The old chest saving project 🪵
•
(From 2023)
Take into consideration I'm no professional this is all trial and error and there are probably other and better ways to go about this!
•
I found this old chest at an oppshop last year, covered in minimum 3 layers of plastic based wall paint. Thankfully the inside and the wood was fresh and alright so I decided to buy it. This kicked off one of the more time consuming projects I've done.
•
I decided to use a heat gun and to scrape all the newer layers of colours to get down to the wood. It worked but dear lords it took TIME. while doing this I also googled around on old locks to see if I could date the chest. My very limited knowledge and a couple of Google searches seem to place it in the early 1800s but I could be wrong. This made the whole ordeal intimidating as I really didn't want to destroy it, but as it was already slightly destroyed with the huge amount of plastic paint I still went forth with my plan.
•
When I got down to the wood red residue was left, iron oxide. That's why I decided to paint it that red colour it has now, it's a linseed oil paint with iron oxide pigment. It also works as rust protection as the iron parts on the chest were VERY rusty beneath, what also turned out to be plastic paint...
•
The whole chest is now painted with linseed oil paints, for wood and iron. I've oiled and greased up the lock so that runs much more smoothly. I'm happy with the result and happy I could save it a little even if I couldn't restore it to its original!
•
If anyone who is more used to this now either is panicking cause I've done it all horrendously wrong, had any tips for what to do differently in the future or alike I'll gladly hear it! ☺️
•
•
#allmoge
#folkkonst #hantverk #1800tal
ᛗolly - Mǫrkylfa
