Good afternoon, been awhile since I've been online and even longer since I visited the forum so hello all. This has always been one of the best places online to get quality advice so I dropped by for thoughts on a restoration project I have sat in front of me.
I thought there was a forum section for restoration but it seems not so I am posting here in the general forum.
The item is a trunk on stand, nothing spectacular or especially valuable, the construction is rather workmanlike and the design not exactly refined. But, the piece has sentimental value for the owner and she wants it dressed up. Speaking to her I gather her main concerns are maintaining as much of the original material as possible and making it presentable. Technical or historical authenticity is not an issue here..
The item has a number of wood movement related issues, cracks in the carcass, box joints opening at the corners, wobbly legs, missing bits of trim etc.. most of it I have a good enough idea how to treat. The area I have doubts about is the lid of the trunk.
The rounded top is made out of one (very) wide board of Spanish Cedar about 7/16" thick, which I guess was soaked or steamed in order to shape it.
This panel is rather brutally nailed to the lid structure at both ends and the front.
The panel has a couple of major splits, one of which has diverted across the pretty much straight grain, unusually.
I'll attach some pics, so you can see the damage. Not great quality I'm afraid, I only have a cheapo smartphone.
I'll share the options I've considered and I'd be grateful for your thoughts or any other ideas.
1. Reinforce the cracked areas with butterfly keys from below and inlay a veneer strip to hide the visual damage on the topside. The "graft" could possibly come from replacing the rear rail of the base (least visible part) with new material to obtain some of the original material which is quite faded in color and far straighter grained than material of the same species commonly found these days.
This approach would give a visual register of the repair from the inside but a clean appearance outside, which I like. It also minimises the loss of original material, important to the owner as value is sentimental and she wants to get the same piece of furniture back at the end of the day!
I would probably try to extract the nails in this case and reattach with new cut nails, but this could be messy with the existing nail holes close to the ends of the panel. I also have doubts as to whether I should remove the panel and reattach with buttons or similar to avoid future damage as the nails are obviously not providing enough "give".
2. Remake the whole lid.. as mentioned it's going to be tough to match new material but at least the whole panel will be consistent and the appearance of the old and new sections could be more easily evened up at the finishing stage, rather than being in small patches.
Hopefully someone can help out.. I don't have a lot of restoration experience and I will stress again that authenticity is not important here.. The owner just wants her trunk looking pretty and polished and without visible damage. Thanks.