The lock on my dad's old tackle box finally gave out after 40 years

I was sorting through stuff at an estate sale in Spokane last Saturday and found this old tackle box that reminded me of my dad's. He passed a few years back and I'd kept his box in the garage, but the latch just snapped when I tried to open it last week. I ended up prying it open with a screwdriver and found a bunch of lures and a letter from 1985 inside. Has anyone else had old hardware break on them during a cleanout?

2 comments

2 Comments

schmidt.grant1mo ago

Man, that latch probably rusted from the inside out.

thomas_young1mo ago

Man, that hits close to home. I had the exact same thing happen with my dad's old toolbox from the 70s, the latch just crumbled to dust when I touched it. What schmidt.grant said about rust is spot on, those old chrome latches always corrode from the inside out no matter how careful you are. Finding a letter from 1985 in there must have been something else though, that's the kind of stuff you can't put a price on. At least you got it open and found those lures, my toolbox just had a bunch of rusty sockets that crumbled when I tried to use them. Good luck getting that latch fixed if you decide to, I ended up just replacing mine with a basic hasp from the hardware store.