Gamewell Fire Box

Docdc

Docdc

#1
#1
I guess I am the neighborhood restoration expert. Restore a few minibikes and people think you know what you're doing. A neighbor gave me this fire box to restore for his wife. What a great piece. He is 75 years old and works for the city. Someone threw this in the trash. Anyway, I have had it for several months now. I have spent hours blasting it and the paint is unbelievably thick and hard. There must be 30 coats on this thing. There were two stickers on the side that said "FIRE" that took an acetylene torch to burn off. That's been the easy stuff so far. I have worked on the machine screws for several months trying to get them out. What I understand is they usually are brass. These were steel and were short of welded in. I finally managed to get the last 4 hinge screws out tonight. I am surprised I didn't melt the thing with the amount of heat it took. Anyway, I have a lot to learn as far as restoring the paint on this. It wasn't a gloss and it wasn't a satin. Hopefully I can come close to the original red.

More to come...
Doc
 
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Docdc

Docdc

#3
#3
There is an interesting thing about the lock work. The main key which you can see is first put into the key hole and in the first 20 degrees of rotation, fingers are released that traps the key so that it can't be removed. The key is rotated anoth 180 degress or so to open the main door. On the other side which would be inside the box, a flat key (which I don't have) releases the main key. Fortunately it's a flat key and I should be able to easily recreate it. The lock is pretty ingenious for as old as it it is.

Doc
 
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Docdc

Docdc

#5
#5
Hi Tom,

Not being the brightest candle in the factory, I didn't think about before pictures because it didn't occur to me I would ever post this anywhere. Live and learn I guess. I have a sample of the paint and it isn't necessarily the color that is the problem, it's the sheen on it. I am probably wasting my time bothering but there are serious collectors who pay attention to that sort of thing. I am not sure at all but the sheen may be in part to the lead in the paint at the time. I'll get as close as I can and call it a day.

Doc
 
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