BWP's little SO box restored

[zuspiel]

Bought this little box from BWP last week. Here's what it looked like:

Bathed in superclean over night:

Cleaned up rust:

Primed (with logo sanded):

Painted and cleared:

This will be part of the toolkit for the 65 Mustang. Now I have to start filling it...

(Yes, there's a paint run on the lid. Looks way worse in the pic than in person. Didn't see it before I cleared it. I think I can live with it, though...)

While I was at it, I also did the same thing for a small organizer tray. Don't have a "before" picture, but it was in a machine shop for 30+ years, so you can imagine what
it looked like...

 

[zuspiel]

BTW, anybody know how old that SO box is?

 

[Uncle Buck]

What is super clean, and where would I get some?

 

[mkdive]

Great job! Thats a cool SO box.

 

[snapmom]

I think the 77 is 1977. That would be about right for that style logo.
The box would have been red.

 

[zuspiel]

What is super clean, and where would I get some?

It's Castrol SuperClean concrete cleaner. Walmart carries it. Friend of mine told me about it. Basically, it's EvapoRust for paint and grime. It's some solvent with sodium hydroxide in it. Eats everything except some plastics (rubbermaid containers are safe) and steel. Not safe on aluminum. Works great for all small parts you want CLEAN. I keep a 3 quart rubbermaid container around the shop and drop in whatever I want cleaned. It gets less potent after a while, but can be reused many times. After the stuff has soaked for a while, just rinse under running water using a small brush. I wear gloves when handling the parts. The label reads pretty scary.

It's also great for grimy sockets from the pawn shop. I just drop those in, rinse them off the next day and they look like new (well, if the chrome is ok...).

Great job! Thats a cool SO box.

Thanks!

I think the 77 is 1977. That would be about right for that style logo. The box would have been red.

Thank you!

When rinsing it off after the superclean treatment, I did see a tiny spec of red in one corner...

 

[Nik]

When can I mail you mine so you can do the same to it?

 

[zuspiel]

When can I mail you mine so you can do the same to it?

Go right ahead. I do have a tendency to loose return addresses, though...

There's nothing to it. Total actual work time was under two hours. I did other stuff while waiting for the paint to dry. 2 coats of primer, 3 coats of paint, 4 coats of clear. That should last a while...

If you want the logo to be plain metal, tape off around it and sand off the primer. Then again after the paint. Clear and you're done.

 

[bchee]

wow, turned out really nice. Looks good

 

[ImportTuner]

Excellent job; I got to try some of that Castrol SuperClean ..

 

[zuspiel]

Thanks! And, yeah, give it a shot!

 

[Steve V.]

That's a cool little box and a nice job refinishing it. I'm going to have to get some SuperClean. I have a little vise that I want to restore and it's got nasty paint and grime on it.

Steve

 

[Adam McLaughlin]

Another vote for Super Clean; I have been using that for years on transmission pieces when working in the garage after hours. Be careful with your skin though, it will take off the top layer of your skin if you get to much of the purple chemical on yourself.

Adam

 

[Elroy]

I think the 77 is 1977. That would be about right for that style logo.
The box would have been red.

What he said.

Or would that be

What she said.

 

[bchee]

I'm waiting for some stuff called supervaporustcleaner

 

[Blacknwhitepit]

Man, that looks great!

The thing about that box was that I could not find a bit of red on it anywhere. Did S-O make any other color boxes that year.

Anyway, nice work!

-BWP

 

[GT89mustang]

Nice job, I have a small metal box that was my gradfathers, It was a benzo-o-matic torch kit. Might end up restoring that after seeing this. Think ill do a crinkle finish on it though.

 

[Lookin4'67Galaxieconv]

Very nice, Zuspiel! I'm gonna have to try that super clean too!

 

[snapmom]

Just red. do you want another one, like a red one from 1950, same style, but with the old raised logo, looks like a 30s early 40s logo.

 

[zuspiel]

Thanks, everybody!

That's a cool little box and a nice job refinishing it. I'm going to have to get some SuperClean. I have a little vise that I want to restore and it's got nasty paint and grime on it.

Yeah, it's perfect for stuff with nooks and crannies that are hard to get to mechanically. I wish I had a giant vat of it to dunk a whole car body in...

I'm waiting for some stuff called supervaporustcleaner

You and me both...

Man, that looks great!

The thing about that box was that I could not find a bit of red on it anywhere. Did S-O make any other color boxes that year.

Anyway, nice work!

-BWP

Glad you like. Would have been a bummer if you said "What the hell did you do with that box!!!"

I think it might have been repainted since I did find a tiny bit of red in one corner. If it was, they sure did a good job repainting it black, though...

Just red. do you want another one, like a red one from 1950, same style, but with the old raised logo, looks like a 30s early 40s logo.

I love those little boxes! Could you please PM me a pic and price?

 

[snapmom]

Will do tonight, the boxes came in several sizes. the ones from the 20s thru about 48 were smaller.

 

[zuspiel]

Great! Looking forward to it.

BTW, I know 3/8" drive didn't used to be as common. Did they also have 3/8" boxes in that style? If anybody has one, I'd be very interested...

 

[Frank Elson]

apart from gloves be careful how much of that stuff you breathe in.
Number 1 son - the concrete truck driver, trained an' all - had a fortnight in the hospital the last time he breathed a little too hard...

But, yes, it works great !