Home Improvement Musings

Most of us have cedar chests that have been passed down by our grandfathers/mothers. It is important to restore your cedar furniture if you plan to keep it for a long time.

One of the most significant things that you may have noticed is that familiar cedar odor is gone. You may remember as a child perhaps when you grandmother would open the chest you would get that woody cedar aroma. Just the thought of it brings back memories. Sadly, though you noticed it is no longer the case. Now when you open the chest there is nothing.

Fortunately, you can restore this. Aside from it creating wonderful memories for you, the cedar has a useful side. It is a natural bug repellant. That s why it was such a favored wood for building these chests. This is where precious items were stored and everyone wanted to ensure they would be where pests would not destroy them.

Over the years no matter how preserved the cedar chest was dust gets into the pores of the wood and clogs them. Or it has been a cedar chest that was in continuous use then the pores may have become pinched shut. So what has happened now is the aroma that once emitted through these pores can no longer do so.

The objective is to open the pores to restore the aroma that is waiting to be let loose. There are a couple of ways you can do this. One method is to very lightly sand the surface using a fine 200 grit sandpaper on a sanding block. What this will do is the sandpaper will penetrate the pores and will open up pockets in the wood where the precious cedar oil is contained. Be very careful with the sanding though as you don?t want to end up with scratch marks. This is avoidable if you sand in the same direction as the grain. You will find that it?s not going to take much sanding before you smell the aroma of the cedar once again.

There are times though when the cedar is just too old for the sanding technique to work. Before going to all that work try sanding a discrete area to see what the end result will be like.

Another way of doing it is to rejuvenate the piece. You can do this with extracts like cedar and some cedar sprays.

You may want to try putting some good grade cedar chips in a nylon and tying it tightly. Place this at the bottom of your cedar chest. Although not as good as the actual odor from the chest it will still no doubt stir up so old memories.