Is This Chest Veneered?

Vaughn McMillan

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Someone posted these pics on Facebook of a cedar chest that was left in a house he bought, and he wants to refinish it. Someone else warned him that the wood has a veneer, and to expect to need to replace the veneer if he refinished it. I'm not convinced it has any veneer, but I offered to show the pics here and get a second opinion from guys who know more than I do. This photos are not real clear, but they should give you an idea what he's up against. So...what do you think? Veneered or not?

Richard Baker Chest 1.jpg

Richard Baker Chest 2.jpg
Richard Baker Chest 4.jpg


Richard Baker Chest 3.jpg

Richard Baker Chest 5.jpg
 
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i would say yes it is, the top shows different grain pattern than what shows underneath.. look at the grain where stamp is vrs the outside. it could be thick veneer but its going in different directions on the top vrs underneath
 
My wife had one very similar (Lane Waterfall) and the outside was veneered. It wasn't very thick because the veneer rolled over the curve at the front of the lid.
 
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Very similar to one my wife's grandparents have in their house. Different manufacture, but is veneered as well. Still has the original marketing info attached too.
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Thanks, guys. :thumb: When I posted the pics I also noticed the grain on the inside of the lid didn't match the outside, but decided to run with my theory to see if y'all were paying attention, lol.

The guy who owns the chest has joined the forum now, and I suspect he'll have more questions about how to refinish it. :)
 
Good responses. There is nothing wrong with it being veneered. You just need to be aware of that when selecting your stripping and refinishing approach. Dave H. can tell us more about this by accident than I ever hope to learn ;-)
 
Very similar to one my wife's grandparents have in their house. Different manufacture, but is veneered as well. Still has the original marketing info attached too.
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Come to think of it, my mom had a very similar cedar chest. I think my sister has it now (or perhaps one of her sons).

Hey Richard, I know you had some more refinishing questions. feel free to ask away if you're seeing this post. :)
 
Hey all, im the owner of said chest. I guess my first question would be what chemicals/tools to use?

Welcome aboard, Richard.

Some of those old chests were originally finished with shellac. If yours is, then denatured alcohol will dissolve it. Try putting some alcohol on a spot (somewhere inconspicuous) and see it that softens the finish. If it does, you can use the alcohol (HIGHLY FLAMMABLE!), some rags, and a hard plastic putty knife or scraper to remove it.

If the alcohol doesn't do anything, then you're likely stuck with using a paint stripper. The chest is almost certainly veneered, and the stripper may affect the glue, so you might have to re-glue it.

Good Luck!
 
Generally I'd take the approach of spot testing to try to figure out the finish and then using the appropriate stripper.
  1. try alcohol and hope it's shellac first. By alcohol we mean high proof ethanol (190 proof or better) or good DNA that's mostly ethanol (kleen strip green isn't to bad). You can also sometimes find it in the camping section (but beware lots of that is methanol which doesn't work for beans)
  2. Test number two is to hope it's lacquer and get some lacquer thinner and see if that dissolves it. If so you're in luck.
  3. Assuming both of the above failed you're heading into the weeds a bit. I'd probably hope that its a natural glue (hide) that 3m safest stripper won't dissolve and _spot_ test an inconspicuous place with that. If it lifts the veneer then maybe careful mechanical removal (sanding) is safest. In that's the case make sure your sanding block is super flat, proceed in not-to-large of sections and beware sanding through on the corners (way to easy to do). Probably don't try to get all the finish off in that case either, just get it to "pretty clean" otherwise odds are you'll sand through.
For any of the strippers I'd use the plastic scraper as jim suggested and work in moderately small areas (especially with the shellac or lacquer as the stripper is pretty volatile). The 3m stripper is suuuppper slow (which can be nice but is also annoying) so you'd want to apply it well ahead of where you're working and let it sit for a while (hours at least). A handful of the 3M Scotch Brite Scuff Pads is also pretty handy (sold as "Very Fine Hand Sanding Pads"), they do perform a sanding like action though so be careful with them - they're "better" than sandpaper for this because they're really open so don't clog up with the goop as fast but you do have to be super careful not to sand through on corners or "trying to get that tough spot", generally use them more in a "wipe up some sticky stuff" instead of "try to scrub that off" method.

If it's shellac you probably don't even have to remove it all,

If there are any pieces of loose veneer the time to fix them is before proceeding with any more stripping in that area. If you're lucky the veneer is hide glue, you can just lightly moisten it, and iron it down with an iron on medium heat (suggest goodwill or equivalent store iron apparently some people get mad when there's glue on their good iron :oops::rolleyes:). Otherwise veneer repair can get kind of tricky, you have to apply some pressure to hold the glue down, I might use either titebond hide glue (hardware store) or "old brown glue" (online/some stores) although they can be a bit slow to set the hide glue is pretty forgiving for cleanup and doesn't spot the finish so it's pretty safe as far as these things go. Ideally you want to apply some pressure to the spot while it dries, wax a scrap of flat wood and also put some waxed paper over the glue spot (rub a bit more candle or canning wax onto the paper to make sure it doesn't stick) and use that to clamp the lifted piece down. You'll likely have to get a bit clever with the clamping concepts - bicycle inner tubes and band clamps can be your friends.

So I guess start testing some spots and let us know how it's looking. If you're not sure please pop back in (or hey we love in-progress pics & updates (y):)).
 
I have refinished a number of old cedar chests and I don't believe I have ever encountered one in veneer. I would clean the exterior as others have suggested and look for more evidence. Most of the chests have solid color wood on the exterior and thin solid panels of both sapwood and heartwood on the inside. I have not worked with this brand but know exactly where it was made because I drove by the old plant when I lived in Virginia.

This chest was made by Richmond Cedar Works in Norfolk, Virginia. The factory is still there but has been converted to upscale yuppie apartments in a high rent neighborhood. They also used to make hand crank ice cream freezers.
 
I've had good luck using Formby's stripper and steel wool. Lowes carries it. You just soak the steel wool in the stripper and rub off the finish, re-soaking and rinsing the steel wool frequently. It dries quickly, so get the most finish off by rubbing and rinsing the steel wool in the stripper, and then go back with clean stripper and steel wool to repeat the process to get any remaining finish off. It doesn't raise the grain. A very light sanding, and then do whatever finishing treatment you want from there. Yes, it's flammable, so do this work outside or in a well ventilated area away from ignition sources. I also like the Citri-Strip removers, but prefer the Formby's for this type of finish removal, which is almost certain to be shellac. The Formby's stripper is a combination of several solvents, but likely contains a lot of alcohol. It has worked well on several projects that I've used it on, and I don't think all were shellac finished.

The inside surfaces of cedar chests loose their cedar aroma over time. I always sand the inside surfaces of cedar chests that I've restored to restore the cedar aroma, and likely the moth resistance.

Charley
 
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