I inherited my great grandfathers tool boxes a while back and all my life this one has stood out from all the others I've seen. Just the other day I discovered that it's a Cornwell. He obviously repainted it and some point, but that has me wondering, how old is it? 20s-30s-40s? And what's the best way to help preserve the paint that's on it now (and the sticker)?
Great-grandfathers toolbox.
- Thread starter Cyrus28
- Start date
Great vintage toolbox.
bmwrd0
Well-known member
That is a super cool box! I am glad to hear that you want to keep the current paint, and if it was me I would probably clean it and use it as a display piece. It isn't going anywhere, so to speak, so unless you see some rust somewhere it should be OK.
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
I'm just glad to see this is not one of those... "How much is it worth?" drive-by 1-post poster threads!
As Beemer alluded to, it doesn't look like you need to do anything to preserve that finish, but if there are exposed spots in corners or scratches we don't see form here that are rusting, just rub with 0000 steel wool and your penetrating oil of choice, wipe down, and if you want, apply a wax.
I am curious about something though. I don't think that box is much older than the 40's and I am guessing 50's. Someone who knows Cornwell better will come along shortly, I am sure. Are you sure it was your GREAT grandfather's? I guess it's possible if he was already an older man when he bought it, and you're a young guy.
As Beemer alluded to, it doesn't look like you need to do anything to preserve that finish, but if there are exposed spots in corners or scratches we don't see form here that are rusting, just rub with 0000 steel wool and your penetrating oil of choice, wipe down, and if you want, apply a wax.
I am curious about something though. I don't think that box is much older than the 40's and I am guessing 50's. Someone who knows Cornwell better will come along shortly, I am sure. Are you sure it was your GREAT grandfather's? I guess it's possible if he was already an older man when he bought it, and you're a young guy.
FJ 432
Well-known member
I have looked at a lot of boxes over the past 12 years and I can honestly say this is the first on this style. Very Cool. How did you determine it's a Cornwell?
My guess on age would be the 1940's given the drawer pulls on the smaller drawers and the welded on larger pulls. It it must weigh over 100 pounds.
My guess on age would be the 1940's given the drawer pulls on the smaller drawers and the welded on larger pulls. It it must weigh over 100 pounds.
The only picture of one like it that I could find online had their 30s era logo on it so that's really all I based that on. And yes it belonged to my great-grandfather, he passed away fairly recently and I "took over" his old garage so I could park my car in there and use his tools to work on stuff!
I think I will give the box a good wipe down, fix up the small bits of surface rust, and I like the idea of giving it a wax because it might bring back the color a bit!
I think I will give the box a good wipe down, fix up the small bits of surface rust, and I like the idea of giving it a wax because it might bring back the color a bit!
I made a post on Reddit and someone mentioned that it looked similar to some old Cornwell boxes so I went scrounging around on Google and found a picture that matched that box save for the color with a big Cornwell logo on the front. Kind of a lucky find because I was running out of ideas!
FJ 432
Well-known member
Well it's super cool. Do you have a photo of the top down and it appears to be 26 inches wide?
FJ 432
Well-known member
Welcome to our forum. Your box is unusual and I would like to request that you post in this thread because there's not another box like yours in over 360 pages. This thread gets visited by many people trying to find information on their older boxes.
www.garagejournal.com
The VINTAGE toolboxes of Garage Journal!
Post em' up guys. Lets say anything over 20 yrs. and older only. The newer boxes are cool, but I LOVE the lines of the older ones. Here are my humble contributions: I have a KRA54 too: I know there are some great boxes, so lets see em. And the obligatory: :needpics:
www.garagejournal.com
That’s an awesome box, and definitely deserves to be left as is.
I did my nowhere near as cool/vintage Mac with regular liquid Turtle Wax and it brought back a lot of color.
I’ve got a buddy that collects old vending machines, he swears by old school TR3 “resin glaze” as a preservative.
I did my nowhere near as cool/vintage Mac with regular liquid Turtle Wax and it brought back a lot of color.
I’ve got a buddy that collects old vending machines, he swears by old school TR3 “resin glaze” as a preservative.