Vintage Toolbox Cleanup Question

[xodeuce]

Vintage Toolbox Cleanup Question (New Pics)

Edit: 1-18-10 Added lots of pictures of tools.

My uncle gave me his toolboxes that he bought in the early seventies while he was employed as a professional automobile mechanic. I'm interested in cleaning everything up and getting everything re-lubricated and looking better. I'm also interested in cleaning up all of the tools and getting the layer of grease/oil and grime off of all of them. What's the best way to do this? For the tools, I figured the easiest thing would be to get a parts washer and put everything that will fit in it in there overnight and let it run. For the boxes I was going to do something along the lines of simple green or some other degreasing product. The main thing is that I don't want to get everything clean, and then have it start rusting.

Pics of the boxes:

The top box is a Mac Tools and is 16 x 33 x 19 (Depth, Width, Height), and the bottom rolling box is a Craftsman Commercial, and is 18 x 33.5 x 34 (Depth, Width, Height).

 

[jrsndman]

I recently cleaned a used Snap On box I bought. I tried the Simple Green Concentrated Formula and it worked pretty well. Then I tried WD-40 with a rag and a nylon bristle brush. I was amazed at how well the WD-40 worked. It took a lot less elbow grease than the Simple Green, YMMV.

A little WD-40, a rag and brush should take care of them too.


Jim

 

[Bull]

First of all, those boxes rule.

Secondly, I was going to recommend both Simple Green and WD-40, but the gentleman before me already did.

Instead, I will recommend linseed oil soap if you can find it.

 

[Tool Pants]

I have been cleaning some old tool boxes. The when I see a rust area, like a welded seam, I paint it with Evapo-Rust, and let it dry. Don't know if it is going to do any good over the years.

 

[mkdive]

That's awesome he gave you those! I would have to follow suit and agree WD-40 and some simple green. A rag, old tooth brush and some elbow grease should make a huge difference. Post some pictures of how it turned out.

And where are the pictures of the tools????

 

[selohssa]

I have a simmilar box that I cleaned up last week.

What I did was dissasembled the whole thing, cleaned all of the drawer slides in the varsol tank and then pressure washed the boxes and each drawer. The next day I used an automotive rubbing compound with a wool pad and polished the boxes and the drawer faces (you will be amazed at how nice of a red the boxes are under the orange). I used lubriplate on the drawer slides for the upper box and wheel bearing grease for the slides on the lower (I am testing them both to see which one works better). To prevent any rust from forming after you are done, I would just try to keep it out of exess humidity, and if you see some form, polish it off right away.

Good luck and post some pics when you are done.

 

[mjozefow]

If you are completely disassembling I would spray everything with Engine Bright foaming degreaser. It works great and doesn't run as much.

Oh, and NICE BOX!

 

[xodeuce]

Cool, so it sounds like Simple Green and WD 40 are the universal recommendation. What about for the tools? I've heard that simple green can lead to rust on tools. I guess the WD40 after simple green guards against rusting? I'll get some pics up of those at some point. There's probably 30-40 sockets, both impact and regular, 2 ratchet handles, probably 15-20 wrenches, both ratcheting and non ratcheting. Maybe 10 screwdrivers. I've been going through sorting things into small rubbermaid bins so that when it comes time to reload the box I'll have it pretty easy. There are also some oddball things that I've never seen before. I'll definitely get pictures of the weird stuff up, and maybe you guys can help ID what the heck it is! lol. Thanks for the replies. Pics of tools to come.

 

[crewchief888]

My uncle gave me his toolboxes that he bought in the early seventies while he was employed as a professional automobile mechanic. I'm interested in cleaning everything up and getting everything re-lubricated and looking better. I'm also interested in cleaning up all of the tools and getting the layer of grease/oil and grime off of all of them. What's the best way to do this? For the tools, I figured the easiest thing would be to get a parts washer and put everything that will fit in it in there overnight and let it run. For the boxes I was going to do something along the lines of simple green or some other degreasing product. The main thing is that I don't want to get everything clean, and then have it start rusting.

Pics of the boxes:

The top box is a Mac Tools and is 16 x 33 x 19 (Depth, Width, Height), and the bottom rolling box is a Craftsman Commercial, and is 18 x 33.5 x 34 (Depth, Width, Height).

nice catch !!!

ive always used mineral spirits to clean up tools. even now that i work out a service truck about once a year i pull the drawers and tools out of the box, clean and dry all tools in mineral spirits, and pressure wash all the drawers with HOT water.
garage tools dont get nearly as nasty as my work tools, but mineral spirits, or brake clean works

when ya get the boxes cleaned up, give them a good waxing.
my KR555/550 i bought in 1987 gets cleaned with a foaming general purpose cleaner and waxed every couple years

 

[Flash21]

I have a simmilar box that I cleaned up last week.

What I did was dissasembled the whole thing, cleaned all of the drawer slides in the varsol tank and then pressure washed the boxes and each drawer. The next day I used an automotive rubbing compound with a wool pad and polished the boxes and the drawer faces (you will be amazed at how nice of a red the boxes are under the orange). I used lubriplate on the drawer slides for the upper box and wheel bearing grease for the slides on the lower (I am testing them both to see which one works better). To prevent any rust from forming after you are done, I would just try to keep it out of exess humidity, and if you see some form, polish it off right away.

Good luck and post some pics when you are done.

That thing is awesome, let's see some more picture (high res) maybe in a separate thread. Include before / after if you can.

 

[hcs1947]

I'm currently cleaning up an old box too, using kerosene and 0000 steel wool, then auto polish and wax. Working pretty good so far, better than the simple green did. Besides oil, grease and dirt, there's also other nasty stuff on mine that the simple green won't get off, like melted rubber and waxy stuff, don't know what it is but the kerosene/steel wool works without ruining the paint, unless I bear down too much.

 

[91FE]

That thing is awesome, let's see some more picture (high res) maybe in a separate thread. Include before / after if you can.

I agree completely... your boxes rock. Let's see 'em.

 

[xodeuce]

Updated with more pictures. Interesting about the dishwasher. Strangely enough that's the same thing my dad said. He was like, "Heck if you can take the top rack out of the dishwasher, you might be able to get the smaller drawers in there too." Apparently when he was in the Navy he rented a house with a few other guys he was in OCS with. He came home one friday and opened the dishwasher, and there was a set of hubcaps for one of his roomate's car in there. Said they were squeaky clean, hah!