Posted 10 years ago
Drill
(63 items)
30" long 20 1/2"ht at the dome apex 18" wide Found locally in NJ. for 40 bucks, Re-finished 8 years ago.Stripped the four coats of paint. 1 white/3 gloss black and they didn't miss any spots either.I do hate when people paint the slats.Wire wheeled all the embossed tin Diamond thatch pattern I believe and moon and stars.Someone put metal handles on it at one time
( Not original)but they function well. six coats of Gloss Helmsman polyurethane applied inside and out.It just started in the last year to get that rusty patina look coming through the clear coat. I love it. If it gets to bad though I will re-do this trunk and paint in relief the embossments with there original colors (red stars and yellow moons.)As I type it sounds like the cereal frosted lucky charms don't it?(What no green clovers and blue diamonds?) Oh! almost forgot my favorite thing about this piece really neat stamped logo of Pratt and Lambert
company in reverse. On the end panel on the backside. Don't know what thats about.
stunning!!!
Thanks Sean
Same comment as previous poste. Know what you mean about the paint. You just cannot get it out of the pores! I've found that Helmsman Spar varnish is the most forgiving in humidity. Another nice job. Laurel Mountain Browning works well for giving that patina if you don't want to wait but you have to wash with water after applying.
Nice work Drill!! I've seen so many great trunks out there that have been painted. I know what's involved in getting all of that paint removed and so I wind up passing on a lot of trunks. I guess I'm getting lazy in my old age. You've got some amazing pieces of history in your collection.
Drill, about your comment on the Pratt & Lambert stamp on the wood... I've had a number of trunks over the years with a stamp or painted name of some other company, under the canvas or metal covering. Since trunk makers used so much wood, I believe they would buy scrap wood and crates, which they would then cut for trunk pieces. The trunk business was very competitive and they all tried to keep the price lower any way they could. So, I expect it was some wood that was original part of a crate for P & L products.
Yes Marvin I'm on board with the stamps on the wood and them saving money on lumber, have seen it before on others. What makes it interesting for me is this trunk has it stamped on the Metal, Hard to see but picture #3 has it in the right middle corner. It's in reverse because thats the way they put the metal on the wood.Thanks for the comments and nice words.
Today, pallet wood has to met Uncle Sambo's regulations & I have used some with good results. I have a timber farm and some yrs. back, it needed thinning. Talked to a friend about him making pallets to sell but the regulations killed the enthusiasm. When I lived in Jamaica, I bought an orig. brass candle chandelier from a little carpenter shop & he boxed the thing in 2 nice maho wood boxes. I later sold the boxes for slightly more than I paid for the chandelier! LOL!
Nice hit BB2 the box is worth more than the item it holds, I love it. Incidentally I have seen this slat trunk hardware only an A.E. Meeks(Denver Colorado) trunk image so far. I'm sure others have
used it,but have not found them yet. I do try to use the process of elimination and comparable items to find out ,Who made all these trunks with no damn labels?