Making a Cloth Hinge

I really enjoy working on all of the various trunks that come into our shop.  Each one is such a unique project that requires creativity and imagination.  I also like the sense of adventure that trunks have.  You know that they came from somewhere.  They went on some interesting journey, they have a story.

They also get pretty beat up while on that interesting journey.  This trunk was brought in to our shop by a young woman who's grandfather used while coming to America many many years ago.  It still has her family name scrawled across the top in yellow, and on a label on it's side.  The most significant 'beat up' area of this trunk was on it's tray. It was covered in cloth and the cloth was beginning to show signs of age.   We were able to repair much of the damage to the tray cloth and I am especially proud of the work we did on the cloth hinge.      The lid for the tray is made of two parts which fold back to reveal the inside.  The cloth fold had ripped so the lid was in two pieces.  Using new cloth and special glue, we made a new 'hinge' on the underside of the lid.  It is designed to lay flat when the lid is closed and then fold when it is open.  When it is closed, the hinge is completely invisible.  You can see the newly functioning lid hinge in the pictures below.

Cardboard Covered Trunk

We work on a lot of trunks.  I mean, A LOT of  trunks.  Right now we have 4 trunks, plus 2 chests in all in different stages of restoration.  We have a really old, all wood trunk, we have a metal trunk, and we have two cardboard covered trunks.  Now I know  cardboard sounds a little flimsy, but trust me, this is a very sturdy trunk, and large enough to fit a grown person inside.  
Around the turn of the last century, trunk makers started using cardboard to mimic leather for their less expensive trunks.  They would still use leather handles, and fancy metal corner caps and nail detailing, but the main covering would be cardboard.  This way a person with a more limited budget could still get a really nice piece of traveling equipment.

One downside of a cardboard trunk is that when you peel your traveling sticker off, sometimes it takes a bit of your trunk with it.  At least that is what happened in this case.



We began our repairs by filling the ripped areas with a form of putty and then smoothed it so that the trunk surface was level again. We then had to do color touch up work to blend the new patched area with the rest of the trunk.  The real trick here was to not make it perfectly black, but to make it's appearance match the aged look of the rest of the trunk.  In addition to the top surface repairs, we replaced the broken leather handles and straightened out the lock.  We left the traveling sticker on the front and suggest that no one tries to take it off!  It is a cool piece of history, and we would have a new hole to patch!

A Personalized Trunk

I have said many times before how much I like restoring trunks.   No two trunks that come through our doors look the same.  There are often key similarities which help to determine age, quality, maker, etc.  But each trunk we see is different.  Partly due to manufacture, partly due to time and experiences.  This trunk has had 'G.W.M  Oakland CA' printed in black on the left side.  

Imagine for a moment the scene at the airport where everyone is standing around the conveyor belt waiting for their piece of luggage that looks unique but also somehow exactly the same as everyone else's.   To make sure one's luggage is easily spotted, people will tie bright bits of ribbon or string on the handles, or buy a bizarre bright color of strapping to wrap around it.  Now lets go back 100 years to the station, or dock and imagine that great pile of trunks that have just come off the train, or ship.  You would want your trunk to be easily recognizable.  So you stamp your initials and hometown prominently on the side so that everyone knows that that trunk belongs to G.W.M of Oakland, CA.

Despite it's travels, this trunk is still in good condition.  There were no major repairs that needed to be made, and it's current owner was fine with a worn, aged appearance.  We did need to remove that horrible carpet from the inside though.  Trunks were originally all lined with paper, and occasionally with cloth.  This one was paper lined and the lid paper was still in ok shape, but at some point someone had a not so brilliant idea of lining the box with shag carpeting.  Unfortunately this meant the nice wooden tray no longer fit in the trunk.  So we removed all that and sealed the inside.  Then we cleaned the entire trunk and treated it with Tung oil.  This oil will protect the wood and metal and really gave it a beautiful deep luster without giving it a 'new' appearance.    

Protective Gear and Sanding

All geared up and ready to start sanding!

 After my last experience sanding with a flap wheel sander, which left me completely covered with sanding dust, (which I have chronicled in this post ... Lessons In Sawdust And Sanders) I decided I needed to prepare a bit better this time.

This time I brought a bandana to keep the dust out of my hair, wore proper eye protection, and used an actual dust mask instead of a rag tied around my face.  I also had in a pair of very effective ear plugs!  It is amazing how well those things worked!    They completely blocked out all the chuckles and laughter of the 'real' workers in the shop as they watched my stumble through sanding this old trunk.

The sanding queen!

I also put on a pair of anti-vibration sanding gloves after a while, to keep my hands from suffering to much.  This experience with a non-dust collected sander was much better then the last.  I didn't get as much done as I would have liked however because my arms began to get tired from trying to control this unruly spinning sander.  Oh well,  the 120 grit sanding is almost done.   Just 4 more of the wooden straps to go and then I will treat all the wood with Oxalic Acid to get the grey out.

 After 130 years, the metal has turned the wood a bit dark, so the Oxalic Acid will help lighten it up a bit.  Once the wood has been treated, I will sand the entire thing again with 180 grit and then I get to the fun part, staining!  I have so many options with staining, I have to think about that a bit.  What would you choose?

Restoration of a Dome Top Trunk

 This trunk once was quite an expensive beauty. The curved top, plentiful nails, and fine hardware make this a high end trunk, often known as a 'Saratoga Trunk'.  But in addition to that, it was once covered in leather instead of canvas which only the finest trunks were. The leather has blackened with age and is peeling off.  We began by cutting off all of the peeling leather so that the wood underneath became fully exposed. We then stripped and cleaned the entire trunk. It then needed to be sanded, and the rusting metal was treated with a rust stop product.  The metal nails on the wood strapping 'bled'  a blackish stain onto the wood immediately surrounding them.  So we treated the wood strapping with Oxalic Acid.  This removed the dark staining and also served to lighten the wood.  This enhanced the contrast between the strapping and the base wood once the trunk was completed.

We replaced the leather handles and customized the leather handle holders. Most often we see the handle holders made out of metal, but these leather ones turned out very nice, and maintained the integrity of the original design.  The trunk came out beautifully. The metal was all painted black, and the wood was stained two different tones. The base wood was stained a 'golden oak' color while the wood strapping was stained with a very light 'natural' stain. We also replaced the leather lid pull at the center front top.


While this trunk did at one time have  a different look,  It's new wood toned finish is beautiful, warm and has plenty of character!  For a more complete set of photos throughout this job check out our Flikr set here...   Dome Top Trunk.


We get to work on all kinds of different trunk styles, designs, quality, and condition here at the shop.  Each trunk provides us with new and interesting challenges, but we sure enjoy each one we get to work on.  Do you have a treasure sitting somewhere in your home that needs a little TLC?  Bring it to us, we would love to fix it up for you.