Antique Steamer Trunk Restoration

Spent five weekends restoring this antique steamer trunk for a customer. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was a family heirloom, passed down by the customer’s grandmother. It was quite a feat of restoration as it pulled on all my technical resources from past jobs. But the trunk turned out great and the customer loved the result.

Below is the process for the entire restoration.

Sunday 4/5:

9:30am to 10:30am – traveled to pick up item/returned home

1pm to 2pm – took pictures/disassembled drawer. Removed tacks warped cardboard lid (the one with lithograph), sprayed the back of it with water, and laid in on a flat surface, put a piece of scrap plywood large enough to cover lid on top and a 45 lb weight on top of that.

Used rest of day to take notes on how to approach restoration. Ordered trunk nails, trunk tacks, lid stay, trunk handles, roller.

Saturday 4/11:

9am to 12pm – wet and scraped paper off drawer, scraped paper from lid, disassembled lid compartments. Wet and scraped paper from drawer bottom/trunk inside; removed/scraped tray rails. Preserved images that could be saved.

1pm to 4pm – sanded shelf components and all loose tray boards. Glued one internal split drawer lid together. Clamped to cure.

Sunday 4/12:

10am to 1pm – sanded trunk inside and inside lid. Ordered 2 poplar boards to replace the damaged tray sides – out of stock locally.

2pm to 4pm – Cut a frame for the salvaged lid image out of square dowel. Planed a rounded edge to frame. Cut a square of veneer the size of the image. Glued image onto veneer. Glued veneer to trunk lid. Stained half-round dowel. Pin-nailed and glued frame around image.

Stained trunk handles.

Saturday 4/18:

10am to 12pm – checked warped cardboard lid – it’s now flat after a two weeks of flattening. Will leave under weights until needed. Washed outside of trunk and lid. Set out in the sun to dry. Hammered in old nails. Put new nails/tacks/brass roller into vinegar, salt, peroxide mixture for aging.

1pm to 3pm – removed old wheel hardware and old skids. Hammered bent metal back into shape around trunk edges. Ripped board for two new skids. Hand-planed edges into a half round edge. Cut new skids to length. Stained. Glued a split edge on one skid.

Sunday 4/19: 9am to 12pm – Wire-wheeled rust from trunk bottom. Painted surface tin area black. Aged trunk tacks for use on skid protectors. Cut tin skid protectors. Attached tin skid protectors around skids. Painted with black rust protector paint.

12pm to 5pm – New roller doesn’t match old ones, so ordered 3 more. Aged first roller with brass-ager to match other hardware. Nailed side of trunk at the bottom back into place with trunk nails. Cut boards for tray length. Glued new tray sides to old boards to form tray. Secured with pin nails. Clamped for curing overnight. Nailed in tray rails to trunk inside with trunk nails. Epoxy-glued broken tray cabinet side. Clamped, set aside to cure overnight.

Saturday 4/25:

9am to 11am – cut tray bottom from poplar sheet. Attached with glue and pin nails. Glued and tacked in other tray boards. Glued lithograph cardboard lid to tray compartment. Tacked in lithograph lid (replaced old tacks). Attached support rails to underside of cardboard lid to prevent warping. Clamped everything to cure.

12pm to 4pm – sanded outer lid slats. Cut in and glued canvas patch beneath torn canvas on lid side. Cut in and glued a canvas patch on lid top. Shellacked first coat inside of trunk lid. Oiled trunk handles.

5pm to 6pm – lightly sanded first coat of shellac on inside lid. Shellacked second coat of lid inside. Shellacked tray first coat.

Sunday 4/26:

9am to 12pm – color-matched old canvas and painted canvas of lid. Stained lid slats.

1pm to 4pm – wire-wheeled lid corner hardware to removed rust.

4pm to 5pm – lightly sanded first shellac coat on tray. Shellacked second coat on tray. Shellacked third coat inside lid.

6pm to 7pm – Shellacked third coat tray. Stained lid slats with second coat to darken. Shellacked first coat on skids. Dropped new rollers into aging solution.

Saturday 5/2:

9am to 10am – shellacked another coat on tray back and front. Shellacked second coat on skids.

1pm – 3:30pm – painted metal lid banding with black rust proofing paint. Chiseled out damaged triangle area on outside rim of trunk base. Cut replacement triangle. Epoxied replacement triangle in place. Clamped to cure overnight.

Sunday 5/3:

8:30am to 12pm – shellacked one coat on bottoms of tray and skids. Aging solution on rollers didn’t look good, so sanded down and painted with black rust proofing paint. Used wire wheel on rusted, metal, corner hardware of trunk base. Shellacked second coat of tray and skid bottoms.

12pm to 2:30pm – painted metal banding and latches with black rust proofing paint. Sanded inside trunk corners. Painted canvas.

3:30pm to 5:30pm – removed handle casings and set handles in place. Secured casings. Secured latches and hinges that were missing nails. Attached new skids to trunk bottom. Attached rollers to skids. Hammered down all protruding nails inside trunk base. Glued a split piece of wood on inside of trunk back in place. Set brace against it to hold it in place to dry overnight.

5:30pm to 6:30pm – sanded wood slats on base. Replaced and glued canvas around base.

Monday 5/4:

7:15pm to 8pm – rasped wood triangle fitting down flush to trunk sides and edge. Glued replacement canvas over repair. Glued remaining canvas down along edge. Clamped to cure overnight.

Friday 5/8:

3pm to 6pm – stained slats on base. Painted canvas on base. Touched up paint on hardware. Removed old lock and pried off backing to remove broken latch. Flattened lock base plate with a mallet. Sanded and painted lock base plate with rust proof black paint. Second coat of stain added to slats. Touched up painted areas on lid canvas and base.