Snap-On Tool Box Rescue has a challenge here

[Packard V8]

Greetings, GJers,

At an estate sale today, I tried hard to walk away from this sad puppy. It's the oldest, hardest used, tired and had long been demoted to junk box. While it hasn't been set on fire or run over by a Cat, it is still the sorriest piece of tin I've ever dragged home. I believe it to be a 1937 K23.

The deciding factor was it was full of misc junk, copper pipe fittings, QD air fittings, drill bits, an old Proto 3/8" ratchet and a negotiated price of $10.

I'll clean the slides, ding out a couple of dints, wish I had a spot welder to re-attach the drop down lid/front cover. Anyone got one in better shape to share a photo to encourage the efforts?

thnx, jack vines

 

[krusty the clown]

you have a mid 50's kr53. regardless of condition good find for the money.

 

[justinmc]

For $10... I'd take it home too. Nice old piece with some potential. Looks like you saved one from the scrap pile! Give it a few months and if the price of copper goes nuts again you might just make your $$ back

 

[Packard V8]

you have a mid 50's kr53.

Fifty years of hard use can do as much damage as 75, I guess. Thanks for the identification.

thnx, jack vines.

 

[KCarGuy]

PackardV8, Great find...wish I could run into an old box like that.
Not sure where you live, but I am sure that someone nearby with a welder would love to help an fellow GJ Guy out with a spot weld or two...Right Guys?
If your near Chi-town...I would!

 

[chad s]

The front panel needs to be replaced. Find a local metal fab shop that can shear and bend the piece to duplicate the front.

It would take a very experienced metal shaper/bodyman to take all of the damage out of that piece, and not wind up with an oil canned mess. By the time you try and remove every dent, bend, you will have so much time invested, and it will never be right.

A new front panel can be fabricated in less than an hour by a good sheet metal guy.

 

[Rigmaster]

The front panel needs to be replaced. Find a local metal fab shop that can shear and bend the piece to duplicate the front.

It would take a very experienced metal shaper/bodyman to take all of the damage out of that piece, and not wind up with an oil canned mess. By the time you try and remove every dent, bend, you will have so much time invested, and it will never be right.

A new front panel can be fabricated in less than an hour by a good sheet metal guy.

True, but then it wouldn't be the original piece.


To each his own, but on this one I think I'd rather have the original piece, with all of it's "character" and history intact.



my 0,02

 

[chad s]

True, but then it wouldn't be the original piece.


To each his own, but on this one I think I'd rather have the original piece, with all of it's "character" and history intact.



my 0,02

If it was a historically significant box, Id do more to save the sheet metal. But being a box from an era that is quite common, added with the significant amount of damage the front has, and the great price the owner paid, this one would benefit a lot from spending a bit to have a new front made.

Sometimes too much character is a bad thing, and this damage is a bit more than a little patina. By the looks of the red logo, Id say its been repainted at some point anyway.

 

[-B-]

The drop down panel can be fixed quite easly as it sits on the box the only this it will take is patience . I assume the new owner has it since his screen name is PackardV8, a good hammer and dolly all will be fine.

 

[rsanter]

I have a spot welder
you happen to be in CA?
otherwise find someone who is in school (at a school that has a shop with a spot welder)

bob

 

[Uncle Buck]

I think the box below is just a little newer version of the same box you have shown. Like yours, mine could really stand a restoration. Also like yours I paid little to nothing for it. I have just been using it for years just as I got it. I keep swearing that one of these days I am going to restore it. I use mine as a dedicated metric box. The only tools other than ratchets and drivers in it are metric.

 

[Packard V8]

The middle half of the front panel is double wall. The top and bottom are single wall. I can ding out a lot of the worst of it there.

While this particular box isn't worth the cost of powder coating, has anyone done it and if so, how did you protect the slide grooves from filling up?

thnx, jack vines.

 

[wantedabiggergarage]

In case it doesn't come through, the larger wrenches in the last picture, are they Dayton Wrenches?

 

[Junkman]

Sometimes too much character is a bad thing, and this damage is a bit more than a little patina. By the looks of the red logo, Id say its been repainted at some point anyway.

This place if filled with lots of bad characters and more than a bunch of us have had our patina more than worn off.........

 

[Uncle Buck]

In case it doesn't come through, the larger wrenches in the last picture, are they Dayton Wrenches?

Nope, those are all Proto's that I recall cost me $20 for the lot of them a few years back in a hock shop. Since the pic I added a 38mm Stallwille (sp?) for something insane like 1-2 bucks or so! I just could not resist.

 

[cruiser808]

Hi Chad - I have the same box in about the same condition. It was given to me for free rather than tossing it. I use it for my small car repair parts inventory and that's it. I often thought about restoration, but it would be alot of work. Should I care or just use it as is?

 

[Rigmaster]

Hi Chad - I have the same box in about the same condition. It was given to me for free rather than tossing it. I use it for my small car repair parts inventory and that's it. I often thought about restoration, but it would be alot of work. Should I care or just use it as is?

I'm not Chad, but I'd say it's personal preference.

It's just a toolbox afterall.......

I mean, if it doesn't bother you, then just use it as-is and enjoy it. If you're just looking for a project, or want to spend some $$$, then restore it.

 

[cruiser808]

Thanks Rig - trust me, I have lots of pending projects and if this potential one is not a money maker, then it won't happen.

 

[chad s]

Hi Chad - I have the same box in about the same condition. It was given to me for free rather than tossing it. I use it for my small car repair parts inventory and that's it. I often thought about restoration, but it would be alot of work. Should I care or just use it as is?

Id use it as is.

I have gone down this route in older (read=simpler) boxes in bad shape, and it opens a whole can of worms. Its not a light weekend project for sure. Unless you have a rare or historically significant box that you value as a collectable, doing a complete restoration is just not worth it. I have many projects too, I know how it is.

That is why I recommended that the original post have a sheet metal shop quickly bend up a new front plate. It will be quicker in the long run, produce far superior results, and since the box in question is more valuable as a user tool box than it is a collectors item, no "historical harm" is done.

To take all of the damage out of that front panel is very hard. Metal finishing a damaged piece of sheet metal with a compound curve is hard enough, bringing back a piece of once perfectly flat sheet metal to original condition is extremely hard. Every one of those dents is stretched metal. They wont just "tap" back into place with a hammer and dolly. They need to be worked close with a hammer and dolly, but then the metal will still be stretched, and it will "oil can" so then you have to shrink it. Then run a file or sanding block over it to highlight the highs and low, followed by more hammer and dolly work, maybe more shrinking. This is work even a well seasoned sheet metal worker would have a somewhat hard time getting the metal back to shape, and not having it oil can. Owning a hammer and a dolly doesn't make this work doable, its years of experience paired with natural talent.

This isn't Lincoln's top hat or the mona lisa, it wont be a crime to take the liberty of replacing some sheet metal.Its a nice old snap on box from a time period when the company was well established and had high sales, making it fairly common. A professional sheet metal restorer could have 10-25 hours perhaps in making that front panel perfect again, or 1 hour in making a new one. You have to pick which makes more sense.

 

[krooser]

Nice box... lots of character. Good find.... keep it original but fix it up a lttle.

 

[Packard V8]

I've got a friend who took out a second mortgage on his house to pay the vet bills to save a dog hit by a car. Now, he's working a second job to pay for an old, three-legged dog. He says, "Either you get it or you don't. I just couldn't bear to put him down."

It seems these '50s Snap-On boxes are made from a malleable sheet metal which dents easily, but the dents can be banged out easily also. This one still needs a few spot welds to tighten up the piano hinges, but since spot welds require grinding away paint, it might be less obtrusive to do it with pop rivets. Don't have a spot welder handy anyway.

Lots of work, more rust in the bottom than I had thought, but I just couldn't bear to put him down.

thnx, jack vines

 

[Packard V8]

I found a guy with a spot welder. When I showed him were I needed the spot welds, he said, "Furgeddaboutit. That's what pop rivets are for."

So here's the finished project with a re-enforcing plate and twenty-one pop rivets later. Way more trouble than it was worth, but definitely stronger and more serviceable. Next time the damned three-legged dog is history!

Compare it to the photos at the top of the thread for an idea of how far it has come.

thnx, jack vines

P.S. - anyone have a KR-100 name plate to donate to the project?

 

[Uncle Buck]

I found a guy with a spot welder. When I showed him were I needed the spot welds, he said, "Furgeddaboutit. That's what pop rivets are for."

So here's the finished project with a re-enforcing plate and twenty-one pop rivets later. Way more trouble than it was worth, but definitely stronger and more serviceable. Next time the damned three-legged dog is history!

Compare it to the photos at the top of the thread for an idea of how far it has come.

thnx, jack vines

P.S. - anyone have a KR-100 name plate to donate to the project?

Thank you for showing that pic. I like the way it looks except when I do mine I think I will just have them skin the whole cover.

 

[Packard V8]

Hi, Uncle Buck,

That just happened to be the width of stock in my scrap pile. The lesson learned here, which I knew, but the romance of an old box temporarily made me forget, is, "You can't polish garbage. No matter how hard you rub, it's still garbage." I did it because I wanted to, not because it makes any sense to put this much time and energy in a rusty sixty-year old box.

thnx, jack vines

 

[Uncle Buck]

Hi, Uncle Buck,

That just happened to be the width of stock in my scrap pile. The lesson learned here, which I knew, but the romance of an old box temporarily made me forget, is, "You can't polish garbage. No matter how hard you rub, it's still garbage." I did it because I wanted to, not because it makes any sense to put this much time and energy in a rusty sixty-year old box.

thnx, jack vines

Oh, I have not learned that lesson yet. I am still tryin to polish turds! You should see the old rusty turd of a drill press I drug home this weekend to resurrect! LOL

You are right about the making sense part, it never does. However, most of the time I have more time than money so I just keep on propin old **** up!

 

[sk farmer]

looks good and adds charachter, good for another 60 if you take care of it.

 

[wagonboy]

i have this proto tool chest. Can anyone tell me anything like how old it is or what its worth or should i just re finish it.

 

[mkdive]

I've got a friend who took out a second mortgage on his house to pay the vet bills to save a dog hit by a car. Now, he's working a second job to pay for an old, three-legged dog. He says, "Either you get it or you don't. I just couldn't bear to put him down."

Call me stupid, but I get it.

I would do that for my dogs, yet I wouldn't do that for most people I know...must say something about me eh?

 

[MD11]

Nice box... lots of character. Good find.... keep it original but fix it up a lttle.

That's what I would do... get rid of the rust, and take out the dents best as you can, then use it and enjoy it.

 

[Mickey O]

How the hell does a tool box get that way, that's just neglect.