My Fifth Bisley!

Today I collected & refurbished a 15 drawer Bisley cabinet. I have four already. They house my 15 mm wargames figures.

The 10 & 15 drawer cabinets are ideal for everything except certain pike models and elephants hence the six-drawer cabinet on the left. They are very space efficient.

They currently hold a collection that has taken decades to acquire and I still have three empty drawers and one just started. I am not going to need another for years. Which is precisely why I bought another!

Before & after

The latest cabinet cost me £10.00 via eBay. I had a twenty mile round trip to collect it so I suppose you should add two or three quid for petrol. Once I got it home, five hours hard work left me with the shiny cabinet on the right.

The two photos on the left don't really show the corrosion on the chrome work or the rust on the plinth, but they do show that the body of the cabinet is basically sound with only the usual dents and scratches.

What took five hours?

The two biggest tasks were cleaning the handles and removing the old labels. The cleaning sequence was:

• I washed everything with soapy water to remove years of garage grime and dust. I had hoped this would soften the labels: no such luck.
• For each of the 15 drawers(!):
  • I unscrewed the handles and label-holders for ease of cleaning and to get rid of the grime held in place by the label-holder. One word of warning: the newer cabinets have riveted handles; only the older models use screws.
  • The handles were then rubbed with kitchen foil to remove any rust and tarnish. This was very quick and so satisfying.
  • The label-holders were cleaned with an old toothbrush and two applications of Barkeepers Friend. The kitchen foil didn't work that well on these, but I did use it for some really stubborn marks.
  • The labels were removed with various solvents. This could have been easier. Methylated spirits, white spirit and nail varnish remover were all employed. Nothing worked well.
  • I then reattached the handles & label-holders.
• Finally I removed the plinth:
  • I removed any rust with emery paper and a mini-Dremel (Aldi).
  • Any bare metal was primed with grey car primer (spray).
  • It was finished with at least three coats of gloss black car paint (spray).
  • I plan to reattach plinth tomorrow once the paint has fully cured.

Waxing

As an experiment I used grey T-Cut Color [sic] Fast car polish on the top of the cabinet for an ultra smooth finish and to hide minor imperfections. It worked really well: silky smooth.

Before I reattach the plinth I will apply the black Turtlewax Color [sic] Magic as the spray coat isn't as smooth as the original finish.

Closing remarks

Looks superb for only a tenner and 5 hours elbow grease. Of course it still has signs of use but is now clean & shiny. I am well-pleased. I wonder what I'll use it for?

Suggestions in the comments please.