James

Craftsman Toolbox Restoration – Part 1

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Sep 062011
 

So, I have lots of other “projects” in process, but this is one that has been nagging at me to get it started.

I picked up this old Craftsman hip-roof toolbox in a junk pile a few weeks ago for about a buck. As the pictures show, it is rusted and filthy as all get out. I have been looking for a smaller toolbox and this one looked old school and super cool, with a gray metallic hammered enamel finish.

I figured if it has any value, fix it up and sell it. If it doesn’t have any value, fix it up and use it! So, I did some research and found that the “crown” logo was introduced in 1960 and was used on into the 70′s.

The finish was advertised in the Craftsman Hand Tools catalogs of the 50′s as “gray Hammerloid”. They originally came with an aluminum handle. In the 60′s, they switched to a “Plastisol coated” steel handle. This model, apparently from the early 70′s, came with a “heavy duty” (i.e. plastic) handle.

They retailed originally for $5.99 in the 50′s and this model was $8.99. They are selling on eBay currently between $15 and $50 in varying conditions. With the amount of time and effort that will go into restoring this, I can’t say if that means it “has value” or not. We shall see.

So, anyway, I started off by drilling out the rivets and removing as many parts as I could. The big, heavy duty piano hinge on the back is tacked in place and can not be easily removed, so I will have to work around (and through) that.

I then went after every inch of the inside and outside with a steel wire brush. An hour or so of scrubbing reaped the following rewards:

Lots of weight reduction there! Not actually as much as I was expecting, but still a big accomplishment, one little flake at a time.

In the next part I will be sanding it down to bare metal and hopefully even getting some primer on it.

Update: Part 2 is now online.

 Posted by James at 10:24 pm  Tagged with: , , , , ,

Coffee can lantern project – Part 2

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Aug 172011
 

 

Previously in part one of the coffee can lantern saga, I learned some valuable lessons. In the comments, my sister recommended a post on ehow.com that suggested freezing a can full of water to keep it from denting in so much as you are pounding on it. I gave that a try, but found the condensation on the outside of the can made it impossible to attach the pattern.

So, I went back to the original method, this time seeing if leaving the plastic wrapping on the can would make it any better. I figured if anything, it would help disperse the blows a little.

These are the tools I set off with. Note to future self: the decking nail with ridges tears the crap out of the can. No Ridges; No Good.

So, with five hole sizes ready to go, I attacked the first can (second, if you count the first monstrosity). I went through with the smallest nail, then the next, then the next, used it to “pre-drill” holes for the screw drivers in the largest spots, then hit it a few times with each of the screw drivers. Still denty, but not too bad.

The metal was a little unpredictable with the screw drivers. Sometimes tearing around them, other times coming out perfect.

Once I finished all three cans this way, I realized that the inside of the can was a very hazardous place to put a hand, with all the sharp edges sticking out (or in), so I put the can down flat on my leg, and proceeded to beat the crap out of the inside of the patterns with the tiny hammer to flatten the rough edges down. It worked very nicely for smoothing the edges down, but also gave the outside of the can a “hammered” look (for some reason).

I then made a bold decision to hammer around the outside of the cans in all the places that didn’t have patterns, denting them in like a crazy person, popping the dents out from the inside, doing it again and again until the whole can looked beat up. It’s actually kind of cool. Imagine what could be done with an actual “smithing” hammer, whatever they are called.

I put some votive candles inside and set them down on the shiny new laminate to see how the reflections looked. Of course, the patterns weren’t aimed at the floor and those little candles aren’t very bright (like the guy that lit them), so there wasn’t much of a light reflecting pattern on the floor. A little more than showed up in this picture, though.

Up against the wall, in the corner, where the reflection is meant to be seen, it looks pretty sweet.

Can’t wait to see it wired up with electrics. That will be in the next installment.

View Part Three here.

 Posted by James at 1:02 am  Tagged with: , , , , , , ,

Coffee can lantern project – Part 1

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Aug 042011
 

 

I stumbled on a site showing how to make candle-lit coffee can lanterns and thought it was super cool

http://www.designsponge.com/2010/07/diy-project-karens-coffee-can-lanterns.html

and decided that I wanted to try and make my own. I have an affinity for ugly lamps and envisioned not candle-lit, but three or four of these on a floor to ceiling pole in the corner of a room, like those gawdy pendant things from the 60s and 70s, something like this only worse (meaning better):

So, I started looking for a pattern and immediately came up with the idea of making crop circle patterns. I found this in Google image search:

http://andrewburgess.wordpress.com/category/art-work-i-am-looking-at/crop-circles/

I worked out a pattern in Photoshop, though it wasn’t nearly as symmetrical as the original… hey, this is folk art. I printed three copies of it and also a pie chart in thirds sized to the coffee can lid, to help lay everything out on the can. I taped them all down and it looked like this:

This evening, I went looking for nails that would do the trick.

So, I went after the can with the smallest nail, then held it up to the vanity light in the bathroom and snapped this picture:

Because of the grooves in the can, there were already problems here. You can see in the middle right a double punch, where the first was so off center I had to try again. It happened again on one of the bigger dots on the far left. Another near the bottom right. I moved up to the next nail:

I didn’t re-punch the smallest of the holes, just the bigger ones. The can was starting to get worn and soft from the pounding. Did you notice how small the hammer was in that earlier picture? That means hitting the nail three or four times to get through the metal. The more you hit it, the softer it gets. Here’s after punching with the third and largest nail:

I knew this was a practice run and that I would probably just recycle the can (in the usual way) once I was done tearing it up, so I soldiered on. I needed to know if drilling out the holes as I had originally planned would work. The answer was apparent after the first drill bit was used.

The drill bits started cutting right through the metal with no problem at all… then the can tore and shredded around the bits as they broke through. That’s what I expected to happen. I was just trying to be optimistic that there might be a shortcut through this forest of punching. No such luck. Not one to quit in the middle of a failure, I soldiered on. Here’s the final, mangled first draft:

It shows promise. I think it looks OK having six sizes of holes, rather than the eight used in the printed template. Obviously, drills and bits are out. I need to find a few more big ol’ nails for the next draft. I think I will hang on to this can though. It gives me two more rounds of different things to try before moving on to the next clean CANvas.

This evening? Fail. But with promise. It’s like the Honorable Mention ribbon in the school art show. I have a nice collection of those around here somewhere…

View Part Two Here

 Posted by James at 11:10 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , , ,
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