Vintage Weber Charcoal Caddy rehab

[Jeff]

As some of you know, I've been waiting to refinish an older Weber charcoal caddy I picked up late last October.  It was in pretty rough shape...it never led a sheltered life to say the least.  So with warm weather finally taking hold in the Chicago area, I've finally had some time to put towards this antique. 
For those of you not familar with this charcoal caddy, the next few photos will explain a little bit about it.



Here is a color photo of one in the background.


The next few photos are what it looked like when I brought it home.







As you can see from the above photos, there was some significant rust on the lid that was a little more than just surface.  There was a lot of pitting in the metal.  The body of the caddy wasn't as bad, but still had some pitting.  The bottom of it was pretty bad as well as you will see.
Let the fun begin.







Let the sanding process begin.  I used a 1/4 sheet finishing sander during the whole process.  I started with a 220 grit, and worked my way down to a 100 grit.   All pits were filled and sanded with a 3M glazing and spot putty.  It has an orange color than you can see in some of the photos.






Time to start shooting some primer.





Now time to start shooting some of the final colors.



After I sprayed the copper color onto the lid, I realized there were LOTS more pits that showed up now that the final color was on it.  Back to the glazing and spot putty to fill them.  After I sanded the putty down, I re-primed and sanded (not shown)




Last but not least, the final photos with fresh paint and new caddy support hardware.








And here is a somewhat period correct photo to show some scale of size.  This caddy is bigger than you think.

[Hogsy]

Great job Jeff!!! Finished product looks brand new
Great write up too

[1buckie]

Excellent fixup !!!

The finished pics look so nice, they're almost surreal.....very good job on something that may only come around once  in a lifetime !!!!

[1911Ron]

Wow looks brand new, great job!

[Winz]

Jeff - that transformation is amazing.  Thanks for giving a cool piece of Weber history new life and sharing it with us.  Excellent job!

Winz

[SlickedBack]

I passed on buying one of those at a local antique mall.
Now I think that may be grounds for a suspension from WKC for a day.
And no I won't say which antique mall!!
Hehehe!!!


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[SlickedBack]

Nor will I say it was on the main level, in a corner. Damn near right in the center of the store.


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[mirkwood]

Jeff, Nice write up on the restoration of a sweet piece of Weber hardware.  If you go to any meet ups this summer you should try to copy that cover artwork, a redhead with metal handles all the way around and period side table would be a top notch image. Oh and that beautiful blue kettle is amazing..

[Jeff]

Jeff, Nice write up on the restoration of a sweet piece of Weber hardware.  If you go to any meet ups this summer you should try to copy that cover artwork, a redhead with metal handles all the way around and period side table would be a top notch image. Oh and that beautiful blue kettle is amazing..

Oh..I have big plans for that exact thing.  One more project to finish, and a few wardrobe items are needed!  Stay tuned!  And I have lots more goodies to copy that cover and then some.

[Craig]

Outstanding work Jeff! Looks brand new right out of the catalog!

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[cbpeck]

Phenomenal job! That's an excellent restoration of a very cool item. Yet another product Weber should bring back into production!

[mirkwood]

Oh..I have big plans for that exact thing.  One more project to finish, and a few wardrobe items are needed!  Stay tuned!  And I have lots more goodies to copy that cover and then some.

Dude that's so awesome I can't wait to see the finished product..

[tattooedant]

Absolutely Beautiful!...nice job..

[landgraftj]

Great save Jeff, it looks brand new!

[salad]

Nice job!  That really does look amazing especially when you have period correct kettle to match.  Very nice!