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Posted 10 years ago
rdhoush
(9 items)
Here are three trunks from my collection I have reconditioned....my Dome Top, Ridge T0p, and Half Trunk Steamers........I really enjoyed breathing some new life into them.....the Ridge Top has oak handles.....I couldn't believe they were still intact.......
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Very nice, A lot of time and work went into stripping them to bare metal.Thanks for sharing
Drill.....you are right.....lots of time......but time well spent.........I seem to prefer the bare metal look.............glad you like them....Thanks
Wow -- the bare metal look is fabulous... never thought to do that on the metal ones... thanks for the inspiration .. I will have to give it a go....
Hey trunkman.....kind of stumbled on to the bare metal look with my first trunk project (the dome top in the picture) I love the look because it preserves every dent, bump, bang the old fellow has endured over the years.......I had to get over my fear of damaging/scratching the metal though........I used a number of methods over time to get that patina.......muratic acid, sand paper, wire brush, metal polish.....applied over and over until I was able to get all the rust/corrosion out of the pits in the metal.......then I let it tarnish a bit to give dimension to the biffs and bangs..........moved it to a dry arid room in my house and apply WD -40 every few weeks and it stays just as you see it.......every couple of months I rub it down with a soft sanding pad to remove any added tarnish .......I fell in love with the look......I think the look is not popular because of the time and effort it takes to recondition it in this manner.....good luck and I have enjoyed viewing your trunk collection.....beautiful stuff.....
Thanks rdhoush for the step by step.. the result is really stunning and I find that the fully tin covered trunks a bit un-redeemable in my books... except for this kind of treatment... the look is so cool....
Hey Trunkman......this is also what I had been told....unredeemable.....but I just couldn't bare to paint it ...........let me say that it was in rough shape........lots of corrosion...rust...some pitting but nothing rusted through......the antique dealer was considering disposing of it.....she tried to sell it to me to use for garden tool storage.....I could see more....I loved its look.....and all the hardware was intact.....so I offered her 30 bucks...and she took it.......so the process I think would be successful even in the worst case scenario....it is a patient process....I just stayed with it until it reached the patina I was looking for.....good luck....I used the same process on all the trunks in the photo......
Hi. I'm inspired as well. Did any of these have a crystallized finish?
I saw no evidence of a crystalized finish.......the dome top was in the worst condition and took considerable time to recondition the metal.....I did discover a process that was effective in bringing back the metal.....it took a lot of work and patience .....but I was pleased with the outcome.....the dome top and the ridge top both were painted and once I had removed the paint I couldn't bear to repaint them....so I experimented until I discovered a process that gave them that nice metal finish.