Cylinder Cabinet Peg Numbering - Your Opinion Requested

[FellowCollector]

I have quite a few cylinder cabinets that have various quantities of pegs missing. I've purchased the correct tubing and the caps and have made up many hundreds of pegs to replace the ones that are missing in the cabinets. So now I'm at a point where I'm considering whether I should ink stamp numbers to the caps. The pegs actually look pretty good as they are without the numbers and, honestly, I'm likely never going to use the the numbers on any peg caps for any sort of reference to quickly reach for a cylinder. But then I also realize that most if not all cylinder cabinets originally had numbered pegs so I'm wondering what most of you would do about numbering or not numbering the replacement peg caps in your cylinder cabinets. Several of mine are large cabinets using 252 pegs in the cabinet which would be a LOT of ink stamping. And that opens up a good chance of having some of the hand applied ink stamped numbers be stamped off center of their intended circular space on the caps especially when the numbering reaches 3 digits which requires applying 3 different individual single-digit stamps. I'm somewhat of a hopeless perfectionist when it comes to having things be positioned correctly and accurately so I'm thinking that I should keep the peg caps un-numbered. But then I'm also wanting to have the pegs look as close to original as possible. What do you think?

Thanks,
Doug

[rgordon939]

I’ve made many pegs myself and restored a bunch of cabinets. I like the look of the plain unnumbered pegs and leave them that way. The numbers just serve no purpose for me.

Rich Gordon

[Shawn]

So it absolutely is a matter of personal opinion to number or not. Yes, many cabinets with carboard and wooden pegs were originally numbered.

I personally like the numbering as it can give a look of originality. Rather than buy a rubber stamper, I digitally cleaned up an original paper label and made duplicates in numbered sequence. With a cheap ($8.00 or so) circle paper cutter of the appropriate diameter you can cut them all out easily and then use Elmer's glue to secure them to the top of pegs.

It makes for a great look!

I've attached a sample of the peg tops to this response. I believe I have a couple left, already printed, up to 250. They are an offering available in the paper I have available.

Shawn

[outune]

My friend, Gene Cole, who passed away in October of 2019, was my mentor for cylinder cabinet restoration. He must have done a dozen or more Herzog cabinets.

Here are some pics of some pegs and the set up--
First two pics are from an original Columbia 5 drawer cabinet-- original numbered pegs-- They weren't too careful with the alignment of the numbers back then!

next pic-- The half-barrel I restored- Gene had copied the numbering sequence from an original cabinet and used it for his restorations; I was a bit more careful with the alignment of the numbers, but slow. I'm sure I would have been fired for taking too long!!

and last pic, the ink stamp and jig that Gene used. It was made by Cosco Co.

Personally, I like to see the pegs numbered as original-- but I'm not organized enough to have a record list that matches the numbers.
Brad Abell

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[Frisco The Beagle]

It would be pretty easy to build a jig that would slip over the pegs with a properly aligned hole that would quickly and consistently position the stamping of each.

[JLH]

Currently working on a few cabinets and replacing pegs in some of them. Recently purchased two numbers stamps to experiment with. One has two digits and the other three. Plan was to use the one with three for single and triple digit stamping and the one with two for double numbers, with the hope this would help with centering. The stamps have numbers 7mm in length. One of the cabinets with original pegs that holds 252 in draws has numbers stamped that are 10mm in length. They are not well centered from the factory. Might change size of number stamps once I try them out. Would like to number them to use in tracking where specific cylinders are located.

[FellowCollector]

Thanks for all of the comments and pictures so far. I sincerely appreciate it. Seeing the pictures from Brad with the numbers all over the place on original pegs is helpful to ease my obsession to have the numbers almost perfectly centered if I go that route. And I really like the looks of Shawn's labels as well. I'm still thinking on what to do.

Doug

[outune]

Hi Doug- One more pic of the lower shelf on my half-barrel, to show what the 3-digit pegs look like. The stamper Gene gave me, does all three numbers at once-- not individually as some have done. I think they look pretty good--- and I tend to be a little OCD about things being straight!

Brad Abell

[FellowCollector]

Thanks for that last picture, Brad. I would love to find a stamper like you were able to use. All that I have is individual number stamps. If you know of a place that sells a stamper like that one with the larger numbers please let me know. Thanks again!

Doug

[outune]

Hi- Another forum member PM'd me to get the details on the stamp. It says "Pullman" on the metal, just below the wooden handle.. On the box is a upc code with PN 4-3 above it. That appears to be the model number. The numbers are ½" tall... I did a quick search online and there appear to be several places that sell the Pullman stamps. It is a quality made tool. I believe Gene paid $50+ for it many years ago.
I'm putting it to good use!

Brad Abell