Older Waterloo tool boxes rusting on the inside.

[mreisner]

In the late 80s and into the 90s I had a couple of Craftsman tool boxes which were definitely made by Waterloo back then. Pretty decent boxes especially for the money but I had a problem on several of them with rusting on the inside especially the corners where the side and the bottom met. Seems like it was pretty thin paint and they didn't have any primer underneath and especially on the inside it was light. I'm assuming it was because of condensation running down the side walls and pooling in the corners? Back then my shop wasn't heated at least not full time so I'm assuming I had a lot of condensation running down the walls
Fast forward to last week and I bought this little fellow off of marketplace pretty good shape but I wanted to give him a new coat of paint and when I pulled the drawers out it was the same thing, flaking paint and light flaky rust at the intersection between the side walls and the bottom. It cleaned up well and was just light pitting. What I'm wondering is I have a couple of these older boxes that I want to use for storing various stuff in the area of my shop that isn't heated, and I'm wondering what I should spray in there for some Corrosion Protection? Fluid film? WD40 rust specialist? Any other suggestions?

 

[1982fxr]

That's a hard to find little guy.

 

[four.cycle]

^ Every box I've pulled the drawers out of has a few things in common:
- sawdust
- oddball bits and bobs - bent screws, spark plug terminal ends, burned-out glass tube fuses
- some corrosion on the bottom panel, sometimes the inside of the back panel, but almost always along the seams on the ends, which are simply rolled over and crimped - and not crimped very well, as moisture goes right through that seam. (I notice it both when I am washing and rinsing the box, and then again when I am coating the bottom with Rustoleum (and sometimes some of the interior as well.)

It's not exclusive to Waterloo. The boxes are not primed before painting, and they all seem to be constructed in pretty much the same manner - only variances are gauge of sheet steel used and the drawer support mechanisms used.

 

[Steve_P]

These were either lacquer or synthetic enamel with no hardener - fragile paint compared to today. I worked with a bunch of guys in the 80s that had these boxes and they wiped them down with WD-40 occasionally; it eventually started removing the paint, so I don't recommend that. I also had some of these and the backs were a few inches off of a drywalled, but uninsulated, dry basement wall and they had some corrosion on the back after ~10 years.

If you wanted to protect what you have then I'd say some type of wax type product. But the GJ answer is to fully disassemble them and have them chemically dipped and powdercoated

 

[mrvm]

On a pair of old CM red bottom cabinets, simply wiping off the surface dust, webs etc with a damp cloth or with windex leaves red paint streaks on the paper towels. Age and exposure to the sun probably affected the durability of the thin paint.

 

[mreisner]

That's a hard to find little guy.

I did a little research and you're not kidding! And apparently I got a pretty darn good deal on it.