Cedar chest refinishing in Saint Paul, MN is one of the most common heirloom jobs that comes through the shop, and Dale’s Furniture Refinishing has been doing it by hand for over 40 years. Lane and Roos chests, hope chests, and plain blanket chests get handed down through Twin Cities families for generations, and they pick up water rings, sun fading, lifting veneer, and broken hardware along the way. The wood is almost always worth saving. Dale refinishes the outside, sorts out the hinges and the feet, and leaves the aromatic cedar interior exactly the way it should be, which is raw.
How we refinish a cedar chest
The exterior comes first. Most cedar chests are veneered in walnut, mahogany, maple, or a figured burl over a solid cedar body, so the old finish is stripped or cut back carefully instead of sanded hard, and any lifting or missing veneer is glued down and patched before a drop of stain goes on. Dale then rebuilds the color, either back toward what the chest looked like new or over to whatever tone you want it in now, and lays down a durable topcoat that will take another few decades of blankets going in and out. If your chest still carries a maker’s decal or a stamped mark, say so up front and he works around it rather than over it.
The inside is a different job entirely, and it is where a lot of refinishers go wrong. Dale masks the interior off so no stripper, stain, or topcoat ever reaches the cedar. If the aroma has faded, and after 50 or 60 years it usually has, a light sanding of the interior walls opens up fresh cedar and the smell returns. Hardware comes off before the finish work and goes back on after, hinges and lid supports get repaired or replaced, and the chest leaves the shop opening and closing the way it is supposed to.
Cedar chest problems we handle
- Lane, Roos, Caswell-Runyan, and unbranded hope chests
- Blanket chests, dowry chests, and cedar-lined wardrobes
- Water rings, glass marks, and heat damage on the lid (see fixing water rings and heat marks)
- Sun-faded tops that no longer match the base
- Lifting or bubbled veneer on waterfall-front chests (veneer repair)
- Broken, missing, or sagging hinges and lid supports
- Worn, split, or missing feet and base moldings (furniture repair)
- Faded cedar aroma revived by sanding the interior
- Old self-latching Lane locks swapped for a safe latch
Keeping the cedar smell
Here is the detail that separates a proper cedar chest job from a bad one. The inside of a cedar chest is never finished. No stain, no lacquer, no polyurethane, no shellac, no oil, no wax, nothing. That raw aromatic red cedar is what gives off the oils you can smell when you lift the lid, and it is the same thing that makes the chest unfriendly to moths. Seal it and the scent is gone permanently, along with the whole reason the chest was built out of cedar in the first place.
If your chest smells like nothing anymore, the cedar has not run out. The exposed surface has oxidized and closed over, which is normal after half a century. Dale scuffs the interior walls, the bottom, and the underside of the lid with fine sandpaper, wipes the dust out, and the aroma comes back strong without a single coat of anything. That is also why you should never oil or wax the inside yourself. Leave it bare, sand it lightly every few years, and it keeps working for another generation.
Why choose Dale’s for cedar chest refinishing
- The cedar interior stays raw, so your chest keeps its scent
- Veneer glued and patched before any stain touches the piece
- Hinges, locks, latches, and feet repaired or replaced
- Decals and maker’s marks preserved wherever they can be saved
- Fair pricing with FREE estimates, and we always guarantee our work
- 40+ years of craftsmanship, serving the Twin Cities since 1975
About the old Lane lid latch
Worth knowing if yours is an older Lane. Cedar chests built with self-latching locks were recalled because the lid could latch shut on its own and trap a child inside, which is a real hazard in a house with kids around. If your chest has one of those locks, it can be replaced with a safe latch that does not lock when the lid closes, and Dale can take care of it while the chest is already in the shop for finish work. If you would rather keep the original hardware on the piece for looks, tell us and we will talk through the options.
Call Dale at (651) 748-9465 for a FREE estimate on your cedar chest, or contact us here. Chest work often runs alongside veneer repair, furniture repair, and full antique furniture restoration, and you can check current pricing any time. Dale serves Saint Paul, Minneapolis, and the surrounding Twin Cities.