Picked this up at the last LaGrave. Its a KRA-53 from 1963. Pretty cool it'll be 50 years old soon.
It was in good shape, so I planned to strip it, straighten it, and paint it.
Took it too a sand blaster for an estimate, and he said he would blast, and powdercoat it for cheaper than I was expecting to pay for sand blasting alone. (quoted me $55, charged me $40)
Had 2 issues when I picked it up from powdercoat. He drilled two holes in all three drawers, and two holes in the bottom of the box, I assume to hang them while coating. To be honest, I wasn't too happy about it, especially since he didnt mention it. They're on the side of the drawers too, visible when the drawer is pulled out. Why not put them in the back of the drawers? Whatever.
Also, there is a spot on the handles where it looks like water was splashed on the handle when it was still wet, and left little impacts.
I went with black because he didnt have anything close to the blue I had decided on, and I had already talked myself out of red. I'm indifferent. In retrospect red would have been good, but I don't hate the black. The color is a "semi-flat black".
ALSO, the cover (with the logo and handle) wasnt near as straight as I thought it was, clean black paint REALLY brought out a couple small dings I could have easily beat out.
I lubed the drawer slides with white lithium grease, and they're so smooth.
I got a quote of $50!!! to re-chrome the handle and logo. I will probably eventually do that, but I cant afford it now. I hit them with some fine steel wool, and it really shined them up, but did put some micro scratches in the old chrome.
All I need is a lock and key.
How it started
Straightening some drawers
These are the drawer slides. I soaked them in a product called "Evapo-rust". $8.99 for a quart at O'rielly's. Worked great
It was in good shape, so I planned to strip it, straighten it, and paint it.
Took it too a sand blaster for an estimate, and he said he would blast, and powdercoat it for cheaper than I was expecting to pay for sand blasting alone. (quoted me $55, charged me $40)
Had 2 issues when I picked it up from powdercoat. He drilled two holes in all three drawers, and two holes in the bottom of the box, I assume to hang them while coating. To be honest, I wasn't too happy about it, especially since he didnt mention it. They're on the side of the drawers too, visible when the drawer is pulled out. Why not put them in the back of the drawers? Whatever.
Also, there is a spot on the handles where it looks like water was splashed on the handle when it was still wet, and left little impacts.
I went with black because he didnt have anything close to the blue I had decided on, and I had already talked myself out of red. I'm indifferent. In retrospect red would have been good, but I don't hate the black. The color is a "semi-flat black".
ALSO, the cover (with the logo and handle) wasnt near as straight as I thought it was, clean black paint REALLY brought out a couple small dings I could have easily beat out.
I lubed the drawer slides with white lithium grease, and they're so smooth.
I got a quote of $50!!! to re-chrome the handle and logo. I will probably eventually do that, but I cant afford it now. I hit them with some fine steel wool, and it really shined them up, but did put some micro scratches in the old chrome.
All I need is a lock and key.
How it started
Straightening some drawers
These are the drawer slides. I soaked them in a product called "Evapo-rust". $8.99 for a quart at O'rielly's. Worked great
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