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MG TD TF 1500 - TD/TF Tool Box Felt White 1/4'

Finally found a source of white TD/TF tool box felt in the original 1/4" thickness & it is sold by the metre. The supplier is in Melbourne. The felt comes in a 1500mm width so 1.1 metres is enough to do 5 cars. I have two other people interested so far. The cost delivered to me here in Sydney works out to $25 per car. If any other local owners here in OZ are interested in the other 2 pieces I'll pass them on at cost plus postage. I've yet to place the order so I can accomodate either another 2 or another 7. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Peter

I purchased felt for both my TF toolbox(white) and side curtain box(black) from an Australian supplier cut to size. Think minimum purchase quantities may have been involved, however I did not have bulk excess.

Graeme
G Evans

Didn't know the felt was white. I thought it was light Grey. Interesting. PJ
Paul S Jennings

I thought I read somewhere that it was natural color and neither bleached nor dyed but I can't remember where I may have seen that.
JE Carroll

Abingdon Spares sells what I think is the correct felt. For a while it was not correct. I bought some last year.
Christopher Couper

Chris, do you remember the color? PJ
Paul S Jennings


Peter,
Based in Queensland & would be interested in being part of the extra TF felt for tool box purchase.
ph 07 54426860
Cheers John
J.K. Chester-Freeman

Paul: Its white. But off white, not yellowish. The originals will look yellow at this point because felt has a tendency to yellow over time.

Keep in mind the side curtain box felt is black. Not sure why they chose to use white in the toolbox.
Christopher Couper

Picture

Christopher Couper

Hi John. I've added you to the list. The site I mentioned is Chris Couper's & if you google the address in the post above you should find your way to his site. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

A couple of years ago I took a large bulk roll of white felt to the GOF Central here in Michigan, USA, for people to take all they needed to redo their tool boxes for free.
No one was interested in tool boxes. I found they were pulling it off by the yards and putting it on the ground to lay on.

Yeah, why did they select white for tools?
JRN JIM

Thickness of felt? Peters original post claims 1/4 inch thick. I've been only able to find 1/16th and 1/8th inch thick of off white. 1/4" seems awfully thick. What came out of my box was probably 1/16th inch thick, of course it was badly beat up and a dirty black/brown. PJ
Paul S Jennings

Is the felt Moss sells incorrect? No one mentions it. I purchased mine from Moss. It was a type of white. What I took out, after many years of use, was dirty white.

Tom
'54 TF
T Norby

Chris, nice shot of the tool box. Looks great.
R C Flowers

The felt was 1/4" thick. I am not sure about the Moss felt today. It may be OK. A few years ago it had a texture to it like it was put through a meat tenderizer. It is supposed to be just regular, smooth felt with no texture or pattern.

Dirty white is certainly the color it will get after just a few years :-)
Christopher Couper

You're a generous man Jim & obviously not appreciated. It's definitely 1/4" PJ. My original felt had yellowed with age as Chris says & it was pretty dirty. I tried to get it dry cleaned as I could only source 1/8" stark white synthetic stuff which was wrong, ugly, too thin & way overpriced!

What I would now like to confirm is whether the original installation used 2 or 3 pieces? I know the bottom is one piece & that it's necessary to allow the extra length for the timber jack stop. It seems the sides may have come in two pieces, a pair made up of one end & one side, not just one piece that covers all four sides. I believe the bottom goes in first with the sides sitting on the bottom. Can anybody confirm the correct installation? Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

The Moss felt was very accurate, at least in 2008.
Dave Braun

3 pieces for sure. I thing the sides go in first and then the bottom/end piece, but I cannot be sure about that right now.

But the reason is that its hard to cut around the block and the sides bottom of the side pieces, but when you put in the bottom/end piece it covers all the cutting issues and fills in the small gaps.
Christopher Couper

Does the felt tuck in and lay over the division block, (don't know what else to call it), in the bottom or is the block wrapped individually? PJ
Paul S Jennings

PJ, it gets laid over. The block is secured with two wood screws from under the tool box so laying it over is the only way to go.

I have the same idea as Peter in regards to just cleaning it to preserve the original than dealing with reproductions that isn't accurate. I was at the dry cleaners yesterday and asked but the girl was unable to answer. Advised me to speak to her manager. I can't see why they can't. It is a fabric that a vintage car "wears"...

I have my original stowed away in my assortment of freezer bags.... I can take pics to show pieces and color.
Frank Cronin

Frank are the sides fitted first then the bottom & are the two side pieces made up of one end & one side each? Any sign of any adhesive? The felt I found is made from genuine Aussie merino wool & is a slightly off white colour. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Peter Though my felt is gone the tool box has remnant of fibers still clinging to the sides and bottom and it appears there is either an adhesive or it was placed while the paint was still tacky. I will send a pic via email if you like

Cheers Mate
Bill TD4834
W. A. Chasser Jr

Thanks Bill
P Hehir

One of the 'in-process' pictures from my website:


Dave Braun

Dave is that the bottom & one end in one piece?
P Hehir

The bottom and end is one piece as I stated above. All of it is glued in place. Dave's picture shows his all ready to be trimmed as the final step.
Christopher Couper

We've established it's glued & in 3 pieces but what is still not clear Chris is whether it is bottom/end or end/bottom/end? If the latter, then the remaining 2 pieces are just the sides.

If, as you state, it's bottom/end then the other two must be side/end & side, which seems strange.. hence my confusion. Or maybe its just because an American is describing an English method to an Australian:) I now have a link to an article in TTT2 which I'll check out. Thanks John. I'll post my findings. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Bottom and two ends are a single piece. The front and backs are identical pieces, which I installed after the bottom piece.

So, as Chris said, three pieces total.

Pictures are on my website.

Dave Braun

Thanks Dave. Now crystal clear! Just got a pic in pdf format via email which I've turned into a jpeg file but still can't upload. It's from a local TF in Qld. Don't think there's any doubt it's original & it confirms both the original colour, the number & size of the pieces & the method. My thanks to you all for your contributions & to you John for the pic. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

I will try to send an image of the 3 old pieces of tool box felt Peter is referring to in his previous comment
Cheers John TF8958
J.K. Chester-Freeman

My attempt to upload the photos to the BBS failed although it said the upload was successful.
Ongoing back to look at the measurements again have found what I believe is the correct way to lay the felt.
By examining the photo I have attached you will see from the lines on both the side felt strips where the bottom piece butts up.
Conclusion the sides went in first then the bottom.
I theory we should be able to reduce the width of the bottom by the thickness of the sides.
Will once again try to upload.
Cheers John


J.K. Chester-Freeman

Photo of old felt lining from TF tool box.
3 pieces 1 bottom & 2 sides
Cheers John

J.K. Chester-Freeman

Now that's a true survivor!
P Hehir

John: Thanks for the pictures confirming what I thought. Its the most logical way to install it for a number of reasons.

First the sides need more cutting. You have to trim all four sides plus the two squares for the block. Plenty of places to make a mistake. If you can do this with less precision it will be faster and easier for the installer. This saved the factory money.

The end/bottom piece really only needs to be cut in its width first, and ideally a bit larger than the total width of the box minus the thickness of the two side pieces. You tuck the fist end under the lip of the box and then only have one cut that's under the lip for the other side. The bottom/end piece will fill all the 'mistakes' in the sloppy cutting of the sides. And if you make it about 1/8" wider than needed, and will push in nice and tight. Just use a clean putty knife to tuck it in flat.

Lastly there is the issue of the adhesive. As we all know glues goes where you want it and where it wants to go too. Trying to do the sides after the ends/bottom will insure a lot of unwanted glue shows up on the bottom. When I put mine in I pasted the sides with adhesive first and left the bottom clean. This kept me from dragging the felt into the bottom while I tried to maneuver it. Then when the sides where in and smoothed over I then when back and carefully applied adhesive to the bottom. Its not really necessary to get it all the way to the edges since cutting the bottom strip a bit bigger causes pressure to hold it in position and the glue just keeps if from moving or coming out. But if you want to that's OK because the edges will be covered by the bottom/end piece and it will bond all the pieces together.

BTW I used carpet adhesive for my 'glue'.
Christopher Couper

This thread was discussed between 02/09/2014 and 13/09/2014

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