WOODEN CHEST - Part 4

Polishing

Now clean the box inside out and apply pili mitti or brown mitti to the whole box with a rag cloth. After it has dried, finish it with No 300 sand paper. Make a polish solution. Get the required color by mixing brown color or Kajal. If you want to retain original wood colour, use two or three coats of varnish. Apply the polish evenly and take care to make uneven strokes. Apply polish by a soft rags cloth.

WOODEN CHEST - Part 3

As per your taste, buy the material for the chest including decorative items. The handles as for as possible should be drop handles. Locks, hinges and other other items should be selected so that it reflects your taste. Decided where and how to attach them. Apply a double coat of anti termite solution. Don’t forget to use industrial gloves while applying the coat. Anti terminte solution to be applied on exteriors and interiors of the wooden chest.

WOODEN CHEST - Part 2

Once scrapping is done, the surface irregularities are smoothened first by planer and then by sanding. Take a 100 no sand paper for coarse work.  If there are more irregularities, use wood filler. Using putty would give it a flaky look and difficulty in polishing. Fillers are imported and are easily available in the hardware or paint shops. I use a mixture of saw dust and Fevicol. It works perfectly. Finish it with a 200 no sand paper. For smoothening, these days electric planers are more useful. Once it the surface is made smooth, wooden beading / any design is applied on the corners and sides.

 

If supports are required, then various types of legs or supports are available in the market. For using the wood filler, keep a scrapper always handy.

 

 

 

MAKING OF A WOODEN CHEST - Part 1

Being an Army Officer, we have many wooden boxes. I took one box and treated it with my carpentary skills. I would be bringing the story of this wooden chest in my series of blogs here.

These two boxes were selected. Both had thick black oil paint. First job was to remove the thick paint by paint remover. The paint remover is highly corrosive and cautic - commonly known as caustic soda solution or sodium hydroxide. One has to put on industrial gloves and then use it. Paint removal is instant and a scrapper was used to scrap the colour.