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Civil war era trunk | Furniture1488 of 3248 |  |  |
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Posted 1 year ago
trunkman
(107 items)
This civil war era trunk came out pretty nice. The original leather was pretty tattered so I took it off. It leaves the wood underneath a beautiful reddish hue. Kitty has been bugging me all day to show her trunk, so here it is...
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TrunksAntique trunks, also called traveling chests, were originally used as lugga…
Is this the trunk you wanted me to look at ? Very nice ...What did you do to the wood ?
The wood has this nice reddish hue because it was originally covered in leather. So I actually did little to the wood other than clean off the glue with water and a scraper, a little sanding and then a coat of tung oil. However I was not pleased with the tung oil treatment -- with pine it absorbs too much and leaves little protection or sheen. I will coat this with polyurethane satin finish for a better protective coating. Others may disagree, but I have been satisfied with this approach. You can see however, how nice they look refinished. By the way -- your trunk is definitely from the date on the cover. I would somehow try to preserve that patent date on your paper covering -- perhaps gently removing it and pasting on the inside lid as a label. thanks for looking - hope this helps.