Since I have traveled with the chest for a bit more than a year now, I had intended writing a kind of review based on my experiences with the chest.
But thanks to SAS (Scandinavian Airlines System), the review is a bit different than what I had intended.
Upon arriving in Bergen I discovered that I was unable to pull out the handle for using the wheels on my bag. That made my alarm bells start ringing.
Today I tried to grab a clean T-shirt from my bag, and it was stuck to the tool chest. At first I thought that it had just caught on one of the corner guards. But when I looked closer it was also stuck to another T-shirt. I examined the corner thoroughly and it dawned upon me that they were not simply attached to the chest - they were glued to it!
I unlocked the chest and tried to raise the lid - impossible.
So the sad fact is that the bagage handlers of the SAS have mistreated the bag in such a way that the small glass of white glue I had inside have been broken, and due to the bag being thrown around, the glued hadn't just stayed at the bottom of the chest, but had managed to seep along the side to the top, gluing everything on its way.
I brought the chest to the engine control room, and I have succeeded in opening the lid and removing the large till. But the rest is still stuck.
I have filed a report to the SAS, but I doubt that I will get anything out of that. So I will try to see if I can pry the parts from each other.
The chest now with the lid able to open.
The glued up corner of the chest.
This is the corner where the glue has seeped out.
That sucks. Why didn't you leave the glue in a plastic bottle? Or, better yet, hot hid glue granules.
ReplyDeleteHmm, I have always had it in am old glass jar with a screw on lid.
ReplyDeleteIt has worked that way in both my tool chests for the sea, but I think I'll go for a small plastic bottle next time.
I finally managed to pry the parts from each other, and there were nothing destroyed. But the clean up didn't leave a super nice surface, but on the other hand, it is the interior of a tool chest - so it can look a bit scruffy.
Cheers
Jonas
I'm glad it didn't ruin any of your tools!
DeleteI got a big spot of surface powder rust on the top part of a plane iron, but I quickly removed it, so there is very little damage done.
ReplyDeleteSo I think I was lucky overall.
I thought the chest was toast. Don Williams recently did a blog post about a stripper he uses to remove yellow glue.
ReplyDeleteI was afraid to break my tills, as they are only made from 1/4" thick stock to keep the weight down. But I managed to part everything without breaking it.
DeleteI pared the hardened glue away using a chisel. But I think I'll use a plastic bottle next time.
Brgds
Jonas
Think of those as battle scars on that sea going chest.
ReplyDeleteTake a licking keeps on ticking :-)
Cheers
Bob
Hi Bob
DeleteThe scars aren't that visible, but I told myself exactly the same thing. It will add character to a chest if it can show signs of actual usage.
Cheers
Jonas
Sorry to hear this; I hope it is fixable. I wish I knew some method that would help you out, but I am pretty certain that if you can't figure it out then neither can I. At least it seems your tools are safe.
ReplyDeleteGood luck
Bill
Hi Bill
DeleteThanks for the encouragement.
I manged to pry the parts from each other, so all is fine again.
The only loss to the incident was a T-shirt from Castrol (a cheap one we got one time when we had received a large order of lubrication oil for the ship). So things could have ended up worse than they did.
I think that part of my luck was that I discovered it before the glue was completely hardened. If not I would have been a lot worse off.
Now I'm waiting for a reply from SAS regarding a compensation.
Brgds
Jonas