[Antique] Machinist's Tool Box - Restoration And Mystery Drawer

I have only seen one with that drawer. It was made by the machinist that owned it. It worked like this, push the drawer in and a spring loaded mechanism popped the drawer out. He used it to keep his watch and other valuables in while at work. Hope this helps.

"Billy G"
 
My godmothers father was a locomotive repairman/machinist for Burlington Northern around 1930.
I remember that my godmother had his shop made toolbox all prettied up and in her living room.
While I wasn't allowed to touch the contents, I clearly remember being showed the secret compartment and the latch which required that the lid be opened at a very specific angle in order for the spring loaded drawer latch to be released.

Daryl
MN
 
Daryl, that particular tool box has no lid, just the tambour front closure.

"Billy G"
 
Nice job on the box Kevin . I noticed that you used a product called Deckbrite , thanks for the tip . I like the website .
 
Thanks for all the comments guys - much appreciated.

With regard to a spring loaded mechanism: There is no evidence, that a spring loaded latch was used; for example, there are no screw holes in the underside of the word above the top drawer, or near the back of the drawer. Nothing could be mounted behind the drawer, because the tambour door curves around behind it when the tambour is open. As near as I can tell, the only place any kind of spring might have been mounted is on the back corners of the top drawer. Having said that, I do recall having once seen some kind of mechanism where one push released a spring and another push locked it in place - I 'll have to do a web search on that.

Another comment on the use of DeckBrite: When I got the chest, it had a faint mildew smell. I was hoping the DeckBrite would help to get rid of it, and was a bit disappointed that I could still detect a faint smell after cleaning. However, after drying and refinishing the chest, I can no longer smell mildew, so maybe it did the job. I may try it on another old chest I have, as nothing else I have tried for removing mildew smell has worked.
 
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