Vintage air pistol box repair - a couple examples

[Leonardj]

1) A while back, I was sent a boxed pre-war Webley Mark I, for the purpose of rebuilding the gun and to repair the box as best possible.
Permission from the owner was received to post the box repair.

The lower tray was in pretty good shape, and only required gluing and reinforcing of the corner seams, however, the lid required a bit more attention - one end was completely missing.

http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/u...Web-box-01.jpg

A piece of the appropriate gauge of cardboard was carefully cut, fitted, and glued into place.

http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/u...Web-box-02.jpg

http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/u...Web-box-03.jpg

A piece of very slightly yellowed, older newsprint paper was then glued in place in an attempt to replicate the inside liner paper.

http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/u...Web-box-04.jpg

I was unable to source any sort of raised pattern paper that would even come close to replicating the original cover paper, but after some experimentation, I ended up using a photocopied

panel from one of my own early Webley boxes, and enhanced the colour to my satisfaction. While the end result is not a raised pattern, it does a pretty good job of matching up visually.

The outer covering is started inside the box, to match the original wrap over, and then up and around to the top of the box. In an effort to avoid too much of a tell-tale clean edge at

the top of the box, the top edge of the new paper was scuffed up a bit with a small wire brush, giving it a little bit of an aged look. Not perfect, but certainly a vast improvement over

what it was.

http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/u...Web-box-05.jpg

http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/u...Web-box-06.jpg

The completed box lid. The owner was very pleased with the restoration.

http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/u...Web-box-07.jpg

http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/u...Web-box-08.jpg


2) This is how I went about restoring the lower tray of the box for a vintage Sears Ted Williams Match Pistol.

The lower part of the box was heavily water damaged with muddy or rusty water, and then subsequently generously covered in green duct tape, to hold the failing box together. The duct

tape was partially dried out and impossible to remove without tearing the box cover paper, and all that ugly green duct tape just had to go. The following pics show the progression of

the restoration:

1) The inner liner had almost completely lifted due to the water damage. As the duct tape peeled off the outer cover paper, it lifted the rest of the inside liner away from the box.

2) The remnants of the outer covering - very little of the original black paper showing through all the duct tape adhesive residue. I should have taken a pic of the box prior to starting

the removal of the tape, and cover paper, but it never occurred to me until after the the box was stripped.

3) The stripped box. the original corner reinforcements were re-glued in preparation for the restore. You can see the rust coloured staining in the upper RH corner.

4) The new inner liner paper has been glued in place.

5) The new outer covering paper has been glued in place.

6) Last but not least, the new bottom covering paper has been glued in place. Looks almost as good as the day it came from the factory.

Interestingly enough, the gun did not suffer any water damage, so I can only surmise that the gun was not in the box when the water damage occurred.

http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/u...cs/BR-001a.jpg

http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/MVC-370F.jpg

[micky]

Hi a very nice job you have done there, well done with the webley box.

[zooma]

Excellent cardboard engineering - well done!

What glue did you use - PVA?

[Phil G]

Excellent job, big Internet High Five to you.

[Garvin]

Very interesting photo essay, Len. Thanks. Superb de-knackering work that obviously took a lot of skill and patience.

Makes my own recent efforts to strengthen a Mk1 box lid using 3M clear archive tape at the corners look very crude.

[Troubledshooter]

Nice job, Len.

[RetroBloke]

Very nice work - thanks for taking the time to document the repairs.
Is always interesting to see ways to restore worn items but I've not seen a guide for box repair before.


Cheers,
Pete

[Josie & John]

Len,

You are indeed a man of many talents. I wish you lived nearer!

Kind regards,

John

[battyone]

Brilliant job

I can fix wood, metal and plastic, wouldn't even occur to me to try repairing a box, top job!!!

Now I have a scope box that's looking a bit dog eared...

[Leonardj]

Thank you for the kind words, gentlemen.

What glue did you use - PVA?

I used a cabinetmaker's liquid glue, applied with flat toothpicks, for repairing the cardboard, such as the corners of the box, and gluing in that end panel on the Webley box.
A product called "UHU Stic" was used for fastening the paper liners, and paper outer coverings.

[pennineway.fswo]

Nice job indeed Len and very useful post

thanks
John

[zooma]

Thank you for the kind words, gentlemen.


I used a cabinetmaker's liquid glue, applied with flat toothpicks, for repairing the cardboard, such as the corners of the box, and gluing in that end panel on the Webley box.
A product called "UHU Stic" was used for fastening the paper liners, and paper outer coverings.

Thanks for the information.

I have tried PVA with some success but I will try to find a cabinetmakers liquid glue - do you have a brand name I could look for?

[johnbaz]

Smashing job!!

I had a Webley Senior box given to me by a nice chap on facebook!!

Pic 1

Pic 2



Cheers, John

[Leonardj]

do you have a brand name I could look for?

This is the glue that I used - it is made in Canada exclusively for this retailer.
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/pag...10,42965,45104