Restoring a cedar chest

This gem was found at an estate sale I went to with my mom just to look around and kill some time. We both fell in love with this piece when we saw it.

It's all solid cedar pine and still has that soft pine smell when you open the lid. The inside was in perfect condition but I couldn't say the same for the outside. I knew I wanted to restore this piece and let its natural wood grain shine through.

sandpaper 60 or 80 grit or a sanding block for the tough stuff and 120 grit for softer finish
heat gun
putty scraper
paint
hinner
rubber gloves
protective eye wear
paper towels
clean dry rags
wood stain
polyurethane (top coat/sealant)
My main goal of this project was to restore the chest to its natural glory. I brought the chest into the garage and got to work. I started with the heat gun and putty scraper working in small areas at a time, heating the paint just until it started to bubble then as parallel to the chest as possible began scraping the paint away.

On a perfectly flat surface it should all come off but on this piece it had a lot of scrapes and dings they tried to keep painting over. Some of the paint stayed but that's okay. The legs/stumps had to go also, one was missing when I got the piece and frankly I just liked it better without.

Once most of the paint was scraped off I got my 80 grit sanding block and work on the edges and more of the hard to reach places. I had gotten about 95% of all the paint off but, the paint stuck in all the dents just were not budging. Time to bring in the big guns!

I grabbed my paint thinner and put a hardy coating over the areas that still needed paint removed and waited for it to take action. depending on the amount of paint to be removed the time differs slightly, I waited about 20-30 minutes before checking. Then with your rags, wipe off the paint thinner and the remaining paint will come right off. You can get a damp rag to go over the piece a final time to make sure there is no residue left over.

*side note: I could have done the whole thing using paint thinner but, I personally prefer to use as little harsh chemicals as possible on pieces like this. At the end of the day it's personal preference and what you feel comfortable with.

With the 120 grit sandpaper I did a once over to make the surface as smooth as possible. When that was finished I wiped off any lingering dust from the sand paper and went to work of staining it.

All I did was one coat just to give the piece a more uniform color as close to the natural wood grain as possible. I let it dry over night and finished it off with a coat of polyurethane to protect the wood and give it a nice soft satin finish.

If you have a favorite piece of furniture that you found and refinished tell me in the comments below!