This beauty is actually a project that our Finisher completed for his future bride. Such a romantic and old-fashioned gesture. Just like this Cedar Chest. The first step on this project was of course to strip the old worn out finish off. After that was done, our Finisher could actually see what was going on with the wood underneath. It turns out that the beautifully 'book and butt' matched Walnut veneer on the top was cracked, chipped and flaking off so badly that he needed to replace it all. But he is a finisher, not a veneer master, so he went with one piece of really spectacularly marbled walnut veneer instead. He did a terrific job and it came out beautifully with not a bubble anywhere to be found, and matched the walnut veneer on the face perfectly.
Besides the veneer repair, the other really interesting and unique thing he did to the chest was in the finish itself. Which makes sense, since this is his area of expertise! He actually used two different custom stains, one for the walnut veneer, and one for the rest of the wood. The Walnut veneer received a mix of Dark Pine and Jacobean. Jacobean is a very dark, almost black shade. The rest of the cedar chest (legs, trim, etc) received a mix of Dark Pine and Natural.
After all that stain was applied, Our Finisher took some extra steps to make this cedar chest even more exotic. Using a gold gilding paste, he accented the spiral shaped trim on the face, all of the medallions, the hollows on the legs, and the trim all the way around the lid. He didn't want a bright, stark gold look though, so over the gold gilding paste he used a Dark Brown Glaze, which almost 'antiqued' the gold. Over all of this, the custom stains, the gilding paste, and the glaze, he applied a water based Semi-Gloss sheen finish. The cedar chest now looks like a beautiful jewel, very appropriate as a gift for his future bride.
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