Solid Cedar Chest

Cedar Chest Before

Cedar Chest After

A good friend had contacted me about refinishing an antique cedar chest that had belonged to his wife's grandmother. Up for the challenge, I took on the job with anxious enthusiasm. When he'd brought it over, it had one broken leg, the lower left front had been knocked off. Luckily, someone had kept that original leg, therefore it was easily fixable. I talked him into keeping the wheels, which added character and made the petite chest easy to relocate once it was refinished. After the repairs were made, it was ready to refinish.

This tiny cedar chest was significantly different from the other cedar chests I had refinished, because it was made up entirely of  1/2" thick cedar. Cedar chests are usually made of a less expensive wood on the exterior, then covered with veneer while the interior only is 100% cedar. Many of these 1940's cedar chests are commonly known as "waterfall," because of their characteristically curved lids. The waterfall chests were more familiar to me, so when I realized that this little cedar chest was made of solid cedar, I knew it would require exceptional attention.

Hinge After

Hinge Before

The chest was old, of that I was certain. Just how old? Well, on the bottom of the cedar chest was the remnants of a deteriorating label. The text, "railway" and "Pennsylvania" were easy to read. The name of the furniture company only had scraps of partial letters, so I couldn't research it. However, I firmly believe since "railway" was on the shipping tag, it was likely transported via train. My guess is the cedar chest was late 1890's or early 1900's, based on this tag. It was also considerably smaller than other cedar chests I've worked on. Read blog post: http://finalefurniture.blogspot.com/2013/12/1945-lane-waterfall-cedar-chest.html

After the old varnish and finished were stripped away and the entire exterior sanded, I had selected pecan stain which brought out the gorgeous texture of the cedar as well as the various natural highlights of the wood. I then applied three coats of polyurethane on the exterior only (leaving the interior alone as to allow the wonderful aroma of cedar to come through). Minor repairs had to be made to the hinge, as it was crooked. The chest didn't have a workable lock mechanism, however it did have a place for a skeleton key with a roughly shaped hole that cried out for attention. Lucky for me, I had kept a brass keyhole surround from another item of furniture, so I made it work for the cedar chest. It was the "bling" that the front needed, turning the once worn cedar chest to a little gem.