weekend find

[cogar]

Wendy, I agree with Wayward, by the looks of your pictures your trunk is in excellent condition and only needs a good cleaning and polishing and maybe the tin repainted with "black" Rustoleum paint but that doesn't look to be necessary. A light steelwooling and a coat of paste wax and it should look "shiny black" again. A swipe with a wet cloth will give you a clue of what the wax will do.

[wendy177]

Thanks Cogar & to all !! I spoke with hubby  RJ2 No dry - rot   she is in good shape for being so darn old so I will be taking your advice and doing this project myself I am very excited !  I think I will clean and polish the tin with 0000 steel wool like wayward & cogar suggested and see how it looks just the sound of molten tin makes me nervous. Thanks so much to all of you for the advice & support (I'm sure I will have tons more questions for you all) more photos to come, would love to know who made it maybe as I begin to clean & repair some clues will surface.

[talesofthesevenseas]

Go Wendy!! 

Looking forward to watching this one!

[wendy177]

Ok I have started and wanted to ask for some help, I have begun to use the 0000 steel wool on the decorated tin and to my surprise have really been enjoying the work (ask me in a few days if I still feel that way I will then redo with 0000 steel wool & light gun oil as Wayward suggested (any special brand of light gun oil??) Have I removed enough rust?? I do not want it back to silver as I would like to keep it looking like it has been around for the 135 years it has been. I just do not want it to be damaged any further from the rust.  The first photo is before , the second is after some work with steel wool. Thanks to all for the advise

[sapphire]

WOW wendy, that is going to look beautiful when you're done!  You must be thrilled just with the progress you've seen. 

[wendy177]

Thanks Sapphire  I Love it and I am thrilled !! The patina after using the steel wool is great. hubby had to drag me in from the workshop tonight .

[fancypants]

Nice flowery/leafy motif just pops out , don't it !




Is it just me or is this flower happy ?

[talesofthesevenseas]

WOW! What a difference!!! If you're going to call me the Wood Whisperer, I think you just earned the title of  Tin Whisperer!! GREAT JOB!!

Also I just re-read Waywards earlier post mentioning what I used for the wood on the Hoosier- It was food grade (also called USP) mineral oil available from the pharmacy for about two bucks a bottle. Then I'm following up with beeswax paste wax, which I ordered online. The paste wax didn't change much, but difference with the mineral oil was phenomenal on the Hoosier.

[fancypants]

One thing I can't help but mention is the fact that unsealed steel will rust .

Oiling will of course prevent this , but just like a gun , if someone touches the oiled steel , oxidation begins .
Oiling & waxing surfaces tend to grind dust & such into surfaces & do build up a patina through their use .

If an item is truly ancient , waxing & oiling wood is a no-no ("if it's dead , it don't need to be fed") for the experts .
For practical use , hey , we gottta use what works .

I'm going to give one opinion , (from an "antique heretic's" point of view)  , that you might consider putting a coating on the meal & wood of your trunk .
I have seen so many bad shellac jobs done on trunks of this genre that I cringe at suggesting so .....

I've had very good results with a couple/three coats of 50/50 mixed laquer (50% laq. thinner) .
When fully dry , I degloss the surface to a nearly-matte finish & don't have to worry about rust (or doing real tough touch-up work on new dings & such) .

I did a matching pair for a buddy 35yrs. ago that are still 'looking good' .

[waywardangler]

WOW wendy the tin you have done looks GREAT! Yes, oil (any light grade such as 3-in-1, any gun oil, sewing machine oil, etc.) will have to be reapplied but it is easily removed with mineral spirits if need be.  It also helps as a lubricant when you are using the steel wool. If the chest is going to be handled alot, then I would use something else to seal out rust.  Fingerprints will remove oil and start new rust as fancypants mentioned.  The oils/contaminants on fingers are bad for any antique surface that absorbs or holds oils.  Lacquer would be good as fancypants mentioned but make sure you get all the rust or you will be sealing in rust too.  Paste wax would also be good and can be reapplied easily as needed.  I always like to use something that is easily reversible on antiques.  I would not use shellac/varnish as they yellow or look un-antiquish and are hard to remove once applied.  If fancypants has sealed tin on trunks with the lacquer formula for 35 years, it must be good.  I do not know how you can improve on that.  Fancypants, what do you use to 'degloss' the lacquer?  0000 steel wool or ?

[wendy177]

Thanks so much everyone, Recieved a reply from my second set of professionals today (Really like these guys check out the site they seem to remind me of you all here on this site
 Thanks a lot for the pictures.  We call this a 'pressed metal dome top trunk.'  Many trunks of this style were made by larger contract factories and then sold through the Sears or Wards catalogs back in the 1880s up through the 1920s.  If you can find an old Sears catalog from way back then you can probably find a picture of this trunk in there, and it was probably priced at about $2.25 or maybe $2.50, believe it or not.  Two of the larger makers of these trunks were MM Secor and M. Meier, both of whom employed several hundred workers.  These trunks usually clean up nicely and have a retail value of around $800 - $1000.
Churchill Barton, Mgr
Brettuns Village, Inc.
PO Box 772
Auburn, ME 04212
(207)782-7863
(207)782-7448 fax
http://www.BrettunsVillage.Com

 

[KC]

NICE!!!

Like Fancy, I have sealed items with a diluted version for items that are to be handled alot.  There isn't a thick coat so you don't notice any yellowing if there is any (you would have to have another exact trunk next to it to even try to distinguish if there is any color fluctuation/aging).  Even if you say you won't handle it alot, just your weekly cleaning jobs of touching will impact the oil finish.

On our double leaded front doors there are brass kick plates at the bottom.  I used the same mixture on them after years of fighting having to clean them.  The mixture is my dream come true.

There shouldn't be any reason for having to redo with this method until your kids inherit it!!!!

[wendy177]

Thanks everyone and seal it I will. Spoke with the guys at Brettuns village and I need to bring it back to its original silver color state to remove ALL rust before I can seal everything so I have begun again to work even  harder  and so far this is it. ( maybe 4 hours in) Husband looked at the small progress I have made and has fallen in love with it as much as I have!! He took one look and said WE ARE NOT SELLING THIS! (really oh I didn't think so from the start ) last photo is without the flash

[talesofthesevenseas]

Wow! Look how that floral design is starting to "pop"!!