# Lane Cedar Chest Refinish



## JohnTric (Sep 10, 2012)

'Lo Everybody

A friend of ours just gave us a Lane Cedar Chest, and the finish has deteriorated somewhat over the years. It appears to be shellac, but I'm not certian. I want to refinish the piece, but I want to do it right. And in my opinion, I only have one shot at doing it right or risk ruining the piece. So I need some expert advice.

The chest appears to have been manufactured November 23, 1956 (by the serial number), and is style no. 6201-01. It still has the original placecards inside, and the original key still in it's pouch. Overall it's in very good condition.

Looking at the pics below, the sides appear to have shellac cracks, and the front has areas that appear to have had cracks where the shellac is now gone. Does this seem correct? After searching this forum and reading some threads, I'm thinking I could just clean the chest, then use denatured alcohol and some brushes to "melt and re-spread" the shellac, then maybe add another coat or two of shellac, and inish with some paste wax. Am I on the right track? I'm thinking I don't want to get radical, and strip and refinish from scratch. Thanks in advance

John


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

It looks to me like at some time or another the piece has been refinished before. Anyway in the condition it is in I would recommend using paint and varnish remover and completely strip the finish off. About the best retail remover I've used is Kleen Strip. Its available and most of the box stores and even walmart. I wouldn't try to strip the entire piece at one time. I would work on one side at a time and brush the remover on keeping it wet for about 15 to 20 minutes and scrape as much off as you can with a clean broad knife. Make sure there is no sharp burrs on the knife or it will scratch the wood. After you get as much off as you can wash the residue off two or three times with lacquer thinner changing rags. The remover is a semi-paste so it has wax in it that needs to be gotten off. Then if there is no repairs to be made the piece can be sanded and finished like it was new wood.


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## DaveTTC (May 25, 2012)

I use metholated spirits and a rag to take it back. Then maybe a couple of new coats to refinish. Careful not to put it back on too thick. 

Some sites say spraying gets the best finish. I'll look up a link later and see if I can post it for you

Dave The Turning Cowboy


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## JohnTric (Sep 10, 2012)

Steve Neul said:


> It looks to me like at some time or another the piece has been refinished before. Anyway in the condition it is in I would recommend using paint and varnish remover and completely strip the finish off. About the best retail remover I've used is Kleen Strip. Its available and most of the box stores and even walmart. I wouldn't try to strip the entire piece at one time. I would work on one side at a time and brush the remover on keeping it wet for about 15 to 20 minutes and scrape as much off as you can with a clean broad knife. Make sure there is no sharp burrs on the knife or it will scratch the wood. After you get as much off as you can wash the residue off two or three times with lacquer thinner changing rags. The remover is a semi-paste so it has wax in it that needs to be gotten off. Then if there is no repairs to be made the piece can be sanded and finished like it was new wood.


Thank you for the response Steve. According to the previous owner, the chest was bought new for his Mom. As most woman do, she filled it with stuff and it basically sat all those years. He did say that it was in front of, or sitting over, a heat vent. Not sure what kind of heat (she lived in the desert SW where it's mostly nat-gas) but I'm sure that contributed to it's present condition. He also said the piece had never been refinished. I was trying to avoid a complete strip and refinish if possible, so I may try another method first, and if that fails, well...

John


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## JohnTric (Sep 10, 2012)

DaveTTC said:


> I use metholated spirits and a rag to take it back. Then maybe a couple of new coats to refinish. Careful not to put it back on too thick.
> 
> Some sites say spraying gets the best finish. I'll look up a link later and see if I can post it for you
> 
> Dave The Turning Cowboy


Thanks Dave. This was where I THINK I want to go. I'll assume lots of lint free rags and elbow grease, one section at a time. Will the spirits hurt what appears to be stain underneath the shellac? Would I need to lightly sand before reapplying? Thanks...

John


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## JohnTric (Sep 10, 2012)

On a side note: Notice in Pic 2, the warranty tag is dated Apr 1958. I was born then...:icon_smile:


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## Fishinbo (Jul 23, 2012)

You have a great friend to have given you such a treasure box.


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## HowardAcheson (Nov 25, 2011)

I have never seen a piece from Lane that was finished with shellac. Shellac is never used by consumer grade furniture manufactures. All Lane items are finished with NC lacquer from that era. The damage is typical of heat and/or long term exposure to sunlight.


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## DaveTTC (May 25, 2012)

JohnTric said:


> Thanks Dave. This was where I THINK I want to go. I'll assume lots of lint free rags and elbow grease, one section at a time. Will the spirits hurt what appears to be stain underneath the shellac? Would I need to lightly sand before reapplying? Thanks...
> 
> John


I see some think it is not shellac. My advise is if it is shellac and just from my limited personal experience. If you are not to aggressive with your use of spirits any stain if you want it to remain should be fine. 

The piece I most recently restored had significant crazing and the shellac had turned black in places, staining the timber. With the spirits I was able to remove this to a degree that my customer was satisfied. It was still there as it had permeated the timber in places but it was vastly improved. I did no sanding. On a few places I stripped it back a little too much and ended up with a milky finish, as a result I had to reapply 2 coats which I had not intended to do.

Dave The Turning Cowboy


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

JohnTric said:


> Thank you for the response Steve. According to the previous owner, the chest was bought new for his Mom. As most woman do, she filled it with stuff and it basically sat all those years. He did say that it was in front of, or sitting over, a heat vent. Not sure what kind of heat (she lived in the desert SW where it's mostly nat-gas) but I'm sure that contributed to it's present condition. He also said the piece had never been refinished. I was trying to avoid a complete strip and refinish if possible, so I may try another method first, and if that fails, well...
> 
> John


Perhaps it was the heat then instead of having been refinished. I'm with Howard on the finish and believe if it is the original finish then its lacquer. I've just never seen a lacquer finish crack that badly. If you plan to wipe the finish down with alcohol, try it in a inconspicuous place. If the finish is lacquer then the alcohol will likely turn the surface white. What you would be attempting to do with the alcohol is if it is a shellac finish is to re-wet the finish so the cracks would run back together. If the finish is lacquer you could re-wet the finish with lacquer thinner however I think it would be easier to remove the finish and start over. Lacquer dries so fast that it would leave brush or rag marks in the finish that would be a lot of work to smooth out so I wouldn't do that on the top at all. The outcome of refinishing would just be more reliable. If you are careful you can take the finish off without damaging any of the labeling.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

The inside area that's cedar, should have no finish. If there is some film finish, wax, or polish, sand it off with 220x or bronze wool. The exterior can be another wood... oak, walnut, mahogany or cherry. To restore, I would just sand down the finish with 180x-220x, and use an oil base wiping varnish, or oil base polyurethane. I would not use anything for the interior cedar parts.













 







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## HowardAcheson (Nov 25, 2011)

Here is a way to easily determine the finish on the item. http://www.hardwoodlumberandmore.co...abid/75/ArticleId/20/What-is-That-Finish.aspx

What surface do you think that is showing the crazing? I'm also thinking that there may have been some chemical that was applied that was a partial contaminate. The crazing appears to be related to some dark coloring that is in the same general areas.


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## JohnTric (Sep 10, 2012)

Fishinbo said:


> You have a great friend to have given you such a treasure box.


Yes, we truely are blessed with great friends, which is why I want to make sure I get this right.


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## JohnTric (Sep 10, 2012)

HowardAcheson said:


> I have seen never seen a piece from Lane that was finished with shellac. Shellac is never used by consumer grade furniture manufactures. All Lane items are finished with NC lacquer from that era. The damage is typical of heat and/or long term exposure to sunlight.


 
Thanks Howard. The first step in restoring the piece is to determine what the original finish was, then go from there. I contacted Lane, but have only received their initial "we will forward this to..." response. The couple of furnature pieces I've built, I used poly for the final coat, so I'm unfamiliar with NCL. Time to do some reading...

John

Edited to add: Thanks for the link. Lots of good information in there. Especially when looking around the site!


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## JohnTric (Sep 10, 2012)

cabinetman said:


> The inside area that's cedar, should have no finish... I would not use anything for the interior cedar parts.​


​ 
Yes, I had only planned on a light sand for the interior of the box. And I had planned on only sanding the lower box, not the underside of the lid (don't want to disturb the original labels or the metal seal). I'm undecided on whether or not I want to sand the shelf at this point.

John


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## JohnTric (Sep 10, 2012)

And again, thanks to all who have responded. Gives me a lot to consider... :thumbsup:

John


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