4T transit chest question

[snipershot1944]

I picked up another 4T yesterday, including transit chest. A decent rig but I'm going to have to mend the bottom board of the chest as it is split through, and is missing a piece from the leading edge. I want to inlet a new piece of wood but want to know what kind of wood is appropriate, pine, spruce, etc?

TIA
David

Information

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[Peter Laidler]

We used to call it PITCH-PINE. We used to use this to repair the rifle and Bren chests. Maybe TBone or another of the chippies can tell us a bit more about this wood

[snipershot1944]

Thanks Peter. It apparently grows locally here. Off to the lumber store I go.

David

[Gil Boyd]

David,
If its any help the chest is found on this site somewhere broken down in joints/panels/hinges and screw sizes with rope and leather handles and why they had different ones, but I can't seem to find it now unless Doug (Badger) can shed some light on where to look.
I used it to repair mine once upon a time
Gil

[Warren]

Specifications for the chest called for S P F.....spruce, pine or fir.
Most of the sides, bottoms and tops were S P F with clear pine dominant while the balisters or insides were maple, hemlock, white birch and some white oak.
At least on the Canadian No.15 chests and the chests for the Canadian No.7.
The bottom of the chest is screwed in from the bottom so if you dig out the plaster of paris plugs over the screws you can replace the entire bottom. Some bottoms are lightly glued on but most are not. A good rap will normally pop the bottom off after the screws are removed as the glue has been been oil soaked or the glue as degraded enough that the bottom should pop or fall off.

[snipershot1944]

Thanks guys. I removed the bottom tonight. It simply popped off with the removal of the screws. The bottom plate is pretty far gone, split down the middle, a split of about 1/2 inch by 8 inches out of one leading edge, and some some big chunks missing out of the ends. I can take it to a cabinet shop and give them some cash to patch it together, or simply go to the lumber yard and buy a replacement bottom.

So what is the consensus, repair or replace?

The rest of the chest looks pretty nice.

[Warren]

Unless it has some rare and exotic markings on the edge of the bottom, and if British it will not have any, replace the bottom. Canadian chests are normally marked on the right hand edge of the bottom board. You will have to remove the scope can jams and if an older chest it will have the felt for the observation telescope on the left end to replace as well, but you should be able to remove it intact after taking out the carpet tacks.
Take a section of the bottom to the nice lady in the paint department at Lowes or Home Depot and she will match the paint exactly for you in a 6 or 8 oz sample. You might need two colours if the inside is red oxide and the outside is OD, but it will be under $8.00 per sample bottle. Give the old girl a new lease of life. (the No.15 chest, not the girl in the paint department:-)##
Here is one I just finished..
Attachment 55353

[Peter Laidler]

As a little aside. The spec for these repairs was a miscellaneous instruction that specified some standard workshop practices for/apertaining to the A&G section, hence the pitch pine. However, the A&G section would also repair what we called TABLES, GS, 6ft. folding (a sort of folding utility 6foot long and VERY useful table) made up of long sections of said pitch pine which were the thickness of the Bren and therefore No4T chest. So when a section was replaced, the old section was retained and if it was useable, then utilised to repair the old chests. Just made life simple And don't forget that it wasn't only Brens and No4T's that came in these old chests.............

There were loads of other things too so the A&G section were always busy to the point of being overworked. That is to say unless it was Wednesday sports afternoon where they'd all suddenly be off partaking in a bit of Egyptian PT or Friday lunchtime, when they'd be off for an early start to the weekend!

[snipershot1944]

Update-I guess I"m a victim of Enfield Insanity. So I went to the lumber yard and bought the appropriate board, then the hardware store to have the correct color of paint mixed. I duplicated the bottom board, painted it up, drilled the holes, and was ready to put it on the transit chest. But I just could not do it. It was not original. So I carried the split out board to a custom woodworking shop, asked them to glue up the bottom, inlet a piece of pine to fix the split, and preserve the history of the old chest. My $25 project turned into a $100 effort, but now I'm happy, and the box is as close to original as I can get.

[Surpmil]

Update-I guess I"m a victim of Enfield Insanity. So I went to the lumber yard and bought the appropriate board, then the hardware store to have the correct color of paint mixed. I duplicated the bottom board, painted it up, drilled the holes, and was ready to put it on the transit chest. But I just could not do it. It was not original. So I carried the split out board to a custom woodworking shop, asked them to glue up the bottom, inlet a piece of pine to fix the split, and preserve the history of the old chest. My $25 project turned into a $100 effort, but now I'm happy, and the box is as close to original as I can get.

You made the right call IMO.