What to do about damaged hatboxes?

[Lauren]

Hello all,
Seeing Marc's post with some of his hatboxes made me think to post this.; I have two lovely hatboxes with wonderful art on the sides that are just falling apart. The bottoms are coming completely undone! Is there a way to repair them? I was thinking of taking them apart and having the side art framed flat, kind of like a mural, but I wasn't sure if this would work either. Any help would be great!

 

[jamespowers]

Hello all,
Seeing Marc's post with some of his hatboxes made me think to post this.; I have two lovely hatboxes with wonderful art on the sides that are just falling apart. The bottoms are coming completely undone! Is there a way to repair them? I was thinking of taking them apart and having the side art framed flat, kind of like a mural, but I wasn't sure if this would work either. Any help would be great!

The short answer would be to fix them. I glue mine back together if they are falling apart. Elmer's glue or titebond work very well and make the box much sturdier. Tops and bottoms get glued down when they get to me if there is a hint that they are getting loose or likely to fall apart.
Of course, glue it from the inside on a surface the box won't stick to if a little glue leaks out. This is of course if you are going to use the box. If it is better to you as a litho then that could work as well. I just like to keep boxes as boxes because there is always a shortage around here.

Regards,

J

 

[Absinthe_1900]

Book binding supplies would work well too.

http://www.reuels.com/reuels/page252.html

http://www.reuels.com/reuels/page582.html

Book Binders Tape

http://www.reuels.com/reuels/product4565.html

Book Binders glue
http://www.reuels.com/reuels/product4562.html

 

[scotrace]

If they are gray-tan inside (cardboard), you may be able to use plain brownish postal tape on the inside around the joining edges to shore it up. The stuff is quite sticky and the color matches many hat box insides.

That's obviously the cheap and quick solution. If the boxes are that badly damaged, the value is already diminished enough that any repair isn't going to make a difference.

 

[jamespowers]

Book binding supplies would work well too.

http://www.reuels.com/reuels/page252.html

http://www.reuels.com/reuels/page582.html

Book Binders Tape

http://www.reuels.com/reuels/product4565.html

Book Binders glue
http://www.reuels.com/reuels/product4562.html

Those are some great ideas. I will have to check them out when I need a repair.

Regards,

J

 

[Aaron Hats]

Lauren, Great idea about framing the usable art. Be sure to go to somebody who specializes in handling vintage materials. I may try this out on a couple boxes I have.

 

[Lauren]

Thanks, all! I think I'll just go with framing them, since I don't think they're really usuable anymore and I'd hate to have them dissenegrate any more. Now I just gotta save up