"lane" cedar chest project & recommendations

[Tadd Govedich]

I bought this today at a sale , it needs a peg leg and I would like to get it cleaned up..

[Tadd Govedich]

there is also a small gab in right corner of the chest ... whats the proper way to fix this ?
Thanks -tadd

[Tadd Govedich]

this is an a lane end table i stripped and sanded down .. i am still waiting on to decide and prepare on how i will finish it

[Dick Mahany]

OP, I recently went to sell an old Lane cedar chest and found out that they were a subject of a safety issue where the lid couldn't be opened from the inside if someone had become entrapped. Lane has retrofit hardware available that provides a safety release on the inside and it was relatively easy to install. Those chests were well made and will last several lifetimes when properly cared for. Enjoy.

As far as the gap on the mitered piece, you might try pulling the corner with a clamp and use some glue and cross pin the corners with brads to prevent it from reopening.

[Mel Fulks]

Tad, one of my aunts was married to an officer of that company. We had a number of Lane things ....so I'm not a hater!
I would remove the other three legs!! And replace with simple bracket feet or a solid board base. You can probably glue and clamp the trim,and just one screw might work.

[Ken Combs]

On the gap issue: I'll be really hard to clean the old glue remnants from the without taking it apart. That makes it difficult for our 'normal' glues to work well. I would just clean out as much as possible. I've done lots of repairs like this as my wife and I has an antiques/collectibles store for 20 years. The best tool I found for this is a simple emery board, like your wife uses on nails.

Then use some epoxy in the gap, it will stick to anything! But first, be sure you can close it with clamps. If not, resolve that before adding epoxy. Then just epoxy, clamp, clean up over flow and wait.

Oh, one more thing: use masking tape on both sides of the gap. anything that will clean up wet epoxy well is also disastrous on most finishes.

Edit: It looks like you're not missing a leg, but just the end cap. If so, I'd just look for 4 matching and change them all. It's really hard to match the mid-century hardware exactly.