Baking a spray paint finish

[dgale]

Value ultimately comes down to whether you want to use items for their practical purpose and enjoy them according to your aesthetic desires or whether you purchased something as an investment. I regularly buy old stuff and refinish/repurpose as I see fit…life's too short for me to get too caught up in someone else's theoretical value of the item. That being said, if I stumbled across a piece of Federal or similar older furniture and was told it has a ridiculously high value to some collectors out there because of it's original finish etc, I'd be hard pressed to throw that "value" away by refinishing it…instead, I'd be inclined to sell it and use the proceeds to buy (or build) what I really want. Now if I had already done so and subsequently found out I had destroyed most of the "value", I wouldn't lose sleep but rather realize how silly the whole thing is and enjoy the item as I had wanted it to be. My father inherited a full set of chippendale dining room chairs…he wanted to use them functionally for our dining room (imagine that!), so he stripped and refinished them (this was back in the early 70's). He subsequently came to find out that there is an identical matching set of these chairs in the Smithsonian and an appraiser told him he had shed 80% of the value (the set in the Smithsonian are supposedly worth more than Martha Stewart's Cape Cod palace…). To this day they are still used every day in my Mom's house (my Dad sadly passed away about 8 years ago) and I will ultimately inherit them. Countless memories of family dinners, Thanksgivings, X-Mas dinners etc. in those chairs - I'd argue that is more valuable and more in line with the original intended use that them being a museum piece.

[Ed in Tampa]

I go with appraisers that show me the money.

My buddies wife bought some glass insulators used years ago on telephone poles. She paid I think at least $10 apiece.

As things go my buddy and me found a old shack/dump pile that had three or four boxes of these glass insulators. We immediately got the best ones and took them to the antique dealer to sell. Guess what he offered, pennies ( I don't remember the exact price) but it was next to nothing. Yet he had a couple of these insulators in the his store for $10 and more.

There is one born every minute.

That roadshow would be a good program if the appraiser laid down the bucks that covered his estimate in a take or leave offer.

[WmZiggy]

Right-on dgale - I'm with you. You said what I said, only better. Can you imagine what idiot dictates that that worn out film on those beautiful 18th chairs in your family was 80% of the value!! What foolishness. What stupidity.

Yep, an appraiser on ARS can spout any sum - usually $1200 - $1500 when they give a "catch-all" - but something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. That's the economic bottom line. And many other factors too, like location of the object-de-art. An item in New England or New York is going to sell for more than in Fargo, ND.

Finally, and they never give the "small print" on ARS on this: If you place an item in an auction there is the seller's premium as well as taxes and fees. Don't forget, the house always takes it's cut.

[lightnin]

When I was in my twenties I bought an antique toolbox very early Stanley. The outside was perfect except the logo had a few cracks from age.
The inside had an oil spill that I cleaned out and I thought it was in awesome condition. In my early years I moved around a lot and many of my
things stayed in my parents garage the toolbox was one of them. When I settled down and had a garage of my own and retrieved those things.
I found my dad had painted it ugly green the same ugly green he had painted his flawless Edison Electric fan he had above his lathe.
He was the smartest man I have ever known but he never had an appreciation old things. I was not very wise then but I did not express to much
disappointment I knew he had done it as a favor.

The older I get the less I care about preserving tools as original, I worry about their use to me, Heck I never plan on selling any.
The more time that passes the more I become like my dad, but not ugly green I prefer pretty blue tools.

[WmZiggy]

I found my dad had painted it ugly green the same ugly green he had painted his flawless Edison Electric fan he had above his lathe.

Did you ever take the "ugly green" off? It would probably take the Stanley stencil off, but you can find reproductions of those too. You should restore it if you haven't and see if you can populate it with the tools that came in it. They are "out there". Maybe you have the tools.

One of the first planes I ever restored was my Dad's Craftsmen Jack. I still have it, plastic handles and all. It's a 1950's vintage. I couldn't afford an English made Record, back then, so decided to paint the interior of Dad's Record blue. Baked it on. It looks nice. The plane is a good user. I don't know who made the plane, perhaps Stanley. The Craftsmen isn't valuable except to me because it was my father's, but I would probably think twice before painting it that color today. Yes, blue is one of my favorite colors too.

[lightnin]

Did you ever take the "ugly green" off?

The finish under the ugly green was paint so I would need to take it down to bare metal ... and I may someday

["Wild Bad Bob"]

I agree, I did not buy the clock for resale, It has a nice chime and quarterly ring.
Remember antique as used cars dealers buy low, sell high, Oh sh*t,same as stock brokers!!!

[WmZiggy]

The finish under the ugly green was paint so I would need to take it down to bare metal ... and I may someday

Most everything Stanley made from #800 - #914 (1921 to 1942) was in oak, maple, spruce, pine, "hardwood", cardboard, or canvas. Only # 880, #881, #882A, and #883, made for a relatively short period -1934 to 1939 - were made in either pine or steel. #880 & 881 were painted black. #882A & 883 were green lacquer and were only made in steel. They probably stopped making steel chests as the economy switched to a war footing, never really marketing them again after the war. The #880 series is worth from $35 to $100 dollars without tools, $100 to $300 with tools, and of course condition is everything.

In the 1920s & 30s the home shop was beginning to come into reality, as well as shop classes in school teaching industrial arts. Stanley fostered and marketed to it. As Americans moved more and more off of farms and into urban and suburban environments and office jobs, Stanley saw a market for industrial arts (teaching it), home shops, and developed products and advertizing for it.

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Now here is an advertizing poster, one of the first in 1922, that was offered to industrial arts teachers and hardware stores. It is labeled "His Hobby". It launched Stanley's line of tool chests and sets. This picture is telling in lots of ways. As cars came into American's lives they built garages and this shop is in the garage. These men are not farmers or tradesmen, but are dressed as businessmen. It is a domestic scene - see Fido - and like today, the man or owner of the tools & chest is showing-off his "stuff". I love the hat on his friend or neighbor; it speaks volumes about automobiles as he has on his driver's cap and goggles and is carrying his duster. He also has a cigar in his hand, another mark of the American businessman.

Maybe this information will help you pinpoint which model you have.