Circa 1900
Refinished For Our Friends James and Pauline
November 2008
A good size flat top trunk that appears to have been at least partially refurbished at some point in
time in the past, perhaps the 1960's. James and Pauline wished it spruced up a bit, the loose hinges
repaired, a tray, and new leather installed.
removed. With all the paper gone, there was a darkening to the wood from moisture and perhaps
glue from the re-papering. It was sanded aggressively but a good deal remains. We'll call it
character. A finish was applied and a nice tray made.
fiber trim had first been painted a light blue or silver and then black. We got rid of all that and the
wood finished with a moderate gloss and the trim left its natural brown. The hardware was then
painted a flat black.
There was some problems with the hinge and handle area as a combination of over-sized screws
used during the first refinishing and holes blown out from multiple attempts at re-cinching nails
were present. For the hinges, this was a large problem as cinching nails in bored out holes is hit or
miss. More than 9 of them causes a guy to mumble bad words under his breath. The back board is
unusually thin, enough that applying a fill of the hole strong enough to withstand a nail and hammer
blow proved a problem. In the end, to make it secure and not risk cracking the wood, I decided to go
back in with screws but installed from the reverse to fit tightly into the metal hinge holes and pull
them towards the wood, then ground/melted the tips flat. The round screw heads were sunk just a
bit and then touched with black paint to blend in a little better. Not ideal, but efforts otherwise were
not working in this case. It now opens and shuts perfectly.
With things back together, the wood refinished and the hardware and trim in order, the leather
straps matching the brown trim was installed as were some flared end handles. It was then flipped
and the final touch up to the bottom performed to complete the outside.
