Refinished an old Lane Cedar Chest

Tony Bilello

Member
Messages
95
Location
Kemah, Tx. - Houston Suburb
This was a royal pain in the butt. It had been previously coated with, only you older guys will remember - 1960's antiqueing kits. They were the latest rage at the time and a nightmare to strip off. Anyway, the customer wanted it stripped and refinished. After stripping I realized what they had.
I did not use any stains except for touch-up powders on the appliques and on the poplar edge trim. These appliques were dense with no grain pattern and had to be 'painted'. Poplar, well, poplar is poplar and also had to be painted. Everything else was just clear coated.
Lots of touch-up and grain painting also was needed.
 

Attachments

  • P6060182.JPG
    P6060182.JPG
    60.2 KB · Views: 51
  • P6060184.JPG
    P6060184.JPG
    61.9 KB · Views: 53
  • P6060187.JPG
    P6060187.JPG
    70.6 KB · Views: 49
That's a nice one Tony. They were always stained finished. This is mail order cataloged furniture and most of the time came in sets. I've done a lot of them. You did a great job refinishing it. Popular was used most of the time as the substraight wood and it was also easy to carve the trim from. :thumb:
 
I can't believe somebody had the gall to paint over that gorgeous wood. You definitely breathed new life into this one, Tony. :clap: Beautiful work.
 
I dont think I have any before pics., maybe my wife took some. She is always taking pics in the shop. It was "Antiqued" an off-white color with various streaks and specks and I dont remember the color of the specs and streaks. It was one tough finish though.
The front is plywood veneered with what looks like zebrawood but not sure. I think the appliques were beech or hard maple. It was a dense white hardwood with no grain pattern to speak of. The side and top panel was ply vennered in cherry and the top was edged trimmed with poplar. The insides, bottom and rear is solid red aromatic cedar with a 1/4" panel of unknown ply on the outter bottom. The thing that struck me really odd was the bottom curved piece on the front was pine. That, I didn't expect.
 
...It was "Antiqued" an off-white color with various streaks and specks and I dont remember the color of the specs and streaks. It was one tough finish though...

Back about 1977, my wife and I bought a house that had had the kitchen cabinets done like that.

Having more time and energy than money, we tackled the refinishing ourselves. We spent most of the summer our in the backyard with paint stripper and steel wool, getting the doors and drawer fronts done, and tackled the face frames, one section at a time.

Then we refinished everything with a walnut stain and brushed on Varathane. They came out quite well, and lasted for ten years until we refaced everything in oak, then sold the house.

Worst refinishing job I've ever taken on!
 
Top