Restoring a Union Tool Chest

JFerr · Oct 13, 2015

So, I am restoring an old Union tool chest, and was hoping to get some tips.

It is 17" wide, and covered with leather. In the bottom right corner of the box it is stamped/engraved with "79"

Thus far I've only dusted it and removed the ripped and tattered felt from the drawers.

As you can see in one of the images, one drawers plywood has an inspection stamp dated "NOV 11 1918", so presumably this unit is around that age. I haven't seen other Union chests with the leather cover though, so I'm curious if that is original.

The work to be done includes:

Rebuilding the bottom drawer- I have the front, back, and bottom of it. However, the sides and rails are missing. I think I'll talk to a carpenter friend to determine the wood types and rebuild the drawer.
Re-felting the drawers. This seems easy enough, though there seems to be a lot of discussion out there regarding felt and glue types. I do plan to store some measuring tools in the box, so I want to avoid rust prone combinations.
Deciding what to do with the leather exterior. It's tattered, and some of the wood of the box needs to be straightened underneath. I'm inclined to remove it and clean underneath. I think I'll leave the decision to re-leather or wood finish the outside until later. What're your thoughts?
Lightly cleaning the wood finish of the drawers. I want to remove some of the deep oil stains, and possible provide some protection to the areas where the finish is essentially gone. However, I intend to leave it mostly intact so as to preserve the history, logo, etc. I was planning to use Murphy's oil soap, are there other good options?
Replacing hardware- I need 3 drawer pulls. I've seen them new for $7 from machinist chest, however, I hate to have them mismatch the originals, and don't want to flock out $70+ to replace them all at the moment. Does anyone have other ideas where I could pick some up?
Restoring the front panel. I am not sure if the one I have is original, as it doesn't look like others I have seen. However, the lock seems to look generally correct.

Advice, tips, etc are much appreciated. I will post photos as I go

maynah · Oct 13, 2015

The 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month, 1918. Nice historic date.

steamachine · Oct 14, 2015

Concerning replacement of the drawer pulls, your box most likely has the older style which uses a separate piece of spring steel to retain the ring whereas the newer ones like those offered by machinist chest have the ring retainer stamped out of the same piece as the spun back plate. You probably won't find the older style unless you do what I've done which is to locate a donor box, too far gone to restore but retaining some period hardware. I would order the pulls from machinist chest and if you really wanted to match your originals remove the stamped retainer and make a retainer from spring steel. I have 6 of the union chests and have found the older style of pulls do not hold up as well as the newer style Your front panel quite possibly is original just is missing the horse hair leather covering I have found that poplar was often used beneath the leather on union chests.

Todd

Frank R · Oct 14, 2015

If the leather is really bad you could consider stripping it off and revealing the wood underneath. Here is someone who did it to an old Crown Graphic camera: Iain Kendall ? The Anniversary Speed Graphic Project

Note that the chest's wood may not look as nice as that mahogany.

SouthBendModel34 · Oct 14, 2015

Maynah,

In response to your comment, I consulted a perpetual calendar and learned that 11-NOV-1918 was a MONDAY, so JFerr's chest was inspected on a Monday.

Every school kid learned that the fighting in World War One ended in an Armistice at 11AM that day. I just looked it up, and it was 11AM Paris Time.

Your post has me whimsically thinking about the people at the Union factory that day. If the Armistice was 11AM Paris Time, then the men and women at the Union Factory knew it was already in effect at the start of their workday, as Paris Time is several hours ahead of any USA time zone.

Must have been an unusual Monday - I think the existence of the Armistice agreement was publicly known before it actually took effect, but like any international agreement, you never quite know if all the nations involved will actually comply until it becomes a fait acompli. We can only guess at the state of mind of these workers. Were they hung over from a weekend of celebrating? Were they in a state of suspense waiting to see if the fighting would actually cease?

Getting back to the chest itself, it will want re-covering. The chest makers saved the select wood for the varnished chests. The covered ones received wood which was sound but not beautiful.

John Ruth

Montgomery · Oct 14, 2015

Do not use oil soap on it if you want to refinish it. You might consider using TSP, and lightly rubbing it.

surplusjohn · Oct 16, 2015

i doubt the covering was leather, did it have a fabric backing? if so then it was proxlyn [sp] which is lacqure coated cloth or paper. not made much anymore except for book coverings.

JFerr · Nov 17, 2015

RE Ring Pulls, they are the stamped out type- I've decided that I'll order the missing ones from machinist chest, and let them be mismatched for a while. My eventual plan is to send them out for chrome along with the corner guards (I have an order going out of other parts).

As for the leatherette, it definitely isn't leather. After a trip to the fabric store, I've decided to cover it with a similar, very thin vinyl-pleather. I also picked up some pretty thick remnant kelly green felt for my drawers- $2.50/yd! I plan to install both using titebond hide glue, so that it remains reworkable.

I've also removed all corner guards and the handle. I don't think I'll be reinstalling the handle with rivets, but instead I'm going to use some SHCS so that it's easier to remove should I want to replace the handle later.

Someone else seems to have tried to poorly restore the front panel (nails way too big, not properly done). I've undone their work, and got it back to a state where I can put it back together. I won't be covering it in the leatherette, but instead finishing it, to provide some contrast. Another reason being that the corners are quite worn down, which would make covering it a hassle.
For reassembling the front panel, the bottom lip is recessed, as seen in this picture

Can anyone tell me if the recess faces in or out?

Finally, I want to fix up the bare spots and clean up the facial wood on the drawers. I've heard of people using go-jo since it contains lanolin, to remove grease. But I'd like to know what finish the drawers have (Shellac, polyurethane, etc) so that I can touch up the bare spots.

Bob-O · Nov 17, 2015

The recess on the front cover should face out. The extended lip should be in toward the drawers to engage the slot in the bottom of the case.

I refinished my father's 1940's vintage Union case last year. I sanded it, stained it with Minwax dark mahogany stain, and gave it several coats of shellac. It was originally stained, not cloth covered.

Frank R · Nov 17, 2015

If the finish dissolves in alcohol then it is shellac.

I would apply the stain in light coats so it does not get too dark. The clear finish will darken it too.

JFerr · Nov 25, 2015

instead of buying the $18 rivets, I have this $2 solution, which will also be easier to disassemble if necessary

I'm using these pronged 6-32 flat nuts, and button head cap screws

They remain flush on the bottom, and still look nice on top.

Additionally, here's my stained (& still wet polyurethane) front panel

k3vyl · Nov 27, 2015

Your doing a great job there,but the screws you used had not been invented when the chest was made. Round head brass machine screws will look like the brass wood screws that probably were used at the time. The T nuts are well hidden. Poetic license...

JFerr · Dec 9, 2015

And here it is, short a few ring pulls

wawoodman · Dec 9, 2015

Nice job! Looks great.

Stradbash · Dec 9, 2015

Frank R said:
If the finish dissolves in alcohol then it is shellac.

Aged shellac is not soluble in alcohol. That said, shellac could have been mixed with other alcohol soluble resins that are still.

JST · Dec 10, 2015

That case looks nice.

Stradbash said:
Aged shellac is not soluble in alcohol. That said, shellac could have been mixed with other alcohol soluble resins that are still.

All the shellac I've dealt with was, even the stuff that was so old it was checked and alligatored. Sometimes it wasn't 100% soluble, some stuff came off and some stayed, but it was all at least swelled and softened..

k3vyl · Dec 10, 2015

Now that I see the whole thing I would say the SS screws look great. I use socket heads on everything.

Stradbash · Dec 10, 2015

JST said:
All the shellac I've dealt with was, even the stuff that was so old it was checked and alligatored. Sometimes it wasn't 100% soluble, some stuff came off and some stayed, but it was all at least swelled and softened..

Swelled and softened is not dissolved though.
That was exactly the experience I had when I desperately wanted to re-apply a dyed shellac finish I had put on 10-15 years beforehand. I wanted to dissolve, reclaim and re-apply it, but could not.
I've seen coatings that I -knew- were shellac crack and check, but never alligator. How do you know the alligatored finish was shellac?

The tool box does look nice! I'm sorry to have not tripped across this thread earlier as I might have had a suggestion or two, but it very much looks like you arrived at some good workable solutions. Congrats!

Emjie · Sep 30, 2019

Wow ! I'm so glad I found this thread ( even if I'm a few years late maybe? )
I am currently restoring a 17'' wide Union tool chest identical to this one. Mine is numbered 117 (as written behind each drawer and engraved inside the box), and although I can see the stamp from the inspection underneath on of it's drawer, the date and other details aren't readable anymore. It's good to have an approximate year of build now !

Also, there is one thing I wonder. It seems you have the key to the lock ? It's the only thing missing from the one I got ( lucky me, I got all of my handles ! ) and upon restoring it, I found the round lock to be engraved wih number 66 ( or 99 ), as weel as the bottom of the box on the outside ? Does your also have that ?

Also, did you do anything to prevent all hardware to rust over gain ? I've already spent a lot of time brushing off rust and goo from all the nickeled part, and wonder if there is a way to keep them as shinny as possible for as long as possible now. Did you use like a clear paint coat or something ?

Riderusty · Oct 1, 2019

Emjie, I bit the bullet on my steel nickel-plated pieces and had them nickel plated as original. That was about 20 years ago (or more). You might check the Gerstner web site for replacements to see if that would be more cost effective.

Tom B.

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