aka
The Pirate Chest
Circa 1890
Refinish For Tom And Melissa
May 2008
which is loaded with decorative hardware. It has a neat shape being not real long but tall at about
27", so it sites up nice and strong. The trunk came in two pieces as the hinges were detached but
no real damage noted. Melissa simply wished the metal cleaned up to show the details of the trunk
and sort of give it a pirates chest look.
With me broadsword in hand, we begin the not so subtle art of pirate persuasion.
yet sanded and finished. The inside top section has some lithographs that will be saved and a large
section of the original covering that has been removed right in the center where a file folder was.
The rest is pretty straight forward involving cleaning up the exterior and treating with a oil based
finish. My original intent was to take the slats a little darker to better match existing pieces. Gave it a
shot but the slats have become so dense as to not accept the stain. To compensate the slats were
not sanded completely clean to leave some dark spots and just not made "new looking". We do
what we can. The pictures below show that things are clean but really do not capture the look in
person. About five good coats of finish were applied to slow down the oxidation of the metal and it
glows like rock candy
working around, others potential staining presents a problem. After some debate with myself, the
entire top section was saved and a third lithograph cut into the missing section. The trim remains as
well. It came out looking pretty nice and matches the bottom coloring fairly well The discolorations
seen on the inside lid is aged paper placed under several coats of a safe finish creating a nice effect
