Hazet Assistent

[SplitBusVanatic]

Just got this off my UPS man.

Looks like an oldie. Seller used such a poor box it was falling apart when it arrived. So not photo worthy.
It’s a resto candidate. And a keeper I think.
Judging by central nameplate and flat nature of the top tray and the welded on Hazet badge. I think it’s mid fifties vintage.

[panicman]

Those are some great finds!!

[SplitBusVanatic]

So. There’s a little repair to do on the support for the tube in the tub that holds one of the uprights.

Date wise. It seems to be a model somewhere between 1955 and 1958/9.
Because of blue and black knobs on top of uprights. Centrally located name tag. And only one lock on swivel casters. With welded on Hazet badge and flat type top tray. And absence of a lock the upper table in middle of long side. And the fact that it has two trays.

Now I have two of these early models in my collection.

I’m happy with it.

A nice score.

[panicman]

My second box came in and the whole kit is now complete.

I plan to clean each part thoroughly. The only areas that will need intervention (mostly cosmetic, but with some worrisome rust) are the black top work surface, the bottom tub, and then the steel parts- the tubes, chains, and casters.

The tub had some kind of dried putty, and also some active pitting rust. I sanded the putty out, sanded all the rust spots (and a couple of bubbled painted areas) and then cleaned and sanded again until I was confident I got all the rust out.

I found a really close match to the Hazet blue at Lowe's. It's called Maui Blue, and you can see it here on the right.

I don't feel the need to paint any of the exterior blue. Cleaning and then waxing only. The inside of the tub did get paint though. The only hitch here is that I should have just masked inside the rim. Instead, I masked halfway up the rim and managed to get a reaction between old finish and new. I'll try to wet sand it smooth. My intention had been to gently wet sand after and not have an obvious line of different colored finishes since the match is close, not exact.

[SplitBusVanatic]

That’s a quick turnaround. Looks excellent.
Any discrepancy won’t be noticed when it’s all together. The light or lack thereof will mask any difference.

[panicman]

The pebbled black top will need to be addressed, as it has missing paint and rust has started. I am thinking I will only sand the rectangular tray, mask the rest off and apply a similar finish to only that depressed portion. We'll see.

I soaked the chains in vinegar. The cotter pins went into muristic acid. The swivel casters had wheels removed, and the assemblies both went into a Berrymans carb dip can.

After everything soaked and was rinsed, I prepped the caster assemblies for zinc plating. Not looking for perfection, and after 2 strikings, I'm pretty pleased with how they came out.

Here's a finished caster next to one that has been struck but not yet polished.

[panicman]

While I waited on the plating process, I started cleaning up the trays. Washed at the garage sink, and then rubbed several areas with visible rust with lemon. Rinsed everything, dried, and used rubbing compound to polish the haziness out of the finish.

[panicman]

Moving on to the wheels, all of the little wheel discs were badly pitted, and a couple had been wire wheeled. The smaller wheels were sanded smooth, soaked in alcohol, and were replated.

The larger wheels got the same treatment. However, they still had their original zinc coating (badly pitted), so they got a dunk in muriatic acid. They came out very clean, and they also got 2 zinc platings, then shined up and reassembled.

While waiting on the plating, I cleaned up and waxed the remaining tool tray.

[panicman]

Before dumping my electrolyte bath, I threw in the cotter pins.

At this point, it was getting late, but I had all my plating done. All of the other parts had cleaned up very nicely.

The part I dreaded was the top panel.

I decided to just mask off the rectangular portion, refinish it, and then use the same textured finish and a brush to touch up any damaged areas outside of that.

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. Here it is.

[panicman]

For this, the main products I used were Rustoleum Maui Blue gloss, DupliColor chip guard, and Ballistol for the wheels and bumpers.