November 10, 20169 yr A few years ago my daughter-in-law brought me an old Sarratoga Trunk that she had gotten from her great Aunt that had been in the family forever. It was in a sad state of affairs to look at and had a distinked odor. She wanted to use it and pass it on to her daughters and keep it in the family. She asked me if I could refurbish it for her. Herb
November 11, 20169 yr Author Popular Post I cut the leather out of the squares on the outside and used the pieces to glue patches in to some of the vacant spots then stained the whole thing with General's Java stain. More like painted it on the wood, metal, and leather. Then repaired all the metal and wood best I could,When that dried I gave it a couple of coats of water based Poly. Off the internet ordered some missing parts and put them on, along with new leather handles and lid lifter ,hold open for the lid,lined the box inside with redwood along with the lid. Made a new tray to match. Left it unfinished ,she thought she might want to paint it inside. It had these tiny steel wheels ,I took them off as they were bent and broken and she had laminate floors that she didn't want marked up. So I made a dolly and put carpet casters on it for her to move it around. Also stained the dolly to match the trunk.
November 11, 20169 yr Absolutely awesome and beautiful. Great job! Steve Today is the tomorrow of yesterday.
November 11, 20169 yr 4 hours ago, Dadio said: Left it unfinished ,she thought she might want to paint it inside. Hope she changed her mind on that...it deserves to remain as unfinished cedar. WOW! Do you ever sleep? Not sure how if you do...your mind is always in the create mode, then even busier downloading to your hands and eyes...Only thing this trunk is missing is the original destination labels from it's journeys.
November 11, 20169 yr Wow! Nice fix. First pics looked like it got rode hard and put away wet...for a few years. Excellent! Edited November 11, 20169 yr by p_toad
November 11, 20169 yr Author I used 1/2" redwood T&G I milled and before I lined it, I cleaned it good and put 2 coats of shellac on to seal the smell ,then lined it with wood. The top lining had to be cut to fit like a boat because of the dome. It was slow going as I would cut and then bend the board with towels wrapped around it and soak it on a cookie sheet in boiling water then hurry into the shop and scribe it and cut it,then soak some more and go back and install it. then do it again with the next board, no 2 boards were the same. Herb
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