Craftsman Rolling chest "resto"

[generic_eric]

Today I picked up 2 Craftsman rolling chests and 1 "topper"

They need some attention. I spent a few hours already just cleaning the junk out.

I have a few questions:

Where do I find the date stamp?

I've never used a wire wheel. Is this a good project to start with? Is there another product that is better suited to this project? green scrubby pad, steel wool, dutch boy?

I used pine-sol to clean. There is a lot of dirt.

There is a lot of rust on all three of these. Should I be using some sort of stop rust product / rust inhibitor on them?

The drawers seem a chore. Can anyone hotlink me a guide or video that describes the removal process well?

Lastly, any opinons on the best can of spraypaint to use? Thanks a bunch.

 

[jakemac]

Date locations : (MM - YY)
Top box - inside top compartment, left side, on the bottom, towards the front.
Bottom boxes - front, bottom rail, 6"-7" from the right corner.
These are Waterloo made boxes.


To remove the drawers :
- Pull the drawer out until you see the sliders.
- find the black(ish) clip on the front of the slides. (Both slides)
- one end of the spring clip curls around the front to hold it in place. The other end forms a pin that acts as a drawer stop.
- pull out the pin end of the spring clip. (Both slides)
- remove the drawer.


Paint :
Gray box - Rustolium Hammered Gray(?) or Silver (?)
Red box - Rustolium Sunrise Red
Black drawers - unsure - Rustolium Metallic Black (?)

 

[Zeeman]

Hey generic eric. I'm doing a rolling cart now. You can check out my thread to see what I'm doing. Your chests might require different strategies, but it's mostly tedious work. If you can get them sandblasted, (assuming you want to remove all the paint) it will be much faster. wire wheels are fine, but if you want it done quicker, use a sander to remove the paint. Paint prep is very important. Make sure your surface is really clean, especially no grease or wax. Prime with your choice of good primer, and paint. I'm using Rustoleum self etching primer and hammered gray for the body, and probably Sunrise red for the drawers. clean the aluminum with your choice of stuff from the auto parts store. I use 'toothpaste'. It's not the actual toothpaste, but it comes in that form. I can't think of the name of the product. Good luck, and welcome.

 

[generic_eric]

@jakemac, @Zeeman thanks for the info.

If you still have that tube, let me know the name of it the next time you are in the garage. I'll probably get the NAPA equivelant unless the hardware store has something. Thanks.

**wowza** still alot of cleaning to do before I find the stamp. Hopefully it didn't rust away.

 

[jakemac]

The date stamp is often lightly stamped. Sometimes it takes a magnifying glass and a flashlight shining at an odd angle to see it. It will appear as :

MADE IN USA
MM - YY

 

[softailgarage]

I've just started my 3rd Craftsman roll away, I'll post pics later. There are several ways for paint removal, on the first box I did it the hard way, using a drill and roloc disc's.For the drawers, this time I had access to a sandblaster cabinet, which is a 100 x's easier. After removing the clip's the drawer (depending on the age, condition, etc.) will slide right out. Mine had 1 or 2 drawers that were either slightly bent or rusted up slides and was a bit of a battle to get them out. Next I used a medium size punch and by placing it on the end, I drove the chrome strip off the face of the drawer. It's going to damage the end of the strip a little, maybe 1/8" which I just cut off. I use a polish wheel and rouge on a bench grinder and make the strip gleam like new. After the drawers are blasted I use a scotch-brite wheel to smooth the surface. Now depending on the amount of grease on the box, I'll either wash it down with TSP or if its real heavy I'll spray it with brake cleaner and then TSP (the taco cart I did was so greasy, the day after blasting and priming the drawers, oil stains began appearing thru the primer coat and I had to start over) Once the drawers are clean, I use Rustoleum "Rusty Metal Primer" spray paint for a base coat, then Rustoleum Professional High Performance Enamel " Safety Red 7564" spray paint. Once the chrome strips are polished I apply just a dab of bearing grease to the inside groove and drive it back onto the drawer replace the clip and insert the drawer. If you lose,bend,break the clip they are available thru searspartsdirect.com. On the cab body, I still use either a angle die grinder or abrasive disc's and cordless drill/polisher (power drill works too) and same prep as the drawers. The paint I use is Rustoleum Professional High Perf. Enamel "Dark Machine Gray 7587" and depending on your spray paint skills you will need from 6 - ? cans. Finally, I replace all 4 wheels/caster's. If the rust is so bad you've got holes, bondo it.

 

[softailgarage]

Revision: Chrome drawer trim. Today I wasn't getting the polish on the trim that I wanted, so I tried something else. That something else is "Mothers" "Mag & Aluminum Polish". Surprised the hell out of me. Rub some on until the compound is black, rub off. Don't let it dry, then buff, take it off while it's still wet. Man, so much easier and a great shine, just like new.

 

[Zeeman]

Eric, the stuff in the tube is called Semichrome. It's a yellow tube. It works the same as the Mothers that softail just posted. It will surprise you with the results. I used some coarse steel wool, then 0000 steel wool before the Semichrome. That got the gunk out of the grooves, and smoothed over some scratching.

 

[generic_eric]

I got the drawers out. The drawer slides will be just a blast to address. :ugh:

Will the date stamp withstand rust? I'm not seeing it.

@softailgarage TSP?

 

[Zeeman]

If you don't see a lot of rust around the bottom right rail of the cabinet, you should still be able to see the date stamping. Even if it's rusty, you should be able to see it. Maybe take a fine wire brush to it, or lightly sand with some paper like 150 grit. Some of my stamp was harder to see because it was not as deep and the '73', which still shows up even after primer and paint. What do you plan to do with the slides? Are they bent or something? I just used simple green on mine, and some steel wool. They cleaned up nicely.

 

[Zeeman]

TSP= tri sodium phosphate I believe. It's a cleaner you can get at any hardware store. It's used a lot for cleaning painted walls before repainting. Post some pictures when you can. I'd like to see them.