Cool old Cornwell toolbox... restore or keep the 'patina'

[rose jackets67]

Picked this little guy up yesterday afternoon... I don't know the model number or the age, but is has 4-61-654 stamped on the bottom left of the top compartment. I would guess late-60s vintage.

There's a lot of paint missing though. The only rust is very light and on the top of the lid. It looks better in person than in the pictures (harsh camera flash in a dimly lit garage).

What do you all think - strip it down and restore it as best I can, or just wipe it with some WD40 to keep the rust away and be proud of the patina and age marks?

This will replace the small Snap On top section I posted about on here last month, and the Snappy will become the new truck box.

 

[ImportTuner]

Picked this little guy up yesterday afternoon... I don't know the model number or the age, but is has 4-61-654 stamped on the bottom left of the top compartment. I would guess late-60s vintage.

There's a lot of paint missing though. The only rust is very light and on the top of the lid. It looks better in person than in the pictures (harsh camera flash in a dimly lit garage).

What do you all think - strip it down and restore it as best I can, or just wipe it with some WD40 to keep the rust away and be proud of the patina and age marks?

This will replace the small Snap On top section I posted about on here last month, and the Snappy will become the new truck box.

Got a picture of it?

 

[rose jackets67]

DOH! Forgot pictures!

 

[TNToy]

I'd sand it and have it powerdercoated, personally. Doesn't cost that much, and looks a dozen times better than paint.

 

[wilbilt]

I'd wipe it down with an inhibitor and call it good. Somebody's already scratched the H*ll out of the Cornwell logo in the name of "preservation".

Leave it at that.

 

[Fast Orange]

Box is nice enough to do either way-
If the basic atmosphere in your shop is old school,I'd just wipe 'er down and go with it.
If your thing is matching,clean looks,strip it and do it up to fit in with your other boxes and equiptment.

George

 

[arkracing]

Box is nice enough to do either way-
If the basic atmosphere in your shop is old school,I'd just wipe 'er down and go with it.
If your thing is matching,clean looks,strip it and do it up to fit in with your other boxes and equiptment.

George

I agree - what does the bottom box look like? What does your shop look like?
If they are clean and shiny make the box clean and shiny. If your shop is "vintage" leave as is.

 

[eschoendorff]

I agree - what does the bottom box look like? What does your shop look like?
If they are clean and shiny make the box clean and shiny. If your shop is "vintage" leave as is.

What he said. Although, if it were mine - and you've all seen my clusterfck of a garage... I'd still want to strip and and powdercoat it like TNT said.

 

[-lecroix-]

Leave it alone. Scratches and faded paint add character. Shiny paint is way over rated.

 

[Junkman]

Leave it be...... it is only original once.

 

[Canadian Charlie]

I'd sand it down and have it professionall painted, take extra care woth the name plate

 

[joenero]

keep it original, it wouldn't look right clean with fresh paint

 

[jim m]

Picked this little guy up yesterday afternoon... I don't know the model number or the age, but is has 4-61-654 stamped on the bottom left of the top compartment. I would guess late-60s vintage.

There's a lot of paint missing though. The only rust is very light and on the top of the lid. It looks better in person than in the pictures (harsh camera flash in a dimly lit garage).

What do you all think - strip it down and restore it as best I can, or just wipe it with some WD40 to keep the rust away and be proud of the patina and age marks?

This will replace the small Snap On top section I posted about on here last month, and the Snappy will become the new truck box.

no leave her as she is she was prety and new once already
now she shows the cariture(spelling) of all the vintage tools shes held and the craftsmen that have owned it and the repairs it been part of



sure would look good sitting on top the 3 drawer cornwell intermediate I found for $20.00 a copple yaers ago


Jim

 

[KingPerformance]

Clean, fix, and powder coat it. I think it looks cool, but honestly, in todays world, I wouldn't want to see soemthing like that just rot away. Get it back in shape, spend the time to do it right, and use the heck out of it. Vintage is cool, but its better when you make it your own.

 

[justinmc]

What about a rusto-rod look... maybe a flat black or flat red paint job w/ some old skool stickers.

Kinda like this red (sorry the only quickie flat red pic I could find on the web)

http://www.customminibikes.com/Flat Red 2 52705.jpg

 

[hguerrero]

just give it to me. I'll do something with it.

henry

 

[rose jackets67]

Wow - thats about 10 times the responses I expected to get. Thanks for the idea, guys. I decided to go the route of preservation. After a good cleaning, the only real rust on the box was on the very bottom back right corner. I shot some red primer and then red Rustoleum in there after sanding off the rust. Not a perfect match, but it will never be seen anyways.

All the paint got polished and waxed (anyone else wax their tool box? sure felt weird to me...), then wiped down with some light motoroil on a rag.

The handles on both sides of the box had lots of surface rust, so right now they are sitting in an electrolysis bath de-rusting. I've been wanting to try some home-brew black oxide coatings, and I think my first try is going to be with these.

I also went to the hardware store and bought a new lock set for it.

It's all back together and I'm happy with the looks. I'm going to try and find a bottom cab to match (right now it's sitting on a generic Craftsman ball bearing roll cab), but I think this one's just too cool to restore.

adam

 

[Dodgepu360]

Post Some Pics When Get Done

 

[rose jackets67]

Dodge - It really doesn't look much different now than it did in the first pictures... I am planning on taking it outside into some better light and snapping a few, so I'll post those up sometime tomorrow.

adam

 

[Rickster]

Clean it up best you can and leave it original. Old toolboxes are like old cars and older women, they all have character.

 

[Dodgepu360]

I was talking about the handles, I want to see how DIY black oxide turns out

I would have typed more in the last message but it was time to go home and I was in a hurry to get out of the office

 

[TNToy]

No, you're not the only one who waxes their toolbox. My box at work gets waxed occasionally.

The floor soap they spray down the shop with on weekends has a habit of getting everywhere, including under box covers. It'll etch the powdercoat if left on long enough. If you use wax, it wipes right off with glass cleaner.

Since I plan to trade this box in within a year, I very much want it to look perfect.

 

[Finley]

leave it the way it is....it has TONS of character

 

[Brad54]

When you photograph it, if your camera has a zoom lens, step back as far as you can, and then zoom in and really fill up the frame. The pics will turn out better that way.
-Brad