So cool! I'd be tempted to put it up on a wall for display.

Great find! That thing is huge!

What is the outside (printed part) made of?

That's just what I did. Looks great hanging on the wall, but needs to come down to rotate the inner grid to access the tubes. I have used mine to verify needle and shuttle information many times.

Cathy

It is steel on top.

There are 4-5 shuttles, about 8 racks of bobbins, and so far most of the tubes have all three needles, some are missing one...

I also have found several that the tops are "fused" in place. the wood is so delicate, I am afraid to force it. Maybe heat....

I am letting evaporust sit on a portion of the top for a few hours today to see if i can make the rust go away while leaving the paint and lettering.

Oh, it was $60

yes, turns out it was 4 (#5,#9, #11, #19)

Steve those Boye needle display cases are great, I was lucky enough to find a store display with a drawer underneath and they were full of needles and shuttles. I don't have to search for hard to find needles anymore. The needle cas was almost full too
Skip

[QUOTE=SteveH;6151084]this is so cool.

The outside is rough, but not without hope...
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that is a FABULOUS find!

and tho rough, the outside definitely not w/o hope. i collect old tins, trays ...i think old tin & metal is beautiful. a retired coin dealer taught me about using olive oil. he said that that was what they used years ago on badly blackened coins so they could read/see the details. i have since, used the technique on everything. even vinyage meat slicer because i found that not only does the olive oil work on cleaning off light rust, cleaning heavy rusted spots, it restores oxidized painted surfaces. it takes a while..but the time is so very much worth the effort.

i fill a cap or something, with olive oil, dip my finger in and start rubbing onto the metal surface. when surface covered i continue to rub with finger. i leave set & then wander back periodically for next few hours & rub. after a time, you will see the oil become rusty looking. after a day, i wipe oil off w paper towels. start process over. i pay special attention to heavily soiled/rusted areas as i continue to rub. as i said, this is a tedious process, but the results so worth it. i have several antique tins i have restored. one of my favorite is one w the titanic on it. it was probably issued during that era as a souvenor. keep up w the above routines for as long as it takes to restore the surface. when you have it looking as good as you think you can. wipe ALL excess oil off w clean paper towels. (i use a lot of paper towels during this work).
then - CAREFULLY! - you don't want moisture inside this needle case- gently wash the cleaned surface with warm damp cloth w dish soap (it will remove more oil) . rinse w clean cloth dampened with clean tepid water. dry.

ONLY WORK ON ONE SURFACE AT A TIME. i do top, bottom sides - that order. i just work on kitchen counter. do this work where ever you can leave undisturbed until completely done with it. if curved surface i rest the project on it's side on layers of paper towels. curved surfaces take more frequent rubbing to distribute oil & keep surfaces to be restored covered with the thin layer of oil.

That is great information. I will have to try it.

Thanks,
Cathy

[QUOTE=roguequilter;6152493]

Nice find....rare indeed.

$60? Unbelievable! :) As the saying went at our grade school ..... "you lucky duck!". I was thinking that you would have had to pay 4 times that amount. It is in good hands in your hands - I'm glad you found it!