My Experience Bringing a Pine Box Back From the Dead
A few weeks ago, on the rainiest day of autumn, my neighbors left an intriguing item out on the curb. Upon closer examination under umbrella and flashlight, it was an old trunk marked with the initials E.F.T. (apart from a minor typo on the middle initial, it basically had my name on it). Whether it was a rusted-out rot box or a piece of priceless Americana, I couldn’t tell, but the trunk called out to me all the same. I left it there in the rain for the rest of the evening, checking every hour to see if it had moved, incredulous that someone would choose to throw away this timeworn piece of history. Just before bedtime, I heaved the trunk up to my outdoor balcony, giving the previous owner one more chance to reclaim their lost antique before I transformed it into my own.
However, there was one problem: I may be pretty handy but I’ve never restored anything, historic or just old, furniture or otherwise. The exterior was in pretty bad shape, with extensive rust and some water damage to the wood. But the interior and structural elements looked pretty good! There are a few resources online specifically dedicated to restoring Victorian-era steamer trunks, most from the great state of Maine: I found Brettuns Village to be most informative (and very humorous), and Connie from Connie’s Trunks helped me identify and date my piece as a 1880s steamer trunk from a manufacturer in either Massachusetts or Connecticut. These were an instructive starting point (mostly telling me what not to do), and after several trips to hardware store I was ready to get to work.
The defining challenge of preparing this trunk: how would I remove the thick rust layer without further wearing the historic hardware? First, I drizzled a citric acid mixture over a few square inches of old metal at a time, polishing vigorously with a ball of coarse steel wool. Eventually, I caved and bought a wire brush for my rotary tool, which sped up the process but required hours of focus and precision to remove the rust without scratching the wood. I also bought a rotary sanding kit to clean up the wood, smoothing out the water damage spots and rubbing off most of the blemishes. A little wood filler made the pine boards look uniform and new again. After carefully masking the decorative cast elements, I painted the bare metal stripping with a gloss black enamel, applied with a sponge brush one side at a time. I recolored the wood to a darker, more modern color, applying an oil-based stain with a bristle brush. I sealed the whole thing with a thin coat of polyurethane, finally taking a step back to look at my work:
For my first restoration project, I’m pleased with the results! And I think I might be done…I considered adding legs to make a table, or even replacing the wooden lid with a glass top. I ordered a trunk lock from eBay, but this aftermarket hardware appears cheap and flimsy compared to the original parts. The trunk experts instilled in me that less is more when it comes to refurbishment, so no new hardware or flashy metallic paint will be used after all. I may not be on their level, but this was a fun learning experience that I can proudly display in my living room. There’s nothing quite as satisfying as taking on a challenge, putting in time and elbow grease, then seeing the product of your own handiwork. I’ll add any updates here if I do any further work on the chest, or maybe a part 2 if another abandoned antique falls into my lap!
Worldly Observations 