Has anyone had success repairing/restoring the cardboard boxes?

[Crabtree]

Just curious. I have several blue boxes from the Bangor Punta era and a gold box that I've considered "attempting" to repair. But that little voice always says "don't be stupid...you're just gonna make things worse."

I'll bet I'm not the only one who's thought long and hard about pulling out the glue...maybe some gold paint. Perhaps a little blue crayon? Okay, maybe not crayon, but you have to admit it's pretty tempting to try to bring life back into something that looks like it spent three weeks in the bottom of crab boat.

Maybe we can skip the first dozen posts imploring me to listen to the voices (something my wife would not appreciate) and cut right to the posts detailing how to restore one of these boxes. And let's assume (for now) we're more concerned with aesthetics and not so much preservation of collector value.

I'll go get the tape and the crayons while you guys decide our next course of action.

 

[VM]

Ty - I've repaired numerous boxes of my own. I did it because the corners were busted and they looked bad with tape holding them together.
I use a citrus product called "Goo Gone" that will remove old adheasives and not harm the cardboard.
The metal corners can be cleaned up and recrimped with a little super glue behind them to hold corners of cardboard again.
I usually take an old shirt box (thin cardboard) and make a reinforcing inner corner in addition to the metal corner repair.
I enjoy having a box that fuctions properly for storage and in comparison to the previous looks of the box, I'm happy with the outcome.
Like refinishes, restorations, and modifications to a gun or antique furiture, many "purist" collectors will avoid any changes to an older/rare item and leave as-is (damaged state).
I'm a simple collector with a simple taste. I get pleasure from making junker things look nice again

 

[HAWKEYE10]

Good post VM thats good information to know. Don