We have an old Kennedy 520 toolbox. It is a grey fliptop lid with a removable front panel revealing some deeper and narrower drawers. It is intended as a toolmaker's toolbox and commonly found with all sorts of gauges, verniers, micrometers and other metric devices. In this case it was used as just that with gauges and home made slip gauges of one kind or another.
It is from a retired engineer and is now in our hands. Since they go for a bit and this is possibly 1960s one. Certainly not your usual thin and flexi metal toolbox.
The issue is it is all there and in pretty good nick except for rust. I was wondering about reconditioning it for either keeping or selling on to make some money. They go for typically £150 on ebay or more in some places I think. Kennedy are an American brand and virtually any manufacturing site or fitters yard in America probably had a Kennedy toolbox in there somewhere at one time. I think this one was bought in America then brought back.
My purpose is to stabilise it, remove a bit of the rust and take a little of the roughness from the rust away. Then I want to seal it so it does not get worse. I think it does not need to be completely like new as I think a bit of history in it is good. Also, I do not want to repaint is as it is a special Kennedy toolbox paint. Apparently they had ranges and models according to the end user. A toolmaker would never be seen dead with a mechanic's red Kennedy toolbox. This means that the greeny grey of this box is a Kennedy special. They still sell the original paint as a touch up or respray can. It just costs $58 dollars in the USA!!!
I do not want to slap on a bit of black hammerite and leave it. I want to basically remove enough rust to make it look tidy but with history and use, if that makes sense. Then I want to put some treatment on it that is not going to change the colour of the existing paint beyond making it look cleaner but will seal it from rusting any more.
Does anyone have a bit of advice on what to use? I gave a small patch a bit of a rub with a fine wire wool and I actually used a penetrator like GT85 too. It started to look ok but still a bit bumpy. More importantly it was not taking the paint away except where there was a little scratch throug to metal. I think some solution with a cloth and or wire wool might do something better. I bet someone on here knows what to do.
BTW I am UK based so I need UK sold items. I know there are many from around the world on here, which is great but I think America has more stuff sold out there for DIY jobs (possibly stuff that is banned here too).
It is from a retired engineer and is now in our hands. Since they go for a bit and this is possibly 1960s one. Certainly not your usual thin and flexi metal toolbox.
The issue is it is all there and in pretty good nick except for rust. I was wondering about reconditioning it for either keeping or selling on to make some money. They go for typically £150 on ebay or more in some places I think. Kennedy are an American brand and virtually any manufacturing site or fitters yard in America probably had a Kennedy toolbox in there somewhere at one time. I think this one was bought in America then brought back.
My purpose is to stabilise it, remove a bit of the rust and take a little of the roughness from the rust away. Then I want to seal it so it does not get worse. I think it does not need to be completely like new as I think a bit of history in it is good. Also, I do not want to repaint is as it is a special Kennedy toolbox paint. Apparently they had ranges and models according to the end user. A toolmaker would never be seen dead with a mechanic's red Kennedy toolbox. This means that the greeny grey of this box is a Kennedy special. They still sell the original paint as a touch up or respray can. It just costs $58 dollars in the USA!!!
I do not want to slap on a bit of black hammerite and leave it. I want to basically remove enough rust to make it look tidy but with history and use, if that makes sense. Then I want to put some treatment on it that is not going to change the colour of the existing paint beyond making it look cleaner but will seal it from rusting any more.
Does anyone have a bit of advice on what to use? I gave a small patch a bit of a rub with a fine wire wool and I actually used a penetrator like GT85 too. It started to look ok but still a bit bumpy. More importantly it was not taking the paint away except where there was a little scratch throug to metal. I think some solution with a cloth and or wire wool might do something better. I bet someone on here knows what to do.
BTW I am UK based so I need UK sold items. I know there are many from around the world on here, which is great but I think America has more stuff sold out there for DIY jobs (possibly stuff that is banned here too).
