Q. At a garage sale I found a hope chest with several coats of paint on it. After stripping on it for days I finally got it clean and it turns out to be solid cedar. I want to finish it natural because the color is so nice. I know it needs a sealer of some sort on it but I have seen so many cedar chests with wrinkled finishes, even after a few years, that I am reluctant to risk that and have to strip all over again. What do you recommend? Bill T.,

A. Cedar is a funny animal. It is an oily wood like teak, which accounts for its wonderful smell but it does need to be sealed to preserve its color. Ironically the oil that produces the wonderful cedar aroma is responsible for the wrinkling you see on some chests. The oil leaches into the finish, causing it to deteriorate, just as body oil will do on a nicely finished headboard or on the backs of kitchen chairs.

The solution is 3 lb. cut shellac thinned with denatured alcohol to about 2 lb. cut applied as the first coat of finish. Shellac is a wonderful bleed seal and will keep the oil out of any finish you choose to apply over it. Most finishes are compatible with a shellac sealer, even urethane but be sure to read the label. Remember that you must have fresh shellac. All cans of ready mixed shellac have an expiration date on them. Heed that date. Also be sure that you are using fresh denatured alcohol. That gallon you've had stored for two years won't do. It has absorbed moisture over time and will cause your shellac to dry improperly, if ever. Buy only as much alcohol as you intend to use immediately.

One last thing - you can enhance the cedar smell of your chest by wiping out the interior with a wet rag and leave the chest open for a few hours. As the moisture evaporates it pulls more oil to the surface increasing the aromatic effect. 

Q. On a Queen Anne chest of drawers would the grain in the feet run vertically, exposing the end grain to the ground or would it run horizontally?
Scott B.

A. Traditionally the leg of a Queen Anne chest is carved from a single piece of wood which includes the leg, the knee and the foot with the grain running vertically following the length of the piece. This does expose the end grain to the floor. Interestingly enough, cabriole legs such as Queen Anne, Chippendale and Rococo Revival have a great deal in common with wooden rifle stocks which also traditionally were carved, one at a time from a solid block of wood.

By 1840 a new invention called the Blanchard lathe was perfected and put into service at the Springfield Armory in Springfield, Mass. This lathe could follow a pattern and produce a perfect, eccentrically shaped rifle stock in a matter of minutes instead of hours from a single block of wood. After the Civil War it didn't take long for this amazing device to find its way into the furniture factories of the late 19th century, producing solid wood, single piece cabriole legs just in time for the Colonial Revival.

During the 1920's, in the interests of cost effectiveness and conservation, lower quality manufacturers started gluing up blocks of wood from smaller pieces and then turning these assembled blocks on the lathe. Since many of these blocks were randomly pieced together it was possible that some of the grain pattern in a newly produced, lower quality Queen Anne leg or foot actually ran the wrong way. By applying an obscure finish this manufacturing anomaly could easily be disguised and no one was ever the wiser - until something bad happened. That something usually had to do with a flood or water damage in which case all the different pieces of wood moved in different directions resulting in disassembled legs and feet. Most modern furniture is made in this manner even though it takes a very close inspection to see it. No period Queen Anne furniture was ever made that way. 

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