I've undertaken a fun project that reaches all the way back to my dad in the 1930s.
That's when he went to work at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a studio grip.
In the 1960s, when thanks to his influence I worked as a grip, the only tools we carried were those in our tool belts, along with a saw and a crowbar. But when my dad started, the grips came to work with full sets of carpenter's tools.
They towed them around the studio lots - it was the same at all the studios - in wooden boxes that were mounted on dollies, pulling them along using canvas straps attached to the fronts of the dollies.
My dad gave me two of his boxes, which of course he built himself. He was a pretty able craftsman so these things are nicely made. One of them still contains his carpenter's tools, including a couple of saws, a brace and a set of bits, wood chisels, and much more. The other one came to me empty, so I store odds and ends in it. Both of them are still in very nice shape.
But late last summer a third one of these boxes came to me. It was given to me by a cousin - apparently my dad had given it to her father, my Uncle Jim - and obviously it had sat out in the weather for - well, for decades. It's in very rough shape. But it's got one feature that I find very interesting. It carries my dad's "brand," composed of his initials; it's the sort of thing he might have slapped onto cattle, had he owned any.
So OK, I tossed this poor old wreck into my car and hauled it home. It's resided out in back of the garage for months now, getting even more weather. But it deserves better than that. So finally I'm trying to bring it back to life.
This is easier said than done. It is composed of plywood, 1/2-inch for the front and back and 3/4-inch for the rest of it. The thing is, it's been wet many times, and so it has got some serious de-lamination going on. I've glued and clamped the worst spots. But the surfaces are very rough indeed, producing what they call these days "the distressed look." Man, is it distressed!
So I'm sanding into some degree of semi-acceptability. When I'm done, I will give the entire box a coat of - well, something. I've not decided yet. Varathane? Epoxy resin, the sort of thing with which surfboards are coated? That would be cool, but it's kind of expensive. We shall see.
There's a good-sized divot in the front, where something smashed into the box hard, breaking almost all the way through the plywood. Only way to fix that is to replace the front piece. But to do that would mean that the brand would be lost. So that isn't going to happen. I'm going to keep it like it is, battle scars and all.
When I'm done, I plan to use it as storage for my small (and ancient) collection of power tools - Skil saws, drills, sanders, etc. I think he would approve.
-JFT