Finished my Gerstner Tool Chest restore project (warning: Pic Heavy)

[The Badger Rider]

I made a thread asking for some restore tips about 2 weeks ago. I got some good advice, but one thing led to another and BOOM!....waist deep in a new project. The chest itself was in great shape, with the exception of a few minor scratches and of course the green felt. The finish was nice, but not to my tastes, so I sanded and re-stained the box to a darker color. I then chose to go with red felt instead of the green. The old leather handle was really beat up and dry-rotted, so that also got replaced with a nice shiny black one that I just got in the mail today. Once I got the handle I was able to complete the project and finish the felt on the underside of the lid. Here are before and afters: The before pics are from ebay, so no my living room isn't floor to ceiling purple and pink

AFTERS:

 

[The Badger Rider]

For the rusty hardware I used this stuff I picked up at Autozone called EVAPORUST. This is an amazing product which melted the rust and dirt right off. It's not toxic or corrosive, yet it worked wonders (great reviews on amazon too) I also wanted to use split rivets again for the front lock, rear hinges and the handle mounts, but trying to tighten up the rivets proved to be extremely difficult, so I scrapped that idea. I didn't want to use any ugly flat or phillips head screws either.

I ended up finding these Allen head 10-24 x1/2 machine screws that actually went into the wood easily, yet tightened up securely. I think they look awesome and give it a bit more character that the split rivets

 

[Wingnut]

WOW! GREAT restore job!!! Bravo!

Did you wind up geting the felt from Gerstner, or go with something aftermarket? Regardless, it looks fantastic.

And, FWIW, I think those allen head screws actually look BETTER than the original rivets.

 

[Ton Eighty]

Wow. Simply wow. I would pay a hefty sum for something that great looking. I want to find one of my own now, that thing is MAGNIFICENT! Great job with the felt work, too. It looks really good, not loose or wrinkled at all.

 

[Mark1966]

This is sensational!

A real work of art - well done sir

​

 

[MaxP]

I have a great appreciation for restoration projects. Your looks very fine. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Saxman11290]

Great job! My only question is, does that reside in your bathroom now, or does all your spare / storage material go in there and you take it out as you need it?

Either way, it is a lovely piece for whichever room you choose to keep it in. I would imagine it would serve as a great conversation piece in a living room or den. That way you can show off your gear to your guests as well

 

[The Badger Rider]

WOW! GREAT restore job!!! Bravo!

Did you wind up geting the felt from Gerstner, or go with something aftermarket? Regardless, it looks fantastic.

And, FWIW, I think those allen head screws actually look BETTER than the original rivets.

Thanks! According to Gerstner, they use some felt thats thicker than your average felt from the fabric store. Well, the fabric store had different felt thicknesses in all different colors. Gerstners was $40/yard and JoAnn fabrics was $7/yard. I would say I got a mid-thickness felt. And I agree, the allens look way better than the rivets. Thats the fun thing about projects like this; making it work and making it your own.

Wow. Simply wow. I would pay a hefty sum for something that great looking. I want to find one of my own now, that thing is MAGNIFICENT! Great job with the felt work, too. It looks really good, not loose or wrinkled at all.

I got good deal on ebay. I searched for the newly listed ones and apparently it was freshly listed and no one else had seen it yet. It was BIN with free shipping and the free shipping was the nice part, considering the size. I snatched it up immediately. The felt was the hardest part, but also not as bad as I had thought. Getting the right measurements and cutting the edges straight were the hard parts. Felt is very forgiving though, since you can stretch it and tuck any frizzy edges into the corners. Gerstner uses a water soluble animal glue to adhere the felt into the box. It's nice because if you have to take the felt out, you just wet it and it loosens up the glue. Their glue is $30 or $40 per bottle though. I ended up finding this nice, water soluble, CLEAR Elmers glue and it worked great. I tested it by drying some glue and later dissolving it with water and it only took about 10 minutes. Keeping the wrinkles out of the felt is the easy part

 

[mretzloff]

Very nice. The picture heavy warning is a sure-fire way to get people to look

 

[The Badger Rider]

Great job! My only question is, does that reside in your bathroom now, or does all your spare / storage material go in there and you take it out as you need it?

Either way, it is a lovely piece for whichever room you choose to keep it in. I would imagine it would serve as a great conversation piece in a living room or den. That way you can show off your gear to your guests as well

I have a bit of a shave den in my bedroom closet. It's a small book shelf about waist high that houses all my shave gear. This chest now sits on top of that shelf and will house my every day shavers, hones in the top, DE blades, soaps and future project straights. My every day straights are currently in the large drawer and my project straights are in the small drawer. I have a couple empty drawers that have yet to be assigned some equipment

 

[Dools]

Beautiful!!

 

[smalltank]

......

 

[Mick]

You did a fantastic job.

To look at the before pics I would not have believed it was possible

 

[Captain Pre-Capsize]

SUREly that is not the same chest - holy smokes! Gorgeous job there!

 

[mopar440_6]

I have wanted a Gerstner ever since I started hanging out in machine shops while in college. That chest is truly a work of art, absolutely beautiful. I love doing and seeing restoration work and watching the piece go from something that most people would throw in the trash to something really amazing.

 

[global_dev]

Wonderful! That must have been quite a feeling of accomplishment

 

[greenie]

That's a nice looking chest. Although, I would have probably only changed the felt inside, as patina looks great in the first pictures.

 

[The Badger Rider]

Honestly i don't remember where or how i got inspired to get a Gerstner (and now its going to drive me crazy) but it was only about a month ago. I feel really good about this project. It turned out pretty much how i pictured it

 

[ThePenIsMightier]

That's beautiful - I wish I had something like that, perhaps it would make somebody clean the tools before he puts them away (glares at husbeast).

 

[strop]

Nicely done!


But what's this about empty drawers? At B&B? Heresy!