to shame. I've read all the forum debates here between Snap-on & other brands. All I have to say is I had the tools and expertise to refurbush a great fiind by my son. It was a hard job but one I am proud of... a gift I never would have bought myself, which makes it very special. So Merry Christmas to me!
Happy New Year everyone. Thanks for the great forum and the advice and resource you all provided.
My son found a used Snap-on KRL761 Cranberry tool box in Lynchburg VA, about a 2 hr drive from where we live that he had to rent a truck to go pick it up with. He had been looking for one for me for a long time.
It had been in some kind of industrial or fabrication environment with scratches in the paint, some dents along the bottom sides and it was really dirty... all the grime into the drawer slides, etc. All the ball bearing drawers worked but were siding a little hard. So, I decided to rebuild it... time for a Tim The Toolman Taylor Aarrr, Aaar, Aaarrr!!
I completely dismantled and cleaned it. I ended up color sanding, then paint correction just as on car paint. There was ALOT of orange peel... the heavy powder coat allowed me to sand down quite a bit to either completely remove nicks and scratches or significantly improve deeper ones that are no longer noticable from most angles. It was a 6 step process: 1000/1500/2000 wet sand, and three stages of pad/compound/polish combinations using a Flex polisher.
So now with the SS trim peices I bought from Margard I have under $2,000 in a box that cost $5,500 new (I think it was about that, they don't make it any more). $1,600 used cost plus $390 in Margard parts, new keys, a few parts from Snap-on. One thing I did that saved a lot of $ was that I went for a brushed finished look on the aluminum and SS parts that enabled me to "refinish" the big chrome handle and all drawer handles and the three vertical trim pieces instead of replacing them. It turned out great. To get the brushed look I either used a scotchguard pad by hand on the drawer handles or removed the other parts and used a fine wire wheel on a bench grinder.
Wish I had thought to do "before" pics... but I did not. Attached are the after pics. Hope you like.
It was an awesome Christmas gift. FYI: refurbishing one of these is not for the faint of heart. There are so many drawers & slides that dismantling, cleaning, lubricating and then correcting the finish was a much bigger project than I anticipated. It took most of my Christmas vacation to complete. There was grime in every crevice of this thing. It's antiseptic now... the ball bearing slides are like butter.
Props to you guys and this forum. I searched looking the net for parts and ideas... found this forum. It gave me a lot of ideas and was very helpful.
Never thought I would have a tool box like this. What a luxury. Maybe overkill for a garage mechanic like me as opposed to a professional mechanic. It's so heavy duty, it puts Craftsman or other Home Depot/Lowes boxes to shame. I've read all the forum debates here between Snap-on & other brands. All I have to say is I had the tools and expertise to refurbush a great fiind by my son. It was a hard job but one I am proud of... a gift I never would have bought myself, which makes it very special. So Merry Christmas to me!
Happy New Year everyone. Thanks for the great forum and the advice and resource you all provided.
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