Well worn Gerstner style machinist chest makeover.

[@ЕленаКолесникова-х3г]

Мастер вы фантатически талантливый реставратор.Калассальный труд и невератно красивый результат. Браво вашему мастрству❤❤❤

[@meepenjaap7999]

Love the intro, nice personal touch.

[@garykarel674]

The box you have is a National. Great job restoring it, i am hoping to restore my Union Steel after i retire.

[@Jmassage_58]

That looks fantastic! I just came across one a couple wks ago. I’m about to clean it up, line the inside drawers with green leather and use it as a men’s jewelry box: watches, cuff links, rings, neck pieces, earrings and bracelets that I’ve accumulated over the many years.

[@rocktruckrob]

New subscriber here from deep river Ontario Canada….love love love restoration videos… I like your channel good sir well done👊✌️👍😎🇨🇦your workbench looks like mine🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@teresabell1014]

Beautiful piece !

[@Pynefurnishings]

I love adding paste wax to the slides, to make them slide easier. Good job!

[@markduncan6690]

Whoa! Very pleasant viewing! A very fine restoration! I will be watching for more!

[@suemarina]

What an amazing job you did on this.

[@kaycox19]

Well done! Turned out simply beautiful!

[@meanwhileinindiana8107]

Hows Pat?

[@shedmanx3640]

Fantastic job on that machinists box. They are very rare nowadays, especially down under here in Australia. Can be found but rarely complete and in much worse state than you started with. Liked your work so I subscribed to keep an eye out for similar content.

[@mariankozlowski4571]

Great job! My Dad who was a machinist had one of these cases.

[@terrileyda5346]

Beautiful kitty!🐾💕🐾💕

[@carolmoore3706]

Absolutely beautiful

[@rosemarshall1219]

Very nice piece. And cat!!👌

[@jimrowe4177]

Great work. I just bought an Excelsior tool chest. Plan to do the same.

[@machinistmikethetinkerer4827]

Big job. Turned out great. Nice work Mike!

[@k9six185]

I have 3 Gerstner chests….2 of which I have rebuilt…the other is an original I inherited from my father..nice video

[@rosemarymagrino772]

It came out beautifully!

[@simpleman283]

Yesterday my Mom wanted me to help her find a word in her crossword puzzle book, she will sometime save the last word or two for me after she makes so many marks the letters are hard for her to see. So she said, find this one "electric". I sat down with the book & looked at the word, I said "mom, this word is not electric, no wonder you could not find it, you have been looking for ele when this word is ecl, I don't know what this word is, but I'll look it up after I find it". So yesterday was the first time I have ever seen the word Eclectic & now I see it this morning at the end of your video and I know what it means. I like what you did for the toolbox, if it were mine I would put my late Dad's (mine now) 19th Edition Machinery's Handbook where the manual goes.

[@_steffinwolf_]

That center fat drawer IS the Handbook's cubby. So, if the owner of this tool chest can find a vintage edition to put in there - Bingo! It can hold an edition only so thick, newer editions are fatter. I inherited my Dad's, it's in pretty good shape considering it is about 60 years old, I'm guessing. For the heck of it, I bought an extra, circa 1940's, Machinery Handbook. If you wonder about the older technology, they're an interesting read. I saw an episode of Antiques Roadshow on PBS, and there was a widow that had her late husband's Gerstner, with all his tools, notes pads, handbook, and McDonnell Douglas Aircraft badges and stickers. They gave a value of about $1400, not too bad for a old tool box.

[@wireworks616]

Great job

[@kerylcooper2314]

Thank you! It turned out beautiful! 👏🏼👏🏼👍🏼👍🏼❤️❤️🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@kennyburgess1756]

It was Amazing what he was able to do with it

[@jackjaeger2189]

That is a great looking box. Finish is perfect. But handle with care.

[@meanwhileinindiana8107]

It is a solid box now you can use it just like it was intended. However we just recovered the handle and it can’t take much abuse because it is a little soft.

[@shawnataylor7998]

Beautiful job!

[@AndrewBeckman-g4f]

Did you ever find out about those 2 nails you mentioned in the beginning sir????

[@tim_bbq1008]

Very nice!

[@jerryvan6709]

Nice job, but how could you not remove the drawer knobs before staining & finishing? It leaves dark shadows in the finish around the knobs.

[@pethoviejo]

Good job, looks nice.

[@zekecorder8226]

Nice work!!

[@randallsmith7885]

I inherited a 7 drawer machinist chest from my father in law. It is from Union Steel Chest Corporation in LeRoy, NY. It is missing its front drawer cover. I want to make a new cover. Trying to figure out if the original was a raised panel. The rear oanel of the chest is a flat panel. The corner hardware is attached with screws and it is in general good condition.

[@meanwhileinindiana8107]

I have a seven drawer chest from Union chest company, and with the smaller one I have, it has no panel just one single flat thin board. However there is no wrong or right because there were options I have seen taller chests with raised panels flat panel and even side-by-side flat panels on the drawer cover. To me it’s not particularly important if you’re going to display it open most of the time. If you’re actually going to use it then I would go with a single panel most likely flat because it’s easier because it stronger than just a plain thin piece of wood like mine has.

[@randallsmith7885]

@@meanwhileinindiana8107 Thank you so much for the encouragement and perspectives on the front panel. I have never seen someone make such a thin floating panel cover like you did in this restoration. I am kind of awe struck! It really looks great on that box.

[@garykarel674]

I have a 7 drawer Union Steel chest at work, it has a raised panel in the front cover with felt on the back side exactly like you would see in a Gerstner chest. The only difference is the Union Steel has a round finger pull where the Gerstner is more oval. Union Steel stopped making wood chests around 1953. The two screws mentioned at 1:58 in the video are the stops for the front cover.

[@meanwhileinindiana8107]

@@garykarel674 excellent information! Another mystery solved. Since this box wasn’t going to be use instead of putting those back I use them as the front panel handle so it would match the entire case. But it is so nice to know what they were actually for. Thank you!

[@randallsmith7885]

@@garykarel674 Thanks so much for sharing your insights!

[@kenpoist7]

My Dads Gerstner 52 had a tack my Dad had added to keep the front panel from moving to far backwards toward the drawers. If the front panel moved out out alignment the lock would not work.

[@davidoneill3806]

That particular tool chest was manufactured by Sipco and marketed under the name Star. Conventional wisdom on the Internet is they were made from 1938 to 1948 but I actually believe they were made earlier than that.

[@kaycox19]

Suggestion for adding 21st century tiny wheels to save the bottom. Really nice!

[@walterulasinksi7031]

An upholster’s trick ,when adding felt to all sides of a drawer, measure fabric to include height of the sides, cut fabric. On back of fabric, measure exact size of bottom and mark fully across the fabric. Where the lines intersect, cutout the extra square on each corner. Glue in fabric onto bottom and stretch to insure a good bond, glue sides and attach extra fabric onto sides of drawer. This takes less time and insures that there is no edge fabric except in corners of sides.

[@StoneyMeyerhoeffer]

I know that a lot of folks avoid for the mess, but I use flocking so I don't have to do any cutting at all. Fitting drawer liners annoys me.

[@Tensquaremetreworkshop]

Brave restoration- many parts more work than replacing! Nice work. Really surprised how poorly constructed some of these tool chests are (nailed on back, face mounted rails, etc). Even the fabled Gerstner cut corners, especially recently (nails for pushing door lock pins and holding on the door side plates, non-veneered ply internally, etc).

[@JRM---516]

This guy is an artist!

[@kenpoist7]

What stain did you use?

[@marcslonik5096]

Great job. Really love how it turned out! The front panel does not seem to have any hardware at the bottom - what keeps it from falling off?

[@meanwhileinindiana8107]

There is a groove in the case and a spline on the door that goes in the groove!

[@_steffinwolf_]

According to Gerstner website, that handwritten number inside the main cabinet is the control number. That way all the pieces, that were hand fitted together, can be reassembled after finishing and hardware attachments, etc. I like how the chest pops back to life once the stain is applied, it looks great! Also, if anyone is interested, they have a service ($50) to identify the age, within a few years, of the tool chest. They sell the split rivets, felt, handles, corner brackets, and locks. I'm guessing that the one I inherited from my father, it is about half again as wide as the one you worked on here, is about 60 years old, I know he ordered it direct from the factory, not as a second hand purchase.

[@meanwhileinindiana8107]

Thanks for the information. This wasn’t a Gerstner so parts from Gerstner aren’t appropriate. The Gerstner parts have their name stamped on them. I appreciate the views!

[@lfuentes4098]

How does the flip down door stay put? Is there a magnet or latch?

[@meanwhileinindiana8107]

There are spring loaded pins that when you close the top it pushes the pins down into the top edge of the front panel.

[@woodbutcher3887]

Thanks for sharing. You have more patience than I do. Great work with a very worn wood tool box. What part of Indiana, as we are also in Indiana, just across the river from Louisville.

[@meanwhileinindiana8107]

North central. Thanks

[@garryevans3594]

awesome

[@across5805]

Can someone please be able to let us know how we would be able to reach out to Mike? We'd love for him to give consideration in refurbishing our Gerstner 042, 11 drawer for us. Hard to find someone good nowadays. Thanks so much.

[@meanwhileinindiana8107]

Go to my about section my email is there, sorry, I haven't been receiving notifications

[@jmsmom67]

Why is there a mirror in a machinist chest?

[@meanwhileinindiana8107]

Traditionally people cared about how they looked before hitting the street to go home. Most used to put on a suit before leaving work back in the day.

[@ronaldhorne5106]

To find the metal shavings that fly into your eye when you run metal working equipment without safety glasses.

[@bonitahugo6516]

You did a nice job! Have you considered using wax or oil to make the drawers slide nicer?

[@meanwhileinindiana8107]

They slid perfectly after The adhesive I used to install the felt dried. It added a lot of moisture to the case which everything then swelled up.

[@k9six185]

Normally a quick rubbing with a piece of candle wax is all it takes along with proper fitting first

[@maturefox1]

... looks really nice now! Did you try candle wax to make the drawers easier to go? Thanx for sharing - sub button pushed! 😉🦊

[@meanwhileinindiana8107]

Thanks for the sub

[@noras.9774]

Why somebody wants an old object to be new?!!! I never understand!

[@meanwhileinindiana8107]

I don't think I made it look new, I just made it serviceable again. It will ,last another lifetime now.

[@noras.9774]

@@meanwhileinindiana8107 sorry, not you, the person who give you to restore!

[@ashleyfalcon125]

Nowhere does anything say they wanted it to be new, nor did they ever claim to want it LOOKING new, either. 🤷‍♀️ They simply want to use it again, without having it completely fall apart on them or break any further in the process. This is called a “restoration” for a reason. The same reason a replacement is called a replacement, & refurbishing is called refurbishing. Lol They’re all totally different things-all with different processes, end goals, & specific purposes in mind.

[@noras.9774]

@@ashleyfalcon125 Sorry, I am from Romania, my english is not so subtile, but for me an antique or an old item is for decor, not for use

[@markneo1]

Excelente 👏👏🇧🇷

[@espinozamanu]

Eventhough the piece looks good at the end, there are still several details that he could have solved as: outer side of drawers look ugly and were not painted, they do not slide easily and the color does not match between one another, could have marked the position of drawers at start not to have a final mess of them, shop looks very disordered. Chest ended firm and nice.

[@meanwhileinindiana8107]

Thanks for your "View" You forgot to mention I am obese.

[@kavitaahluwalia3007]

Wow

[@designabeej]

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@Tatyana_Gorodetskya]

Талантливо!

[@meanwhileinindiana8107]

Благодарю вас!

[@grayukuk]

What a shame! I thought this would be a good video and topic! However: Your editing really doesn't help. There is little continuity. Not much in the way of Actual woodworking, just video showing pieces already done! I lot of time complaining. Poor workmanship in general. "It is, what it is" is not the comment of a good craftsman! Generally, it fits where it touches, is a fair appraisal of this Project.

[@chadwedul1787]

Gerstner? No.

[@aboutsigns2]

ruined